Review of The Joy Luck Club

【Abstract】The Joy Luck Club is a must-read for people interested in intercultural communication and mother-daughter relationship. It consists of sixteen interwoven stories about conflicts between immigrant mothers and their American-raised daughters and between couples. The writer sets out to explore the clashes from a cross-cultural perspective， mainly discussing the Chinese and western cultural differences and similarities. She focuses on four topics—hope， individuality， equality and experience and finds out that the clashes are not only caused by culture differences but also by other factors， e.g. generation gap.

【Key words】cross-cultural； hope； individuality； equality； experience

Amy Tan is an American Chinese writer， whose works aim to explore mother-daughter relationships. The Joy Luck Club is Amy Tans first novel and is also a very successful adapted business film. It consists of sixteen interwoven stories about conflicts between immigrant mothers and their American-raised daughters. There are four sections， each section with four separate narratives.

The story begins with a swan feather， which is a symbol of hope. So the passage will begin with clashes on hope.

Hope

The swan feather is a major clue in Joy Luck Club. It carries the hope of Junes mother Suyuan， a Chinese woman who has given up on herself and lost hope in China as she has to give up her baby twin daughters. In America， she then has another child， June， who is the whole hope of this desperate mother. She insists June take piano lessons and hopes that June would be “the best piano prodigy this side of China” June does not do good in playing piano and even once embarrasses her mother by forgetting the music in a public performance. She thinks her mother must feel very disappointed about her and she feels very depressed. In China， we have a saying “Hope the son to grow up into a dragon， and the daughter a phoenix”， which means parents expect their children to be successful in life. Later on， we will find Chinese parents， actually like all other parents in the United States， their hopes are the same—the smiling faces of their children， the kind-heart of them， and the healthy body. We can see Junes mother feels proud of her daughter who， a moment ago， is blamed by Waverly for her failure design， because June “took （the） worst （crab）” and “has a best quality heart”. Junes mother says she （does） “not expect anything， never expect， only hope， only hoping best for you （June）.” But June thinks the hope of her mother is something to blame， “because every time you hope for something that I could not deliver， it hurt.” So the issue of hope is not a Chinese-American clash， but a clash between parents and children. In parents eye， hope is different from what it is in children eye. Parents just hope us to be happy and kind-hearted and healthy whereas it is the child who takes it too seriously.

Individualism

During the crab meal， Waverly and June has a heated talk about their work. Jun complains about Waverlys refusal to use her design. Junes mother， like almost all Chinese mothers， tries to end the quarrel by saying， in a disparaging way， that Jun “must be born this way”. In China， people always understate their own， trying to be modest.1 Junes mother may stand on her own daughters side， but she has to avoid the embarrassment of the guests， therefore she says Junes inability is due to her gene， which she gets from her mother. But， in Junes eye， she sees these words as her mothers betrayal—“I was so humiliated. Outsmarted by Waverly， and betrayed by my own mother.” June thinks her mother cant judge her groundlessly. Her mother can not， on behalf of her， say something negative about her. There is another scene showing us how the spirit of individualism stands out differently between the two generations. Waverly once was a genius in chess， which makes all her family proud， especially her mother Lindo. When she gets the first prize， and has her picture on the cover of the magazine， her mother would show off， with the magazine and trophy， and the genius girl， telling every acquaintance that the cover girl is her daughter， waiting to receive others envy， admiration， and even jealousy. This outrages little Waverly. She shouts to her mother， “Why you just have to use me to show off？ If you want to show off， then why dont you learn to play chess？” Chinese parents， especially moms， are competitors， and their price tag is their children. The shout of Waverly distinguishes Chinese children from American children. Chinese children seldom stand out to say “disobedient” words towards their parents in public. Waverly looks herself as a whole entity， instead of an asset of her mother.

Equality

Individualism is one of the typical American traits； the other is the spirit of equality. Actually individualism is closely connected with equality， so from the above-mentioned examples， we can also feel a strong sense of equality between moms and children. Equality not only exists between American parents and children， but also between American husband and wife. From the four mothers childhood or marriage in China， we would see how inferior a woman is in the then China. The immigrant women， strangely enough， ask their own American daughter to be obedient. We can see this clearly from Junes mom demanding June to practice piano regardless of Junes unwillingness； Waverlys mom uses her silence to tell little Waverly the consequence of defying her. But， in America， from Anmeis daughter Roses marriage trouble， its evident that husband and wife should be equal. Roses husband is son of a rich family. The guy falls in love with Rose because he likes the way Rose talks—having her own voice. After their marriage， Rose refuses the offer from some famous university to further her study， and tries her best to be a good wife—her sense of good wife is staying at home， being a maid to her husband. At last， her husband just stands distantly from her and they decide to end up the relationship. In the rain， Rose makes herself heard by saying， “I was the one who told you that my love was not good enough， that your love was worth more than mine. That was so foolish shit.” And the shout wakes up her husband and wins back her family.

Experience

Another impressive character is the old piano teacher—Mr. Zhang. Sarcastically is that the piano teacher has some hearing problem. In Dimensions of Culture2， it sets apart achievement culture from ascription culture. “An achievement culture is one in which people are accorded status based on how well they perform their functions. An ascription culture is one in which status is attributed based on who or what a person is.” “Ascription cultures accord status based on age， gender， or social connections.” Mr. Zhang is old， pedagogy-like and a Chinese， and is hired by a Chinese family to teach the daughter. It makes sense if we say Chinese culture is an ascription one. But， you see， from the quarrel between Waverly and June during the crab meal， we can infer that young Waverly must be a woman in power in the company， which is almost a phenomenon in the then China. Chinese tend to hire someone with working experience， and those who look very old will be judged reliable and seasoned.

Conclusion

The Joy Luck Club is one of the most classic pieces of literature works about mother-daughter relationship and is a must-read for foreign people who are interested in Chinese culture and also Chinese interested in western culture. We should bear in mind that intercultural communication is almost everywhere for people who contact with foreigners. Also there are many other factors， besides cultural differences， hindering peoples communication， for example， as shown in The Joy Luck Club， generation gap also matters a lot.

References：

[1]任勤，廖雷朝.中美文化面面觀[M].重慶大學出版社，2010：53.

[2]Alan S.Gutterman Trompenaar and Hampden-Turners Seven Dimensions of Culture.

作者簡介：易妹（1988-），女，湖南岳陽人，碩士，助教，研究方向：跨文化交際。