The Joy Luck Club Literary Analysis

English 101

Essay First Draft

Due: Week 6

By: Garima Singh

Daughters — Their Mothers’ Reflection

Partly inspired by Amy Tan’s own relationship to her mother, The Joy Luck Club tells the stories of four immigrant women from China – their hopes, fears, and tragic pasts – as well as the stories of their four American-born daughters. The novel opens with the death of Suyuan Woo – a member of The Joy Luck Club. Jing-Mei is asked to replace her mother at the Joy Luck Club and fulfill her mother’s ‘long-cherished wish’. The problem is that Jing-mei feels like she never really knew her own mother. This simple premise allows the book to cast a much wider net, as it raises the question of how well daughters know their mothers. The other three members

This is emphasized in the scene where Waverly says “Despite all the tension she places on herself- and others the doctors have proclaimed that my mother, at age sixty nine, has the blood pressure of sixteen years old and the strength of a horse”. And that’s what she is a Horse”(167). The character of a horse is hardworking, obstinate, intuitive, capable of making sound judgement and dexterous. On the other hand, a rabbit is social, sensitive, tactful, and capable of seeing things before they happen. They possess a natural shrewdness. However, irrespective of the subtle differences between Horses and Rabbits, Waverly is more of a Horse than a Rabbit. Looking at the stages of both characters’ life, for example, the series of events that occur as well as the manner they tackle issues, it is evident that Waverly is as a Horse as her mother Lindo and not the Rabbit she claims to be. Like a horse, the first and second parts of their lives are characterized with ups and downs, the tendency to leave their family when they are young and its disappointments. Their love life isn’t smooth but the third phase of their lives is peaceful. This is also illustrated earlier in the text when Lindo boasts about her daughter’s accomplishments saying. “I told my daughter, Use your horses to run over the enemy”(170). From this statement it is evident that that her mother knows that Waverly possesses the traits of a horse but she doesn’t. Waverly is a simulacrum of Lindo not only on the basis of her character and approach but physical resemblance as well. This is depicted in the scene at the Salon. “These two faces, I think, so much the same! The same happiness, the same sadness, the same good fortune, the same faults”(256). This statement is made by Lindo as she describes how similar events that took place in their lives have not only changed their