Themes
The novel, The Joy Luck Club, written by Amy Tan is divided into many vignettes that each treat a different topic and theme. Every flash back or story of each character has s a different theme, however, there are three themes that appear constantly in the story. Most of these themes are shown by most of the characters in the novel. Sometimes for some it was really obvious, while on the other hand for others it was not. The first theme that appeared constantly throughout the novel was sacrifice. Sacrifice was mainly shown by An-Mei's mother whose name was Nuyer. The way she sacrificed herself was that she killed herself to give her daughter a stronger spirit. "When the poison broke into her body, she whispered to me that she would rather kill her own weak spirit so she could give me a stronger one." (Tan, pg.271) In this example it shows the great sacrifice her mother did for her daughter. Another sacrifice shown is when Nuyer cuts her own flesh to save her mother popo from dying. An example of this is, "My mother took her flesh and put in the soup. She cooked . . . to try to cure her mother this one last time." (Tan, pg.41) In the example given it is shown how a daughter is willing to do anything for their mother jus
For example like in these stories that even though the novel had about 6 different themes only three of them where the ones who truly appeared through the whole novel. These types of sacrifices were seen along through the novel in between the mothers and daughters. She does not have enough trust to tell her the things the way they really are. All this means that there can be more than one theme in a novel. "I often lied when I had to translate for her, the endless form, instructions, notices from school, telephone calls. The last and most seen theme throughout the novel is not really knowing their true identity. "My father proudly named her in her immigration papers: Bety St. One way it is seen is the mother has no-good communication with her husband for the reason that they do not understand each others languages well as seen in the following example, "My father who spoke only a few canned Chinese expressions, insisted my mother learn English. "It's my fault that she is this way. 109) In this example the lack of communication is shown because Lena does not have enough communication with her mother that she does not have enough trust to tell her everything. 107) In this example you can see that her identity has been lost because she does not have anything her husband has erased everything. So with him, she spoke in moods and gestures, looks and silences, and sometimes a combination of English punctuated by hesitations and Chinese frustration . Clair, does not have good communication with her daughter, Lena.
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Acceptance Essays
