A Motherly Role-The Joy Luck Club

A detailed Summary of A Motherly Role-The Joy Luck Club

A reoccurring theme in Amy Tan's novels is mother-daughter relationships. In each of her three novels she represents different roles of the mother and the effects of each; The Joy Luck Club depicts mothers living through daughters, The Kitchen God's Wife portrays mother teaching daughter through past experience, and finally The Hundred Secret Senses displays non-existence of the mother in the relationship.

This excerpt from The Joy Luck Club shows what kinds of things, from real accomplishments to the uncontrollable features of nature.

"Auntie Lin and my mother were both best friends and arch-enemies who spent a lifetime comparing their children. I was one month older than Waverly Jong, Auntie Lin's prized daughter. From the time we were babies, our mothers compared the creases in our belly buttons, how shapely our earlobes were, how fast we healed after we scraped our knees, how thick and dark our hair was, how many shoes we wore out in one year, and later, how smart Waverly was at playing chess, how many trophies she had won last month, how many cites she had visited" (27).

Jing-Mei, the piano player in The Joy Luck Club, felt the most pressure from her mother, because her mother had to follo

'"She bring home too many trophy, lamented Auntie Lindo that Sunday. "All day she play chess. All day I have no time do nothing but dust off her winnings." She threw a scolding look at Waverly, who pretended not to see her.

"In the years that followed, I failed her so many times, each time asserting my own will, my right to fall short of expectations. I didn't get straight A's. I didn't become class president. I didn't get in to Stanford. I dropped out of college.

"And in my father's eyes, I had been perfect, his "perfect Pearl," and not the irritation I always seemed to be with my mother" (48). Never could it have been that Winnie did not love Pearl. Because of Winnie's horrid past her possible over protection of Peal might have been mistaken as "irritation". Maternal instinct drives Winnie to protect her daughter. "So you see, I did not have a mother to tell me who to marry, who not to marry. Not like you. Although sometimes, even a mother cannot help her daughter, no matter what." If Pearl were to ever go through what her mother did, Winnie would not be able to forgive herself for allowing such a catastrophe to happen. "That man considers himself first, you second, and maybe later you will be third or fourth, then never" (134). She shares with Pearl after recognizing the familiarity with Wen Fu.

"With Kwan around my mother could float guiltlessly through her honeymoon phase with Bob. When my teacher called Mom to say I was running a fever, it was Kwan who showed up at the nurse's office to take me home. When I fell while roller-skating, Kwan bandaged my elbows. She braided my hair. She packed lunches for Kevin, Tommy, and me. She tried to teach me to sing Chinese nursery songs. She soothed me when I lost a tooth. She ran the wash cloth over my neck when I took my bath" (12).

To Olivia, no matter how much Kwan did for her and how little her own mother cared for her, Kwan cold never begin to substitute their mother. "To Mom, Kwan was a handy baby-sitter, willing, able, and free" (11). Olivia's mother was so intensely preoccupied she failed to notice the need of her own daughter. "I should have been grateful to Kwan. I could always depend on her. She liked nothing better than to be by my side. But instead, most of the time I resented her for taking my mother's place" (12).

For the mothers this competitive nature was meant to build confidence and secure the success of their daughter, for the weaker and less confident personality, like Jing-Mei's, the inability to come out on top, effected her self-ima

Some common words found in the essay are:
Waverly Jing-Mei, Auntie Lindo, Luck Club, Mom Kwan, God's Wife, Questions Jing-Mei, Pearl Winnie's, Kwan Olivia's, Auntie Lin's, Fu Winnie, joy luck, luck club, joy luck club, mother daughter, mother mother, kitchen god's wife, god's wife, kitchen god's, success stories, strong woman, hundred secret, winnie pearl, hundred secret senses,

Approximate Word count = 1731
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English