Suyuan woo the central event in suyuan s life is the loss of her twin baby daughters. One of the women, suyuan woo designed the joy luck club on a club she formed with some women while they were in china during the japanese invasion of world war ii. In a desperate attempt to save her babies from the japanese troops advancing through china, suyuan leaves them by the side of the road. Her father asks jingmei to take her mothers place at the joy luck club, which jingmei is nervous about doing.
I am to replace my mother, whose seat at the mah jong table has been empty since she died two months ago. The joy luck club was a club where a group of four women could enjoy themselves in the middle of a sorrowful time by playing mahjong with each other. Suyuan is naturally a hopeful and forwardlooking woman, and the club reinforced and spread this hope to others. Suyuan and jing meis relationship in the joy luck club in the joy luck club by amy tan, jingmei and her mother have a very rocky relationship. Different types of losses in the joy luck club novel. Suyuan explains why she organized the original joy luck club in wartorn china and how others reacted. Suyuan meets these three other immigrants through the first chinese baptist church in 1949. Each week, four young women met to play mah jong, share a few meager luxuries, and talk about happier times. The book begins in the voice of june jingmei woo, a woman in her thirties, who lives in san francisco. It focuses on four chinese american immigrant families in san francisco who start a club known as the joy luck club, playing the chinese game of mahjong for money while feasting on a variety of foods. Critical essays tans women in the joy luck club the novel traces the fate of four mothers suyuan woo, anmei hsu, lindo jong, and yingying st. Suyuan started this game and joy luck club when she first immigrated to the united now, years later, with many other books and various experiences under my belt, i reread the joy luck club, tans first book, as part of my march womens history month lineup.
Tan develops a relationship between suyuan and jingmei that is distant in the beginning due to culture differences and miscommunication, but gradually strengthens with time and understanding. Suyuan is the mother of jingmei and the wife of canning woo. Learn the important quotes in the joy luck club and the chapters theyre from, including why theyre important and what they mean in the context of the book. Instead, auntie lindo took the letter to the joy luck club. Jingmei agrees that she should be the one to tell her halfsisters about their mothers death. Over the course of the story, the symbolic meaning of the pendant changes. The daughters are, respectively, jingmei june woo, rose hsu jordan, waverly jong, and lena st. Suyuan started the first joy luck club in kweilin during the second sinojapanese war. The joy luck club cliffsnotes study guides book summaries. The title of the book, the joy luck club, is taken from suyuan woos establishment of a gathering between women, first in china, and later in san francisco.
Suyuan woo cannot be helped, my mother said when i was fifteen and had vigorously denied that. The club would meet every week at one of the mothers house where they eat food, play mahjong, and brag about their daughters. Therefore, unlike the other mothers and daughters in the novel, who actively narrate their. She was forced to leave her twin babies on the road in china while fleeing the japanese invasion. Suyuan woo is a strong and willful woman who refuses to focus on her hardships. China, where the mothers grew up, contemporary san francisco, where the daughters and mothers live, and america in general. The joy luck club is set primarily in modernday san franciscos chinatown, but much of it occurs in the form of flashbacks to the mothers lives in china. How does the symbol of the piano in amy tans the joy luck. She never understood why her mother was never satisfied with her. Suyuans pendant in jingmeis story best quality, she discusses the jade pendant her mother, suyuan, gave her, which she called her lifes importance. At the first meeting, her mothers best friends aunties tell. The character of suyuan woo in the joy luck club from. The book centers around four motherdaughter pairs living in san francisco. The joy luck club jingmei woo my father has asked me to be the fourth corner at the joy luck club.
Find all the books, read about the author, and more. One of our first introductions to suyuan is as the founder of the joy luck club or rather, two joy luck clubs. The character of suyuan woo in the joy luck club from litcharts. As a result, we become familiar with three different times and venues. The joy luck club by amy tan meet your next favorite book.
Jingmei june woo character analysis in the joy luck. She recognizes they are suffering as she is, so she starts the joy luck club. One series of stories focuses on suyuan woo, who comes to america in 1947, having lost her family, including twin daughters, during war. The joy luck club was adapted into a feature film in 1994, for which amy tan was a. One of our first introductions to suyuan is as the founder of the joy luck clubor rather, two joy luck clubs. Suyuan woo, founder of the joy luck club, convinced the other mothers anmei hsu, lindo jong, and yingying st. Jing mei june woothe joy luck club junes mother, suyuan woo, has died recently.
