American Circumstances and Chinese characters
             The Joy Luck Club is a book by Amy Tan containing vignettes of four Chinese mothers and their four American-born daughters. The four mothers are Suyuan Woo, An-mei Hsu, Lindo Jong, and Ying-ying St. Clair. Their daughters are June Woo, Rose Hsu, Waverly Jong and Lena St. Clair. The daughters are Americanized and they do not recognize their Chinese heritage. However, as time goes by, they revert back to their culture when they face problems in life, such as Waverly Jong in Rules of the Game, Lena St. Clair in Rice Husband, Rose Hsu in Without Wood, and June Woo in A Pair of Tickets. Amy Tan's purpose in conveying this point is to show that the strengths and advantages of these Chinese-American characters lies within their Chinese culture, for it is their origin, in their blood, their heritage, and who they truly are.
             When she is young, Waverly is a naturally talented chess champion. She starts playing chess with her brothers and an old man in her neighborhood named Lau Po. Eventually, she wins every game and becomes a National Chess Champion. But then, Waverly stops playing chess after she has a fight with her mom when she is annoyed that her mom takes her around and introduces her to everyone. Waverly loses her skill in chess after this incident. She realizes that it is the support of her mother that helps her. According to a Chinese proverb, "Strongest wind cannot be seen" (pg. 89) Her mom is the wind that pushes and leads Waverly to victory. She learns to conceal her secrets that her opponent can't see. She learns the art of invisible strength from her Chinese mother to win over American games. Once she loses that Chinese character from her mom, she loses her advantage. She loses chess games.
             Lena is married to Harold and they divide all the expenses and each person keeps a separate account. In this marriage, Harold is taking control with his ...