A mother cautions her seven-year-old daughter not to ride her bicycle around the corner. When the daughter protests, her mother explains that the child will fall, will cry out — and will be out of earshot. It is all written in a book called The Twenty-Six Malignant Gates, the mother […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Part II: The Twenty-Six Malignant GatesSummary and Analysis Ying-ying St. Clair: The Moon Lady
The drama in which the Moon Lady is a major character concerns the loss and reclamation of cultural and individual identities. Four-year-old Ying-ying, who has fallen overboard, is desperate to be “found” — to once again be reunited with her family — and with herself. She feels as though she […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Ying-ying St. Clair: The Moon LadySummary and Analysis Lindo Jong: The Red Candle
Like earlier chapters, this one also deals with the theme of sacrifice and filial obligations. Earlier, An-mei’s mother sacrificially mutilated herself for her mother; here, Lindo submits her life to her parents’ plans for her future: “I once sacrificed my life to keep my parents’ promise,” the chapter begins. Lindo […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Lindo Jong: The Red CandleSummary and Analysis An-mei Hsu: Scar
To June Woo, the mothers who treasure the evenings that they spend together at the Joy Luck Club seem little more than elderly, middle-class women in their “slacks, bright print blouses, and different versions of sturdy walking shoes.” Yet we know now that the life of June’s mother, Suyuan, was […]
Read more Summary and Analysis An-mei Hsu: ScarSummary and Analysis Jing-mei Woo: The Joy Luck Club
“Before I wrote The Joy Luck Club,” Tan said in an interview, “my mother told me, ‘I might die soon. And if I die, what will you remember?”‘ Tan’s answer appears on the book’s dedication page, emphasizing the novel’s adherence to truth. How much of the story is real? “All […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Jing-mei Woo: The Joy Luck ClubSummary and Analysis Part I: Feathers from a Thousand Li Away
A brief parable introduces one of the novel’s primary themes: transformation. An old woman remembers purchasing an unusual “swan” in a Shanghai market; the swan had originally been a duck, but it stretched its neck so long — trying to become a goose — that it eventually looked exactly like […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Part I: Feathers from a Thousand Li AwayCharacter List – Page 2
The Mothers Suyuan Woo The central event in Suyuan’s life is the loss of her twin baby daughters. In a desperate attempt to save her babies from the Japanese troops advancing through China, Suyuan leaves them by the side of the road. Soon after, she meets her second husband, Canning […]
Read more Character List – Page 2About The Joy Luck Club
It was not until the 1976 publication of Maxine Hong Kingston’s mystical memoir of her San Francisco childhood, The Woman Warrior, that Asian-American writers broke into mainstream American literature. Even so, ten more years had to pass until another Asian-American writer achieved fame and fortune. The Joy Luck Club, Amy […]
Read more About The Joy Luck Club