Her father has asked her to take over her mothers corner of the mah jong table in the joy luck club. Suyuan and jingmeis relationship in the joy luck club essay. She had a new idea inside her head, said my father. Her mother, suyuan, is extremely capable and driven, and also a great cook and mah jong player.
Although lindo and suyuan are best friends, they constantly criticize and attempt to oneup each other. The joy luck club in a way, jingmei woo is the main character of the joy luck club. When the novel opens, a mother, suyuan woo, has died of a cerebral aneurysm, and her husband has asked their thirtysixyearold daughter, jingmei june, to assume her mothers role and take her seat at the next meeting of the joy luck club. It was called the joy luck club because the women always wished each other joy and luck when they left each other. Suyuan woo suyuan is the mother of jingmei and the wife of canning woo. Why does suyuan begin the first joy luck club in kweilin. Your mother was a very strong woman, a good mother. Every book on your english syllabus summed up in a quote from the office.
The members have mainly played mahjong and told each others stories over the years. The joy luck club was originally formed to serve one purpose, but this changed later, and the club served multiple purposes. By the beginning of the novel, suyuan has passed away, but her presence throughout the book is. Now remarried, she settles in san francisco, has a daughter, jingmei june, and starts a joy luck club similar to one in china with three other women. In the joy luck club, suyuan woo has given jingmei the green jade in the chinese new year which is the last year she has seen her mother. Instead, she struggles to create happiness and success where she finds it lacking. To suyuan woo, the piano symbolizes ones ability to. Later, after her mothers death, jingmei learns from the women at the joy luck club and from her father, tin, the whole story of her mothers sufferings in china. Suyuan woo comes to america without her twin daughters.
The joy luck club shows that all actions of love require some level of sacrifice, and that women in particular sacrifice themselves for the good of others. In the joy luck club by amy tan, the daughter of suyuan, jingmei woo aka june, experiences many different types of losses to which she later finds answers for her prying need for identity through an extraordinary journey of self discovery and courage in response to her mothers death. The mothers are suyuan woo, anmei hsu, lindo jong, and yingying st. My father thinks she was killed by her own thoughts. The women take turns hosting a wonderful banquet every week, where the club members all eat, play mah jong, tell stories and jokes, and just generally liven their. Junes mother started the first joy luck club in china during the second world war. Online notes literature analysis character analysis the mothers suyuan woo. Clair, her days are filled with painful memories of life in china. Suyuans death is what sets off the events of the joy luck club. Suyuan, jingmeis mother, started the club back in china at a time. Together, the women answered the letter, signing suyuan woo s name to it. Major characters in the book mothers suyuan woo suyuans story is told through her daughter. The novel follows june woo s search to understand her deceased mother suyuan s life, supplemented by stories from her mothers three best friends.
When she was younger, and her mother would tell her about the joy luck club, she, imagined joy luck was a shameful chinese custom, like the secret gathering of the ku klux klan or the tomtom dances of tv. The theme of sacrifice in the joy luck club from litcharts. My mother believed you could be anything you wanted in america. Clair france nuyen, anmei hsu lisa lu, and suyuan woo kieu chinh, in san francisco. The mahjongg game and meal provided camaraderie for four women and helped them maintain their hope even after trauma. Discussion questions book club recommendationsdiscussion. The book represents trust because the daughter cant read it and has to believe what. Lindos mothers jade pendant is her only prized possession, but she presents it to lindo on their last day together, hoping it brings her daughter good fortune and protection.
The novel follows june woo s search to understand her deceased mother suyuan s life, supplemented by stories from her mothers three best friends, lindo, anmei, and yingying. Being friends doesnt exclude the possibility of competition between the women of the joy luck club. You could work for the government and get good retirement. Suyuan woo was also the founder of the joy luck club, which was started in china and then set back up in america. Suyuan and jingmeis relationship in the joy luck club. Suyuan woo suyuan woo was jingmei s mother and the founder of the joy luck club, a group of women who come together once weekly to play mahjong. She also has the most stories in the novel the joy luck club, two kinds, best quality, and a pair of tickets since she represents both herself and her deceased mother, suyuan. Suyuan woo suyuan woo she founder of the joy luck club and jingmeis mother. Therefore, unlike the other mothers and daughters in the novel, who actively narrate their histories through the novel, suyuan is only experienced through stories told by her daughter june, her husband canning, and her three joy luck club friends. Soon after, she meets her second husband, canning woo.
