An-Mei Hsu: Magpies; The Joy Luck Club- Amy Tan; point of view

     In this final section of the book, Tan has An-Mei share her story of how her mother, who did not have a good life herself, created a better life for her children.  An-Mei has a certain point of view of Second Wife when she gives An-Mei the pearls, but when An-Mei's mother shows her that the pearls are fake, An-Mei no longer feels that Second Wife gave them out of the goodness of her heart.  Here is the quote when An-Mei found out the necklace was fake,

 "This necklace had almost bought my heart and mind now had one bead of crushed glass."

An-Mei realized that she shouldn't be quick to give her heart away; she should know more about the person and take time for she pledges her heart's allegiance.  An-Mei no longer thinks highly of Second Wife.
     An-Mei's mother had no choice in making her life better, that is how China was.  She could not change her life and improve her conditions.  But now An-Mei lives in America and here she can change her life, so can her daughter.  An-Mei wants her daughter to try and save her marriage, or try to make her life better.  An-Mei believes that if she doesn't try now she will lose her life forever.  In today's society we have the power to make a difference in our lives and in others.  We should use every available opportunity to improve our lives and help others.  This is what An-Mei wants her daughter to do. 

Jing-Mei Woo: Best Quality; The Joy Luck Club- Amy Tan; pathos

     In the final chapter of the section "American Translation," Tan evokes pity from the reader for Jing-Mei when she is talking to Waverly at the dinner table; this is known as pathos.  Waverly belittles Jing-Mei, or June, when she says her ad she made for the law firm Waverly works for was not acceptable.  Waverly should have told June when they were alone that it needed to be fixed.  Waverly said this to June at the dinner table during the celebration of the Chinese New Year,

" 'Listen, June, I don't know how to tell you this.  That stuff you wrote, well, the firm decided it was unacceptable.' "

The reader can't help but feel pity for June after Waverly does this.  Waverly embarrassed June in front of her family and close family friends.  In the end June's mother helped her realize that it does not matter what others say only what you think and that you have someone that loves you.
     What others say about us is hard for everyone at some point or another in their life.  I know I have struggled with this before, and I don't doubt that I struggle with it in the future.  I always try to keep in mind that if people feel like gossiping about me right now, oh well, that's life.  In the long run, what they say isn't going to matter at all.

Waverly Jong: Four Directions and Rose Hsu Jordan: Without Wood; The Joy Luck Club- Amy Tan; apostrophe

     In these two chapters there is a common theme involved; Waverly and Rose, with their mothers, both come to a deeper understanding of each other.  Another similarity between the chapters is an apostrophe which is a figure of speech dealing with something abstract.  Waverly's friend Marlene told Waverly to just tell her mom to shut up, so she could live her life.  Waverly's response was this,

" 'Well, I don't know if it's explicitly stated in the law, but you can't ever tell a Chinese mother to shut up.  You could be charged as an accessory to your own murder.' "

This is an apostrophe; Waverly refers to something abstract.  In this case she is referring to part of the Chinese culture, in which, one does not silence a mother.  A stronger apostrophe can be found in Rose's story.  Rose talks of an old Chinese legend, of how when she was young her mother would tell her to go to where Old Mr. Chou is (dreams).   She describes a time in her adulthood when she had a nightmare like this,

"In the dark, I couldn't see Old Mr. Chou, but he said he would find me, and when he did, he would squish me into the ground."

Throughout her life Rose had the wrong idea about Old Mr. Chou.  She thought of him as an evil person and not the friendly one that he really is supposed to be.  Old Mr. Chou is a strong apostrophe; he is an abstract person, imaginary, and does not really exist.  This is like in today's society imaginary friends.  Imaginary friends are like apostrophes, abstract people, they don't really exist.

 

Lena St. Clair: Rice Husband; The Joy Luck Club-Amy Tan; hyperbole

     Lena has married a man named Harold Livotny; this chapter, Lena tells a story from her childhood that relates to her troublesome marriage.  In her marriage to Harold, they share expenses and did not combine their money.  When Lena was a young girl her mother told her that the more rice she left in her bowl the worse the man she would marry would be.  Ying-Ying warned her daughter to eat all her rice.

" 'Aii, Lena,' she said after that dinner so many years ago, 'your future husband have one pock mark for every rice you not finish.' "

Ying-Ying uses this hyperbole to enforce the idea that Lena should finish her rice.  This is like other persuasions parents use to get their children to finish their food.  For avid sport children parents will say the food "makes them stronger," with others they say they will not have dessert if they do not finish everything on their plate.

