The Structure Of Love In Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club

Kwong. Leslie 8

The Structure of Love

A house is a home for those who band together and speak of love. Together the couple acknowledges their differences and works together perfecting their house. Their sincerity towards their beloved decorates the house with reflective glass. Houses that appear throughout the fictional novel, The Joy Luck Club, written by Amy Tan, such as the caves of Kweilin and Wu Tsing’s mansion, mirrors the condition of the family inhabiting them and indirectly forms the basis of said family's love for one another.

The size of the house depicts the size of the crater needing to be filled with love. An-Mei was burdened with a motherless childhood. She knows of her mother's love but is unable to respond with her own.

Clair's marriage is one built upon the balance of life. She “agrees” with her husband, Harold that their relationship should be built around a paper stating who has paid for what. Lena earns less money than Harold, therefore pays less when it comes to the mortgage. “Since Harold pays more, he had the deciding vote on how the house should disrupt the lines” (161). This unbalance in house distribution represents the unbalance in the relationship. Since the house is paid by Harold, it is designed by Harold. Harold unconsciously forms an ego of superiority after starting his own business and paying his wife. He is the male, therefore he is the leader. Harold's incapability to allow Lena to take charge leads to a lack of a feminine voice in their relationship, which catalyzes the questioning of their marriage . “I'm so tired of it, adding things up, subtracting, making it come out even” (164). The questionable design of the house stems from the questionable rules of the relationship. The dominance of Harold is apparent in Lena’s life, even if she doesn’t notice it. Harold refuses to throw away his old table that he made in college, stating that it has sentimental value. This is just like Lena. Love is not a bundle of rules agreed upon so the couple can live together. A set of rules does not guarantee balance in life. Balance and love, at the end of the day, is the ability and willingness to acknowledge the others faults, and change the rules to ensure

Jing-Mei travels back to China to meet with her long-lost sisters. She dreams of an authentic Chinese meal and discovering her Chinese self. While staying in a Chinese hotel, she thinks to herself “This is Communist China?”(277). She is amazed of the American items in this Chinese hotel. The hotel lives between an American and Chinese life, just like Jing-Mei. She thinks of herself as an American, and when she looks at herself through a mirror she thinks “this girl is chinese?”This American and Chinese duality represented in the hotel and in Jing-Mei ties in with the two forms of love Jing-Mei has given her mother throughout her life. Jing-Mei respects and loves her mother, just as any other daughter would, but her American side often conflicts with Suyuan’s Chinese upbringing. The hotel brings in focus Jing-Mei’s duality and the consequences of it. In contrast, Rose and Ted’s house lives on the edge of civilization and nature. Rose’s house contains a garden that requires continuous maintenance to prevent it from overtaking the house. “He used to work on the garden every weekend, kneeling on a rubber pad obsessively inspecting every leaf as if he were manicuring fingernails” (192). The house portrays Ted, and the garden is Rose. Ted fails to watch the garden for two weeks, and the garden manages to grow roots and wrap the walls of the house. The house argues it is more sophisticated and