Terrifying Past Joy Luck Club
In the novel The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, four of the main characters have a secret in their past that haunt them constantly. Suyuan Woo, An-mei Hsu, Lindo Jong, and Ying-ying St. Clair all have terribly bad experiences in China. These women try to escape their past by moving to America, but their memories still disturb them .Not only does it plague their own minds, but it also affected their daughters' lives and the way they were raised. Each of these women experienced terrible events in their lives that effected them and the following generation. Suyuan Woo has one main focus in her life, to find her two lost baby daughters in China. "Your mother was a very strong woman, a good mother.....and that's why you can understand why a mother like this could never forget her other daughters. She knew they were alive and before she died she wanted to find her daughters in China" (Tan 29). Everyday she felt guilty for abandoning these two helpless children and desperately tried to find them in everyway possible. June Woo, Suyuan's daughter, was also affected by this constant search. When her mother dies, June goes to China to find her long lost sisters. June says " I look at their faces again and I see no trace of my mother in them..
These incidents not only affected their own lives but the lives of their daughters as well. After all theses years, it can finally be let go" (331). She realizes that she must put herself first and let no one walk all over her; her mother gave her this strength with her spirit. Her constant misery made her want out of the marriage so much that it was enough to cause her to have an abortion; when her baby's spirit leaves, her own spirit goes with it. Ying-ying says about her daughter "This is my greatest shame. She marries and has a child, but shortly after her husband starts to cheat on her. From that moment on, Lindo never showed off her daughter again and their relationship was strained for years to come. Lindo Jong was abandon by her mother at a very young age. When it was time to settle the financial papers, An-mei sees the same weakness in Rose as she did her own mother. Unfortunately she was so proud of her that she showed her off to much. How can I leave this world without leaving her my spirit?"(286). She refers to her mother and her daughter as "stairs, one step after another, going up and down, but all going the same way" (241). Clair, Ying-ying's daughter, begins to lose her strength in her marriage and her spirit, just like her mother. They were not only related by blood, but also by spirit; when a mother's spirit was weak, her daughter's spirit was weak as well.
Common topics in this essay:
Woo Suyuan's,
St Clair,
Lindo Jong,
Jordan An-Mei's,
Luck Club,
StClair Ying-ying's,
Suyuan Woo,
China Tan,
Amy Tan,
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lindo daughter,
daughters china,
lindo jong,
st clair,
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lindo's mother,
suyuan woo,
mother dies,
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