The joy luck club is culturally rich, even if it plays a bit to the stereotypes or even went to setting those stereotypes. The joy luck club, amy tan the joy luck club is a 1989 novel written by amy tan. She was forced to leave her twin babies on the road in china. Suyuan woo originally created the joy luck club in kweilin, china during the time when the japanese were bombing chinese cities. The joy luck club was adapted into a feature film in 1994, for which amy tan was a coscreenwriter with ron bass and a coproducer with bass and wayne wang. Suyuan woo would continuously educate jingmei in the chinese culture. In amy tans the joy luck club, in the chapter called two kinds, the piano symbolizes two very different things to june and her mother. The joy luck club is an informal institution started by suyuan woo upon her arrival in san francisco in 1949. Each chapter has a theme centering around culture and the generation gap within the family. But even more than her desire to mold her daughter into a genius, the character of suyuan is defined by her wish to be reunited with the twin daughters she left. Help with essay on the book report of the joy luck club the joy luck club is composed of four parts, and each. When the novel opens, a mother, suyuan woo, has died of a cerebral aneurysm, and her husband has asked their thirtysixyearold daughter, jingmei june.
Anmei hsu at age nine, anmei joins her widowed mother, who is exiled. The joy luck club chapters 12 summary and analysis gradesaver. At the meetings they gossiped while playing and ate a variety of foods. The joy luck club is a 1989 novel written by amy tan. The first section, feathers from a thousand li away, introduces the joy luck club through daughter jingmei woo, whose late mother suyuan woo founded the joy luck club, and focuses on the four mothers. Suyuan later found out her first husband died, remarried to canning woo, and immigrated to the united states where jingmei was. Not understanding how much suyuan suffered over the incident, jingmei treats the situation lightly. Suyuan woo suyuans story is told through her daughter. There, suyuan created the joy luck club in order to cope with the horrors of war. Structurally, her narratives serve as bridges between the two generations of storytellers, as jingmei speaks both for herself and for her recently deceased mother, suyuan. The story follows four older chinese ladies who play mah jong together called the joy luck club and their daughters.
The purpose was for some women to be able to relax and be happy even in hard times, which proves that suyuan woo was able to find something good in every situation. Suyuan finds three other chinese immigrant women to play mah jongg, cook and. The joy luck club consists of four women, one to fill each corner of suyuans mah jong table. In this book the joy luck club, it has eight main characters, four mothers suyuan woo, anmei hsu, lindo jong and yingying st. It is with this mentality that she founds the original joy luck club while awaiting the japanese invasion of china in kweilin.
Jingmei june woo took her mothers place in the joy luck club after her death. It is with this mentality that she founds the original joy luck club while. Jan 12, 2012 the joy luck club tells the uplifting story of four remarkable friends whose extraordinary lives are filled with joy and heartbreak. Clair and their four daughters jingmei june woo, rose hsu jordan, waverly jong, and lena st. In the joy luck club however, the initial owner never keeps jewelry for herself, but gives it to her daughter. It was nominated for the national book award and the national book critics circle award and was a recipient of the commonwealth gold award and the bay area book award. Their lifelong friendship reveals a mosaic of the startling. In both china and america, suyuan starts the club in order to bring together a community of women to celebrate their happiness and luck in life despite the suffering and obstacles theyre facing. The greatest sacrifice in the book is suyuan s decision to leave her twin babies in a safe spot to be rescued during the japanese invasion of kweilin. Anmei hsu at age nine, anmei joins her widowed mother, who is exiled as a rich mans fourth wife. The joy luck club chapters 12 summary and analysis. During her flight from a wartorn area of china, suyuan lost her twin daughters, chwun yu and chwun hwa.
In the joy luck club by amy tan, the daughter of suyuan, jingmei woo aka june, experiences many different types of losses to which she later finds answers for her prying need for identity through an extraordinary journey. She started the club in china, in the early days of her first marriage. When the novel opens, jingmeis mother, suyuan, has just died from a cerebral aneurysm. Different types of losses in the joy luck club novel free.
The title of the book, the joy luck club, is taken from suyuan woo s establishment of a gathering between women, first in china, and later in san francisco. The joy luck club tells the uplifting story of four remarkable friends whose extraordinary lives are filled with joy and heartbreak. By the beginning of the novel, suyuan has passed away, but her presence throughout the book is incredibly strong and vibrant. Jan 07, 2009 canning woo jingmeis father and was the second husband of suyuan.
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