Joy Luck Club Immigrant

Words: 2020
Pages: 9

Chloe Chan Ms. Keddy English 10 Honors April 2, 2026 The Joy Luck Club: The Immigrant experience For immigrants, coming to America is often associated with the American dream, the idea that in America anyone has the freedom and opportunity to provide future generations with a good life. However, moving to a new country means leaving the culture they are comfortable in and raising a child in a culture that is not your own. In the bestselling novel, The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan explores the Chinese immigrant experience through 16 short stories, narrated by four different mothers and their four different daughters. Among these pairs are the passive Yingying St. Clair and her daughter Lena, both who struggle to find their voices in an American world. Another complex relationship is child chess prodigy Waverly and her overbearing mother Lindo, who struggle to understand each other because of their cultural distinctions. These mother-daughter relations, based on Amy Tan’s own experience with her immigrant mother, illustrate the lack of understanding between mother and daughter as a result of the daughter’s assimilation to American culture and lack of Chinese knowledge. Amy Tan utilizes parables, language, and alternating perspectives in The Joy Luck Club to illustrate the immigrant experience of sacrificing cultural roots for a better life in America, ultimately resulting in a struggle communicating with …show more content…
Accessed 20 March 2024. Tan, Amy. I love it. The Joy Luck Club. Penguin Books, 2006. http://www.penguinbooks.com/penguin-books/penguin-books/penguin-books/penguin-books/penguin-books/penguin-books/penguin-books/penguin-books/penguin-books/penguin-books/penguin- – “Mother Tongue.” 50 Essays: A Portable Anthology, 3rd Edition, edited by Samuel Cohen, Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2011, pp. 113-117.