CHARACTER FILE

THE JOY LUCK CLUB

1. Discuss the following themes from the novel:

It is important for a woman to develop her individual identity so she has the strength to survive hard times.

Because they operate from different perspectives, it is frequently difficult for Americanized daughters to communicate with their Chinese mothers, though they

share a great bond.

The way things appear to be is often different from the way they really are.

As they grow older, the daughters appreciate their mothers and begin to see how similar they are to their mothers.

Discuss these additional generalizations about life from the story:

Life's rules must be discovered for oneself; they cannot be taught

• greed will always make you feel hungry for more

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• it is important to listen to your elders

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• Fear of what will happen is the greatest torture of all

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• Tears are useless; they just feed another person's joy

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• Do not listen to something meaningless

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• many bad things, which we cannot fully prevent or control, happen in life.

Part I

• _ It is possible in life to become more than what is hoped for.

• •

• 1. A parable is a tale which illustrates a lesson or moral. What lesson does the story of the swan teach?

• The bird stretched its neck hoping to be a goose, but instead became a swan. The story expresses the idea that it is possible in life to become more than what is hoped for

• 2. In what ways does the parable at the beginning of this chapter help to support the following theme:

• It is important for a woman to develop her individual identity so she has the strength to survive hard times.

• Answers will vary. Example: The old woman wants to give her daughter a feather from the

• swan so her daughter will understand how to develop her spirit or identity to be able to

• survive hard times. When the bird became a swan, it al so became too beautiful to eat. The old woman wants to teach her daughter how to survive in the world by becoming someone who

• cannot be crushed by life's hardships.

• 3. Some critics believe the swan feather stands for something larger than itself. What do you think the swan feather might represent in this story?

• The swan feather represents a person's ability to develop a strong identity so she can survive hard times.

Part II

• _ Mothers are often unable to communicate life's dangers to their daughters.

• •

Part III

• _ Appearances are not important; the quality underneath is what counts.

• •

Part IV

• _ It is important to be aware of evil without losing hope or laughter.

SUYUAN WOO

• Where does Suyuan meet her husband, Canning?

• In a hospital in China

SUYUAN WOO

• She died just like a rabbit Suyuan's stroke occurred in her brain, killing her instantly, just as one would club a rabbit in the head — without warning. She had no symptoms. One moment she was alive; the next, she was dead.

SUYUAN WOO

• 6. List three of the five elements Suyuan believes comprise each person. In what way does too much of each element impact a person's life'

• "Too much fire and you had a bad temper"

• "Too little wood and you bent too quickly ..

• "Too much water and you flowed in too many directions ... " (Pg. 31)

SUYUAN WOO

• 1. Why does Suyuan begin the first Joy Luck Club in Kweilin?

• Suyuan is a young mother of twin daughters, whose husband is an officer in the Kuomintang.

• The Japanese invasion of China creates many hardships for the women. To help combat their

• despair; Suyuan begins the Joy Luck Club. The club consists of thee young women including

• herself who meet once a week to raise money and to raise their spirits.

SUYUAN WOO

• 3. Why do the women name their parties "Joy Luck"?

• The women call the club "Joy" because each week they are permitted to think only good thoughts . They call it "Luck" because each week they hope to be lucky.

SUYUAN WOO

• 5. Why does the San Francisco Joy Luck Club play the stock market?

• When they first began the Club, they played mah-jong for money, but the same women won

• each week. They won because of their skill, not because of luck. The club members then decided to invest money in the stock market, so each member has a chance to have good luck.

Jing-mei Woo

• 9. How does Jing-mei Woo know which seat at the mah jong table was her mother's place?

• The mah jong table has four places, North, South, East and West. jing-mei knows her mother would sit on the East corner of the table because her mother believed the East is where things begin. It is the direction from which the sun rises and where the wind originates.

Jing-mei Woo

• Jing-mei drops out of college, and her mother wants her to go back, to school. Jing-mei does not want to argue with her mother about this, so she tells her she will look into going back to school. Her mother misinterprets her daughter's comment to mean she is going back to school to get a doctorate.

