"The Joy Luck Club"

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how, in the context of the Woos, Jongs, Hsus, and St. Clairs in Amy Tan's book, "The Joy Luck Club", the tension between mothers and daughters is greater than just a change in generations. It discusses how the mothers are all first generation immigrants from Mainland China and how the values their daughters learn and adopt from the contemporary American society are very different and challenging. The paper further explores what kind of healing is needed to provide these families with some common ground and understanding between generations and what could be done to bring about a better relationship between mothers and daughters. In addition, the paper also proposes a concept to heal the alienation between the rift between the daughters and their mothers in the book.

From the Paper:

"The Joy Luck Club daughters are so impressed with this presentation, they immediately plan to put on a play just for their own families and for their immediate community of Chinese-Americans and close Caucasian friends. They know how much their mothers and their ancestors respected Confucius and the Buddha. The play they wrote embraced the teachings of Confucius in the play, and it was designed to show their mothers they have the same respect for Chinese cultural history as they do for American cultural history. The play will remind listeners that much of what Confucius taught to the Chinese community represented a dramatic departure from the ideas and practices of his day, just like many of the cultural rituals in America are a departure to Chinese immigrants. "

Sample of Sources Used:

• Coleman, James William. (2001). The New Buddhism: The Western Transformation of an Ancient Tradition. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press.
• Dylan, Bob. (1963). The Times They Are A-changin. Columbia Records.
• Nelson, Nancy Owen. (1995). Private Voices, Public Lives: Women Speak on the Literary Life. Dallas: University of North Texas Press.
• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. (2007). Confucius. Retrieved Feb. 21, 2008, from http://www.science.uva.nl/~seop/entries/confucius/.
• Tan, Amy. (1989). The Joy Luck Club. New York: Putman's.

More papers on "The Joy Luck Club":

• Comparison Essay # 32877 : "The Joy Luck Club": Story Comparison"
• Film Review # 36109 : "The Joy Luck Club"
• Book Review # 32509 : "The Joy Luck Club"
• Analytical Essay # 29286 : "Amy Tan's "The Joy Luck Club"

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