Abstract This paper takes a look at how AmyTan's stories and novels have shaped the American view of the experience of Asian-American immigrants. The paper looks at the contrasts that AmyTan had to face, especially in terms of the clash with her mother's culture, and the confrontation of the experiences of Asian immigrants in American history.
From the Paper "A look at how Tan's stories and novels have shaped the American view of the experience of Asian-American immigrants. Looks at the contrasts the Amy Tan had to face, especially in terms of culture clash with her mother's culture, and Tan's confrontation of the experiences of Asian immigrants in American history."
This paper provides an examination of the soaring career, culture, and works of Chinese-American author AmyTan with a special emphasis on her novel, "The Hundred Secret Senses".
2,400 words (approx. 9.6 pages), 10 sources, 2001, $ 73.95
Abstract This paper examines the life, career and literature of best-selling Chinese-American author AmyTan. The author focuses specifically on her novel "The Hundred Secret Senses", and examines the history of Chinese-American immigrants, the discrimination they were subjected to, and the pressures of assimilation into American culture. The paper also looks at the pull between Chinese tradition and American way of life, and how Tan struggles with this issue in her writing.
From the Paper "In only a handful of novels, Amy Tan has brought us the legends and stories of her background. She has introduced the American public to a new world of fiction, based on her own experiences mingled with the experiences of her ancestors in their beloved homeland of China . In these stories, she has shown herself to be a writer of uncommon technical skills, powers of observation, and richness of humanity, a combination of gifts that inspires her many readers to eager anticipation of her future works."
Abstract This paper analyzes the theme of freedom found in novels by AmyTan and, particularly, in her novel "The Joy Luck Club". The paper shows that, while all of Tan's novels emphasize this theme, "The Joy Luck Club", in particular, underscores how important individual freedom is even when it seems to come in conflict with one's duty to family.
From the Paper "In her novel, The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan stresses the importance of individual freedom more than duty to family in several stories. In "The Joy Luck Club," "The Red Candle," "Magpies," "Without Wood," and "Rice Husband," Tan emphasizes the importance of individual freedom in any culture. The women in these stories overcome difficult obstacles and emerge self-confident and proud. This is not to say that their struggles were easy. In fact, many of the women must face difficult situations with their mothers, which sometimes leads to conflict. Within these conflicts, we see how these problems can be solved through communication and understanding. While balance between duty to family and individual freedom can be difficult to find, the strong female characters in The Joy Luck Club prove that it is always are worthwhile venture."
This paper discusses the use of two forms of vision--mirrors and storytelling--in AmyTan's "The Joy Luck Club" in relationship to the mother-daughter legacy.
Abstract This paper explains that, in AmyTan's "The Joy Luck Club", the mothers use the oral tradition of story-telling to cement, ameliorate or transform the trauma of their past lives in China to their daughters as a method for rewriting these stories of oppression and victimization into parables of self-affirmation and individual empowerment. The author points out that the motif of the mirror is a form of vision used often by Tan to allow the mothers and daughter to communicate. The paper concludes that this novel clearly demonstrates the usage of storytelling and mirrors as effective tools in creating bonds between mothers and daughter of each generation, which is self-perpetuating, even if unintentional.
From the Paper "In another story involving a mirror, mother is shocked to see that her married daughter has placed a mirrored armoire at the foot of the bed. This is bad feng shui. In feng shui, the Eastern art of placement, harmony must be created in an environment and any bad angles must be "cured". Sleeping with a mirror at the foot of your bed is said to frighten your essence and create bad energy. She is certain that the mirror will deflect all happiness from her daughter's marriage, so she "cures" the situation by giving her daughter a mirror to hang above the bed. This will reverse the bad luck and bring good "peach-blossom luck," the mother says. Such luck, she adds, will ensure a grandchild."
Abstract This paper takes a look at the works of AmyTan, "Two Kinds," from the perspective of new historical criticism, which looks at the authors life and environment along with the work itself.
