Where Past Meets Present

Paper Summary:

This paper reviews, compares and contrasts two contemporary American novels by female writers: Amy Tan's "The Joy Luck Club" and "Woman Warrior" by Maxine Hong Kingston. The paper explains that women writers in particular tend to focus on the cultures from which they have emerged, exploring the influence of culture on the identity of their female protagonists. This paper studies how the female protagonists in both of these novels seek equilibrium between their Chinese heritage and their emerging American identities.

From the Paper:

"The protagonist is continually at odds with her mother because she insists that the narrator play the traditional role of a submissive daughter. The mother also believes that the narrator will join a company of wives and slaves, but ironically she teaches her the song of the woman warrior Fa Mu Lan. Through time the narrator learns valuable lessons from her mother and at moments has admiration for her. Maturity and growth enable the narrator to overcome her fears of China and her family. The American culture made her life less complex and much more simplistic. Along with simplicity, the narrator may have lost some vitality due to the artificial atmosphere of the American culture. She eventually achieves her own cultural identity blending both her Chinese background and her American future."

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