Expectations in Childhood

Paper Summary:

This paper examines Julius Lester's feelings in "Being a Boy" about not being able to fulfill society's expectations of proper boy behavior, and the feelings expressed in Amy Tan's "The Joy Luck Club" of not being able to fulfill the expectations of one's parents. A comparison is drawn as to which of each story's characters has the greater burden of expectations.

From the Paper:

"According to Julius Lester's on "Being a Boy," the author was never particularly good at fulfilling masculine ideals. ?As boys go, I wasn't much,? he says. He says he spent many childhood hours "pummeling" his ego because of his inability to play cowboys and Indians properly, even to steal his neighbor's fruit without becoming ill. However, Lester's preoccupations with masculinity and femininity seem to pale in contrast to the worries of the women in Amy Tan's novel The Joy Luck Club. Rather than simply worrying about growing up to be proper women, the protagonists of the novel must concern themselves of fitting their ideas about gender, their ethnic heritage, and their status as assimilated daughters of native Chinese mothers, into the fabric of their American identities."

More papers on Expectations in Childhood:

• Book Review # 113240 : "Adults and Children of "Great Expectations"
• Analytical Essay # 23310 : "The Future of Pip and Estella in Charles Dickens' "Great Expectations"
• Book Review # 147522 : "Charles Dickens' "Great Expectations"

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