JING-MEI WOO

• Feelings of shame, as she considers the women's dress and customs strange and outdated;

• 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 repeatedly torn by tragedy.

Jing-mei Woo

• - discovers the true meaning of a jade pendant, which her mother called "life's importance"

Jing-mei Woo

• - Jing-mei finally finds her identity, and her heritage, when shetravels to China to meet her twin half sisters.

Jing-mei Woo

• Why doesn’t Jing-mei’s piano teacher, Mr. Chong, insist that she play the correct notes? He is deaf

Jing-mei Woo

• What is the name of the pendant that Suyuan gives to Jing-mei?

• Her “life’s importance”

Jing-mei Woo

• What does Jing-mei eat for her first meal in China?

• Hamburgers, french fries, and apple pie

AN-MEI HSU

• In a similar fashion, this chapter illustrates that the same is true of An-mei, the woman who sits in the south corner of the mah jong game, the woman characterized by June Woo as a "short bent woman in her seventies, with a heavy bosom and thin, shapeless legs." An-mei suffered tragedies of her own, just as did her own mother (not the "fallen woman" )

Popo

• Popo: house in Ningpo

• Popo wants An-mei to also think of her mother as dead because she brought great disgrace to the family by becoming a number-three concubine.

AN-MEI HSU

• What does An-mei’s mother tell her to do rather than cry?

• Swallow her tears and suppress her grief

AN-MEI HSU

• What is deceptive about the necklace that Second Wife gives to An-mei?

• It is glass, not pearl

AN-MEI HSU

• What does An-mei use as a prop to keep her kitchen table from wobbling?

• A white leatherette Bible

AN-MEI HSU

• 10. What does the story of Auntie An-mei's trip to China reveal about Communist China'

• An-mei brings gifts of clothes Jar her relatives in China, but they are not interested in her choice of gifts.

AN-MEI HSU

• Her relatives want money. Before she leaves China, An-mei and her husband are out nine thousand dollars.

AN-MEI HSU

• This story reveals that Communist China is very poor, but more important, the people are more interested in what An-mei can give them than they are in enjoying her company.

AN-MEI HSU

• To An-mei, her mother looks strange, "like the missionary ladies." Her face is a dark shadow when An-mei first sees her; she seems insolent and bossy, and her foreign clothes and high-heeled shoes suggest evil, suggest a woman worthy of contempt — exactly as Popo and Auntie described her in their many tales about her to An-mei.

AN-MEI HSU

• However, the woman's tenderness toward little An-mei and her uncontrolled wailing at the memory of An-mei's being accidentally burned belie her Western — thus, suspect — appearance.

AN-MEI HSU

• - severs part of her own flesh to enrich the soup

AN-MEI HSU

• In this scene, An-mei realizes that if one is to discover one's identity, one's heritage, one must metaphorically "peel off your skin, and that of your mother, and her mother before her. Until then, there is nothing." Nothing, that is, except the scar.

AN-MEI HSU

• An-mei herself bears a scar, a reminder of the day that her mother came to Popo's house and cried out, begging An-mei to come with her. Popo had damned her own daughter — and at that moment, a pot of dark boiling soup spilled on tiny An-mei.

AN-MEI HSU

• The little girl almost died; she would have, in fact, if Popo hadn't revealed the love that she carried in her heart — but could not demonstrate — for An-mei's mother. Gently, she warned An-mei that if she did not get well, her mother would forget her. An-mei immediately began her recovery.

AN-MEI HSU

• Each of the daughters in this novel will, in individual ways, undergo this process of healing the divisiveness that separates them from their mothers.

ROSE

• What material element does An-mei say is lacking symbolically in Rose’s character?

• Rose's mother describes her as without wood, meaning that she bends in all directions and cannot stand alone.

ROSE

• What is the name of Rose Hsu Jordan’s youngest brother? Bing

ROSE

• How do Rose and An-mei return to the beach to look for Rose’s drowned brother? An-mei drives them in the family car, even though, to Rose’s knowledge, she has never driven before

LINDO JONG

• How does the red candle predict the success of Lindo and Tyan-yu’s marriage?

