Joy Luck Club: In Depth Behind Tan and Her Writing

The Joy Luck Club was her first big success and was translated into

seventeen languages and stood at New York Times best-seller list for

nine months. The plot follows the lives of four Chinese Immigrant

mothers and their American born daughters. Tan weaves an intricate

story as the the four families intertwine and reveal their own secrets

forming and strengthening the mother daughter bond.

The story begins on one daughter, Jing-mei, who takes the place of

her mother at the Joy Luck Club table in place of her mother (Suyan Woo)

who had died. This club was created by the four mothers of the story,

Suyan Woo, An-mei Hsu, Lindo Jong, and Ying-ying St. Clair during the

war. The mothers met and played Mah-Jong, ate good dinners, and

gambled. All to escape the cruelties of their lives, to brighten their

spirits.

Jing-mei learns of her mother's past, of her difficult decisions such

as leaving behind two daughters in China on the side of the road. The

club learns of the location of those two daughters and are saving to send

Jing-mei to meet them.

As the date nears each mother recalls in vivid detail their own pasts

in China.

An-mei (mother of Rose Hsu) as a child was forbidden to speak her

mother's name. She was told her mother dishonered the family by

remarrying after her husbands death. Her mother ends up killing herself

to give An-mei a better position in life.

Lindo (mother of Waverly Jong) had her marriage arranged when

she was very young. The young man she was destined to wed was spoiled

and immature. Lindo fabricated a an elaborate story about an angry

ancestor who would kill her husband should they stay married. She was

given money and pushed off to America and was told to not speak of the

curse to anyone.

Ying-ying (mother of Lena St. Clair) discovered as a child that the

magic and wonder of many things she believed in such as a favorite Moon

Festival was only an elaborate act. As an adult Ying is a strong character,

not letting things in general affect her.

The daughters also remember their own lives growing up in

California with their Chinese mothers. Many of the daughters grew up,

like Tan, feeling they belonged neither in China nor in America and

began to reject and question their own background.

Waverly was a chess champion, she quit when she and her friend

Lindo fought. As an adult she is starting to see major flaws in his once

'perfect' personality.

Waverly and the other daughters are now seeing the Chinese part

of them in a whole new light. They do not shun their heritage, but rather

they find it as much a part of them as their soul.

Jing finds herself at the door of her half-sisters home and is

stressed because she feels she does not belong there. But when the door

opens the sisters embrace and Jing realizes that Chinese is in her blood,

it is always a part of her.