From the Paper "Amy Tan writes about autobiographical events and circumstances in her life in her works The Joy Luck Club and ?Two Kinds.? "Two Kinds" is a slice of events from her childhood that shows the conflict between Tan and her mother, the collision of old and new cultures, the past and the present, parents? expectations vs. reality, and obedience vs. defiance. Pairs of opposing elements comprise the whole of the story; the title itself, ?Two Kinds,? shows the tension that Tan creates. The argument that presents itself is that Amy Tan is the only person who could have written this story because only she experienced those opposing elements. An examination of "Two Kinds" defends this theory. "
Abstract This paper provides a biography of the author, along with come critical reactions to some of her best-known works and a short analysis of "The Joy Luck Club," her first book. It explains how AmyTan has become one of the most beloved Asian-American authors in America today. It shows how her moving novels open up Asian-American culture to many new readers and allow them to experience the joys and frustrations of Asian-Americans creating new lives for themselves in the United States.
From the Paper "Amy began her dreams of writing at a young age. She won an essay contest when she was only eight-years old, and she began to dream of a writing career after this, while her parents encouraged her to become a doctor or scientist and to play concert piano for a relaxing hobby. Tan lost both her brother and father to brain tumors when she was only fifteen, and after this, her mother simply returned completely to her Chinese customs, turning her back on American ways. Eventually, Tan's mother even left America, and took the children to Europe, where they eventually settled in Montreux, Switzerland."
Abstract This paper explores the dominant theme of mother-daughter conflict and fragmented cultural identity in AmyTan's "The Joy Luck Club," "Two Kinds," and "The Kitchen God's Wife".
From the Paper "Waverly's mother, misunderstanding her daughter's angry outburst, thinks Waverly is saying she is ashamed of her Chinese mother, especially to be seen with her in public. But Waverly means simply that she would like her mother to stop bragging about her because she herself feels embarrassed by it. The misunderstanding brought about by this heated exchange, however, clouds the mother-daughter relationship for years afterward. Neither one can or will forget about it, even long after Waverly grows up and leaves home. To Waverly's Chinese mother, family solidarity and pride is her most important value. But to her American-born and thoroughly Americanized daughter, individuality and independence are far more important, and she resents what she sees as her mother's smothering attitude. In this early scene in the novel, Waverly is not in fact rejecting her mother, but instead simply asserting her own separateness from her, a distinction Waverly's mother finds impossible to understand."
Abstract In this article the writer notes that the main protagonists in 'The Kitchen God's Wife' by AmyTan spend several decades fighting each other because of their differences that come from having completely different pasts. The writer explains that Winnie, the mother, was born and brought up in China and her daughter Pearl, lived all of her life in the United States. The writer then points out that when they finally begin to listen to each other, they realize that despite their different upbringing, they share more than they ever realized as women and mother and daughter. The writer concludes that with changing circumstances, the two are eventually able to begin to open up and peel away the layers that keep them apart.
From the Paper "Even if these two women were more open, their differences would have created barriers between them. Pearl, due to the death of her father when she was a teenager, has not completely grown up emotionally--despite the fact that she now is a wife and mother, herself. Her trauma has kept part of her from reaching maturity and being more patient and understanding of her mother. As children often do, she has a difficult time tolerating some of Winnie's personality traits and human quirks. Phil, Pearl's husband, who gets along well with his mother-in-law, tries to enhance the communication between the two women. He tells Pearl that she is being selfish and life is not always exactly as you want it. He is no more successful in bringing the mother and daughter together. In fact, in some ways he worsens the situation by making Pearl more resistant to change. Meanwhile, Winnie's experiences in the past have made her more negative and less patient overall with life. Whereas once she was a hopeful and happy young woman, she has turned into a much more fearful, superstitious and cautious individual."
Abstract In this article, the writer explores the real life of AmyTan and the translation of her life through her large body of work. The research not only involves biographical information but quotes from her books as they relate to her life and the influence of Asian culture on those works as well as her life. The works that are focused on in this essay include 'The Kitchen God's Wife', 'The Bonesetter's Daughter', 'The Joy Luck Club' and others. The main development of the essay is based upon the comparing qualities found in 'The Joy Luck Club'.
From the Paper "After the death of the figurehead of the family and the brother, Tan, her mother Daisy and the younger brother Peter moved to Montreux, Switzerland. As Tan grew older she began to realize the great gap that existed between herself and her mother due to their difference in culture. As Tan grew up she realized that there was much tension between herself and her mother. Tan eventually moved away from home and gained her master's degree in linguistics at San Jose State University. Tan's first job was as a children's speech therapist.
"In the history of Tan's family there is a deep connection between the events of the mother as they relate to the daughter. Tan's own mother Daisy was witness to her mother's suicide. It is through this event and the succession of other events that Tan held the belief that the women of her family, her grandmother, her mother and even herself suffered from depression."