• If it burns from both ends without going out, it will presage a happy marriage

LINDO JONG

• What happens to the candle?

• Lindo blows it out, but the servant lights it again out of fear that she will be punished for negligence

LINDO JONG

• The candle was a marriage bond that . . . meant I couldn't divorce and I couldn't ever remarry, even if Tyan-yu died.

LINDO JONG

• The traditional Asian value placed on marriage is illustrated in the customs surrounding its dissolution. When one partner dies, for example, widowers and widows must often wait a prescribed time before remarrying; they must also wear mourning clothing and perform ceremonial duties for the dead.

LINDO JONG

• While many cultures permit divorce, in some societies divorce is uncommon because it requires the repayment of dowries or other monetary or material exchanges in order to prevent the violation of religious laws. In pre-revolutionary China, women were never allowed to remarry, even if their husbands died.

LINDO JONG

• She realized that the loveless marriage would not destroy her because only she could access her true identity. The twenty-four-carat bracelets symbolize Lindo's true worth, genuine and inviolate.

LINDO JONG

• When An-mei asks Lindo, "Did you ever think you would be so powerful that you could determine some one else's fortune?" she is referring to the fact that Lindoworked in a fortune cookie factory.

LINDO JONG

• What distressed Lindo about her recent trip to China?

• She realized that people could recognize her as an American.

LINDO JONG

• What does Lindo call Waverly’s psychiatrist?

• A “psyche-atricks”

WAVERLY

• AIDS Waverly says that because Jing-mei's hairdresser is gay, he could have AIDS. He is cutting hair, "which is like cutting a living tissue." There has not been a single reported case of anyone contracting AIDS through a haircut; this scene is proof that Waverly can be prejudiced, misinformed, and even cruel.

WAVERLY

• IRS the popular name for the Internal Revenue Service. Empowered by the U.S. government to collect taxes, the IRS has traditionally triggered fear because of its power to examine tax records, impose fines, and seize property to pay off tax money owed. Tan likens Mrs. Jong to the IRS to humorously illustrate how much Waverly fears her.

WAVERLY

• About whom did Waverly say, "I could see the yellow lights shining from our flat like two tiger's eyes in the night"? her mother, Lindo

WAVERLY

• Waverly interprets Lindo's remark about which of Rich's features as an insult? his freckles

WAVERLY

• Waverly is afraid to go to China for her honeymoon with Rich because she is afraid she will blend in so well that she won't be allowed to return to America.

WAVERLY

• What is the source of Waverly’s first chess set?

• Her brother receives it as a gift at a church Christmas party.

• What gift from Rich does Waverly show to her mother? A mink coat

YING-YING ST. CLAIR

• The Moon Lady becomes visible on one day only, and on that day she can fulfill one secret. Ying-ying's wish was to be found.

YING-YING ST. CLAIR

• What does Ying-ying’s Amah teach her that girls should do?

• They should never ask questions or make requests, but only listen

YING-YING ST. CLAIR

• What does Ying-ying say is wrong with the St. Clairs’ apartment?

• Not balanced

YING-YING ST. CLAIR

• What is Ying-ying’s first step in trying to make Lena realize the problems with her marriage and do something about them?

• She knocks over the rickety coffee table that Lena’s husband had made in his student days, shattering the vase that had been sitting on top of it

LENA

• baby boomers people born between 1946 and 1964. Raised during the affluent post-World War II period, many of these people have high expectations for material success. Some of them, however, like Lena, have dis covered that material success does not ensure happiness; they find their lives empty and unsatisfying. Others, like Harold, are very satisfied with the fruits of their labors — he is proud of his fine house and his Jaguar automobile. A baby boomer herself, Tan is especially sensitive to this dichotomy.

LENA

• What does Ying-ying say when Lena fails to eat every last grain of rice in her bowl? She tells Lena that every grain of rice she fails to eat will become a pock mark on the face of her future husband

LENA

• Who says, "I saw these things with my Chinese eyes, the part of me I got from my mother?"

LENA

• Lena and her successful but miserly husband Harold have an argument about which of them should pay for their cat's flea treatment