     Lena's mother is spending some time at Harold's and Lena's home until they are done renovating hers.  When Ying-Ying accidentally knocked over a vase and it broke, Lena said it was alright she knew it would break.  Her mother asked why she didn't try to fix it.  Ying-Ying was implying that she should try to fix her marriage.

Jing-Mei Woo: Two Kinds; The Joy Luck Club- Amy Tan; inference

  In this new chapter Tan uses Jing-Mei as the narrator again.  Jing-Mei and her mother are an exception to the alternating mother-daughter narrator pattern.  Since Jing-Mei's mother is deceased, Jing-Mei will be the only narrator of both of their stories.  Although Tan does follow the normal order of the section in this chapter; Jing-Mei does tell a story about her life and not her mothers.  Jing-Mei tells a story about how her mother tried to make her a child prodigy.  Her mother, Suyuan, wanted to brag to her friend about her daughter, just as Lindo bragged about her daughter Waverly.  The final option for Jing-Mei was piano lessons.  Jing-Mei reluctantly started piano and soon inferred that her piano instructor, Mr. Chong, was deaf and his eyes were too weak to see all the wrong notes played.  Jing-Mei then tells the reader, after hitting many wrong notes, "So that's how i discovered that Old Chong's eyes were too slow to keep up with the wrong notes I was playing."  Jing-Mei then embarrassed herself and her mother at the talent show when she hit many wrong notes.  Jing-Mei succeeded in spiting her mother and after the next week's argument she was not forced to play piano anymore.  She finally appreciated the piano and lessons when she was thirty.

     This is not unlike the first chapter when Jing-Mei talked about her and Suyuan not understanding each other.  Jing-Mei thought her mother wanted her to be perfect while her mother's intentions were for her to do her best, they both may have become a little side-tracked from their original plans.  The song by Miley Cyrus "Nobody's Perfect" came to mind as I read this chapter.  The Cyrus song talks about the reality that no one is perfect but we should all keep trying.  Jing-Mei and her mother did not have a perfect relationship but if Suyaun had still been alive they should have continued to keep improving their relationship.

Check out the song here:

Rose Hsu Jordan: Half and Half; The Joy Luck Club-Amy Tan; scapegoat

     Rose, the new narrator of this chapter, discusses her and her mother's faith in God.  She tells the narrative of when her brother Bing died at four-years old when he fell into the ocean.  Each member of the family says why Bing's death is their fault.  An-Mei, Roses mother, takes the blame from Rose when she says, " 'I told you to stop their fight.  I told you to take your eyes off him.' "  An-Mei took the blame becoming the scapegoat; even though, the blame was not on just one person.

     Rose connects this childhood tragedy to her husband's recent desire for a divorce.  She knows she has to keep her faith strong.  After Rose tells her mother, she tells Rose she needs to fight for her marriage.  An-Mei tells Rose to work on her marriage even if the outcome of divorce seems inevitable. 

This song by Carrie Underwood would have helped the Hsus cope with the death of Bing, reminding them that there is a place in heaven prepared for us.

Lena St.Clair: The Voice from the Wall; The Joy Luck Club-Amy Tan; imagery

     This next chapter of The Joy Luck Club continues the current theme of mother-daughter relationships and the narrator is Ying-Ying's daughter Lena.  She tells a childhood story of how herself and her mother, having Chinese heritage, look deeper into the dangers and outcomes of situations.  Lena and her mother see hidden dangers in certain objects.  Most people today would not be concerned with the possible tragic outcome of a tether ball set or monkey bars.  Society sees the immediate dangers; such as, falling off and being hit with the tether ball.  This quote from the current chapter adds vivid imagery to the story.

"And the dead man embraced my great-grnadfather with the jagged pieces of his arm and pulled him through the wall, to show him what he meant."

      The imagery used here engages the readers' "mind's eye" and they see with their imagination the man who was "like a smashed vase hastily put back together."  This chapter tells the reader a little bit more about Lena's and Ying-Ying's relationship.  Lena tells her American dad what her mother is saying when she says something in Chinese and does not translate it herself into English.  Lena and her mother show a common bond in being afraid of the possible dangers of a situation.  This is similar to today's society when children begin to care for their own parents.  As one's parents get older the children tend to take care of them more, similar to when the parents took care of their children.  The roles are reversed, similar to what happens in this chapter when Ying-Ying struggles with coping with the death of her newborn son; Lena takes care of her mother.