Tags: relationship, assimilation, western, society
From the Paper "The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan contains sixteen stories that focus on the relationship among four Chinese born mothers and their American born daughters live their lives. Throughout The Joy Luck Club, Tan emphasizes the different ways of showing their love and respect towards each other; especially, how daughters do not seem to understand or appreciate their mothers? intentions and love hidden their actions. Tan does a wonderful job on portraying the different points of view the mothers and daughters have and different ways of loving each other into her masterpiece."
Abstract This paper compares 'Everyday Use' by Alice Walker and 'Two Kinds' by AmyTan which represent two types of mother daughter relationships as they relate to time, place and race. While Walker's story focuses on the relationship between a retiring black woman and her haughty daughter, Tan's touches upon the connection between an ambitious Chinese woman living in America and her goals for her young daughter.
Abstract This book review examines the nature of mother-daughter relationships and the Chinese immigrant experience as reflected in Any Tan's novel "The Kitchen God's Wife." The review discusses the common themes in Tan's novels, such as cultural conflict often seen between the generations. These themes are further analyzed in terms of the characters' personalities and experiences. The reviewer also considers some of the literary devices that the author used to illustrate these conflicts. The paper also cites various literary critics' opinions of the novel.
From the Paper "With these two elements in mind, this paper provides a discussion and analysis of the "immigrant experiences" of Weili and Pearl. While Pearl is already considered an assimilated member of the American culture, her identity as Chinese-American persists, making this 'immigrant experience' not only applicable to her mother, but to her as well. This paper posits that the immigrant experience is best demonstrated through two recurrent themes in the novel: cultural conflict and the persistence of reality over 'made-up' history, or fictional personal history."
Tags:Amy, Tan, The, Kitchen, God's, Wife, Chinese, immigration, generation, gap
Abstract This paper discusses the way in which AmyTan manages to weave the theme of cross cultures and identities in most of her works, focusing on "The Hundred Secret Senses." It describes the main character of Kwan who also represents this confusion and uncertainty of her identity.
From the Paper "As is suggested by its title, The Hundred Secret Senses, Amy Tan's work of fiction suggests that there are senses that go beyond the five customary ones individuals think of when analyzing the ways that human beings perceptually relate to the world. Tan is a writer primarily interested in how individuals located between cultures conceptualize their identities. She suggests that identity and truth, are mutable and constantly in flux, dependent upon perceptions that lie deeper than the material world. Two of three main characters in the text are bi-racial, the half-white and half-Chinese Olivia Yee and her half-Hawaiian husband Simon."
Abstract This paper analyzers the ways that AmyTan, in "Rules of the Game" and Alice Walker in "Everyday Use" investigate the relationships between mothers and daughters. It looks at how these relationships that the authors find compelling in and of themselves, are also found to be illuminative of the larger conflicts between past and future, tradition and progress, the Old World and the New. It shows how both writers root their stories within a specific ethnic tradition and how both are also engaged in that retelling of the universal.
From the Paper "Amy Tan in "Rules of the Game" and Alice Walker in "Everyday Use" investigate the relationships between mothers and daughters, relationships that the authors find compelling in and of themselves and that they also find to be illuminative of the larger conflicts .."
This paper discusses AmyTan's essay "Mother Tongue" about her experience as a Chinese descendant with a mother whose English skills could best be described as 'limited'.
Abstract This paper explains that in AmyTan's essay "Mother Tongue", Tan reflects on the linguistic tensions which plagued her childhood and adolescence and made her believe that her parents' broken English was having a negative impact on her performance in school. The author points out that her difficulties with English made her intensely aware of the different versions of the language she had seen, spoken and found acceptable. The paper states that AmyTan's essay is definitely an effective and powerful statement not only on variations of English and her exposure to the same but also on class and cultural discrimination, which people encounter because of their inability to use proper standardized English.
From the Paper "While at school, she was taught standardized English, at work and with college audience, she used similar idiomatic English, the versions she used with her mother and husband were more intimate and personal to her. This personal version she describes as simple English because it lacked vast standard vocabulary but to Tan herself, this variation was anything but fragmented. "...to me, my mother's English is perfectly clear, perfectly natural. It's my mother tongue. Her language, as I hear it, is vivid, direct, full of observation and imagery.""
