Novel

Joy Luck Club

Tan, Amy. Joy Luck CLub. 1st ed. New York City: Ballantine Books, 1990.

                      The novel tells the story of four American born daughters born to immigrant mother from China. The American daughters are Jing-Mei, Waverly, Rose and Lena. Each daughter goes through an identity crisis with their Chinese heritage. They feel embarrassed of their culture because they are embarrassed of theirs mothers and their fractured English. One of the daughters, Lena is half White and Chinese. As a child, she would walk around the house with her eyes opened wide, so that she could look less Chinese. In addition, the main character and daughter, Jing Mei Woo as a child, would deny that she is of Chinese ancestry, which is also denying her mother. Eventually, Jing-mei feels guilty that she ever felt ashamed of her culture and mother after her mother dies. She wants to be a good daughter to her, and decides to visit to feel connected with her origins. She also goes to China to complete her mother’s lifetime mission to see her daughters she abandoned in WWWII. In China, Jing-mei Woo meets her half sisters. She feels complete and accepts her culture at the end of the novel.