Reading the novel is not the first time of my knowing The Joy Luck Club . When I watched the film , the meaning of the title , the theme of the novel , the reason for the arrangement of stories from four mothers and their daughters and other important things were all unknown to me . But I knew that was my type for it is about feelings between mothers and daughters , and especially chinese speaking Eglish .
Amy Tan , a Chinese American writer , is the author of the book in which she explors the mother-daughter relationships . Originally , the relationships between mother and daughter seem to be quite complex in a family but in Amy Tan's work , it is perfectly typical for its portrayal of conflicts between the traditional Chinese mothers speaking shabby English and the open wholly Americanized daughters who just wear a Chinese face but speak fluent English . I never think it is richly dramatical , and instead these kinds of conflicts , in fact , truly ecists in many Chinese immigrants' family . The novel is written impressively and deeply especially , I think , in understanding of mothers' love for their daughters for reasons that the previous experience of her with her mother provided the basis for her novel . It is said that the exprience of anthor is similar to that of Jingmei woo . Maybe , the novel implies the deep and complex feelings of auther for her mother and her closest relatives in China .
It gives me a greatly deep impression that the book is begun with Feathers From a Thousand LI Away . It penetrates the mothers' hope and love for their daughters through a swan's feather . Through the old woman's words "In America I will have a daughter just like me. But over there nobody will say her worth is measured by the loudness of her husband's belch. Over there nobody will look down on her, because I will make her speak only perfect American English. And over there she will always be too full to swallow any sorrow! She will know my meaning, because I will give her this swan—a creature that became more than what was hoped for." and the mothers' former tragic sufferings , we will find that all the mothers are in hope of their daughters never suffering from their sufferings . And the mothers waited, year after year, for the day , they could tell their daughters it is their hope through a feather of the swan in perfect American English . At first , it is a little difficult to understand the reason for these words . However , through the whole novel , in fact , you will find the old woman represents the four mothers , the feather of swan embodies the hope of mothers for their daughters . These sentences show implicitly the feelings of author and her understandings for mothers . In fact , in the Joy Luck Club , the feather indeed is gained by Jingmei Woo . And from the beginning to the end ,the feather has been existing .
Only if one high-quality novel , like a perfect verse , needs you spending much time reading once more , you will understand something . I thought that the novel is loosely plotted and is in disorder . But the fact verifies that I am wrong . Through the whole story , the novel begins with the death of Jingmei's mother and ends in Jingmei visiting China to see the twin-half sisters whom her mother had been forced to abandon when the Japanese attacked China many years ago . What's more , in detail , the stories of four mothers and four daughters have relative connections in theme about love between them and the mothers' hope for their daughters . And the theme shows the comflicts and harmonization between different cultures .Then I think why the author titled the novel " Joy Luck Club " . I am puzzled by it and the purpose of writer . The name of club made mention of by Jingmei's mother . And the author directly titling the novel the name of their meeting implies her feelings for her mother . I can guess that the title originated from a kind of hope or belief . According to mothers' former sufferings , they were not happy . Even at the present , all of them hides the previous tragic experiences . Maybe , the club is a place where they can pretend to be happy or avoid the past memory or worries or even the shock of culture .
Reading the novel is as we are reading our life and then think our past , present and futere . Especially , the conflict between Waverly Jang and her mother impresses me most . Waverly is a woman who is quite independent-mined and intelligent , but her mother's constant criticism is terribly annoying . She once had a gift for international chess.however , when she realized her mother taking advantage of her achievement and talent to show off in public , especially to the strangers , she felt terribly ashamed and annoyed . She shouted to " you can not make me " . From then on , her mother felt cold at Waverly and were particularabout her favorite things . In fact , I think Waverly felt sacred subconsciously at letting her mother down and something that she did was aimed at flattering her mother . When waverly brought her boyfriend , Rich , to her families , her mother just smiled but she still was particular about Rich's appearance , having many spots on his face . Description about the conflicts of manners between Chinese tradition and American notions has given me a greatly deep impression and quite interesting . These words of " And then he had helped himself to big portions of the shrimp and snow peas , not realizing he should have taken only a polite spoonful, until everybody had had a morsel . " vividly express the American character of being casual which counts as discourtesy in China . The part of Rich criticizing her mother's cooking is quite funny and impressive . Our Chinese habit of making disparaging remarks seems to be extremely common . Being modest and avoiding showing off are parts of Chinese traditional manners . Her mother complaining about " This dish not salty enough , no flavor " , in fact , was a cue to eat some and proclaim it it the best she had ever made . But the Rich did not understand . From the following description of her mother being horrified , I judged that her mother was strongly objective against Rich and even their marriage . Waverly also had such an opinion . But I am wrong and from their conversation I understand something more important . Mother is the only one that understands their daughters or sons in the world.And none of the mothers do not love their children . And the heaty conversattion can make a strong bridge between the different generation or even the peonple from the different cultures . I find that if you would not like to tell your hearty words out , others are not able to know what you are and what you think . People each have different opinions about the same things . Waverly had thought that her mother disapproved of her marriage and hated her Rich . However , her mother's meaningful words surprised Waverly and even me . Just be particular about who I really care for and love. It occured to me that whoever we hurt is always who we really love for reasons that others would not care for our complaint . Yes , who will care for those who you do not love ? The answer is known by us fron the beginning to the end . It is the love for Waverly that her mother has been showing her . Waverly , a wholly Americanized girl , never trully knew her mother and was ignorant of the love for her . Indeed , the language and the culture did make a great difference in the exchange of feelings , which is a terribly high barrier between Waverly and her mother , also between other three mothers and their daughters . But love and understandings , finally will prevail over others .
Personally , through the whole novel , the conflict between mothers and daughters , virtually , is that of the cultures between the East and the West . Mothers represent the classic, traditional Chinese culture but the daughters are the symbol of just , free , open and modern American one , which are two kinds of contradictory elements . However , through the whole novel , it is easier to find that finally they can understand each other and be in harmony . When Jing-Mei saw her twin-half sisters , she was surprised at this kind of familiarity . "And now I also see what part of me is Chinese. It is so obvious. It is my family. It is in our blood. After all these years, it can finally be let go. " shows that Jing-Mei understood her mother's stubbornness and love and was struck by mother's greatness . The resolution of the contradiction shows that the cultures of the East and the West can be in harmony with each other .