The Joy Luck Club

The Joy Luck Club

(Amy Tan 332)

True identity, it is what many first generation immigrants to the United States forget when they move to the States. In the story The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, the main character Jing-mei Woo forgets her true identity because of the fact that she is a first generation Chinese girl in the America. Throughout the book Jing-mei faces many problems in her life as a child growing up in America, she faces many problems because of the environment that she lives in, but in the end she finally finds her true identity.

During the early and part of Jing-meiЎЇs adult life Jing-mei faces many problems in her life because of the pressures she received from her family to succeed. When Jing-mei was a child her mother Suyuan was determined to make her the best at something. At first she tried to make her into a Chinese Shirley Temple, then a pianist, but Jing-mei realized that this is not what she wanted to do with her life. Jing-mei had to face other children that had special talents that Jing-mei did not posses which cause Jing-meiЎЇs mother to look down on her. Jing-mei also had to live with not only disappointment from her family, but ridicule from Jing-meiЎЇs peers for her lack of talent. Jing-mei had decided that she would not let anyone make her do what she did not want to do, but with this came the burden of living as the failure, that she was seen as.

Jing-mei also faces many problems because of the environment that she lives in. Jing-mei receives pressure from her family because as the first generation to live in America, her parents believe that she must succeed, and this is made worse by the belief by Jing-meiЎЇs parents that everything is possible in America. She also faces the problem of forgetting where her true culture is from because of SuyuanЎЇs wish to make Jing-mei and Americanized girl. As Suyuan tries to Americanize Jing-mei the beliefs that Jing-mei has and the beliefs of Suyuan clash because of the differences in the two cultures. Because of the beliefs that Suyuan has in America, this causes problems for Jing-mei, and causes the two to never really agree on anything.

At the end of the novel Jing-mei goes to China, to fulfill the wishes of her mother after her death, which was to located and find SuyuanЎЇs other daughters who were left behind