The Joy Luck Club Cultural Analysis Essay Sample

📌Category: Books, The Joy Luck Club
📌Words: 887
📌Pages: 4
📌Published: 21 June 2022

In the realistic fiction novel, The Joy Luck Club, based on a club founded in San Francisco by Chinese immigrants, author Amy Tan describes the life of four mothers born in China with daughters born in America. As the novel goes on, we see many common patterns and themes between the mothers and daughters which is due to their different origins and past. Arriving from China and landing in the United States, the mothers hope to live a better life. As they progress through their new American life, they experience and come to realize that their culture that they had brought is fading away. In Tan's novel The Joy Luck Club, the main theme is that it is difficult for immigrants to preserve their heritage or culture because of the miscommunication and difference in character between the families shown throughout the novel.

To begin with, we see miscommunications between the families, which proves that it is difficult to preserve one’s heritage and culture when one immigrates to a foreign country. Language matters in culture preservation because of how culture can be made up of languages. Hence, if one does not preserve their language, their culture may become lost since language is a large part of what makes up culture. An example of a miscommunication of language is when Jing-mei states, “I had always assumed we had an unspoken understanding about these things...My mother and I never really understood one another. We translated each other's meanings and I seemed to hear less than what was said, while my mother heard more” (37). From the statement, Jing-mei demonstrates having different interpretations of what her mother is listening and speaking to. Jing-mei experiencing this kind of misunderstanding with her mother is because of how there is a language barrier. If Jing-mei was able to learn Chinese, there would be no miscommunication since there will be a shared language. This relates to the theme because Jing-mei does not adapt or learn her mother’s language, proving how difficult it is for immigrants to preserve their culture. Consequently, the miscommunication seen between the families proves the theme of it being difficult for immigrants to preserve their culture.

Secondly, the difference in character between the families demonstrates it being tough for immigrants to preserve their culture. According to the text, Lindo states, “She learned these things, but I couldn't teach her about Chinese character. How to obey your parents and listen to your mother's mind...how to know your own worth and polish it, never flashing it around like a cheap ring” (254). Lindo is trying to explain how people see Waverly as different from a traditional Chinese person. What causes Waverly to be different is because of how she is more modernized in her character by critiquing her mother’s old fashion styles. According to the text, Waverly states,"Don't be so old fashioned, Ma" (254). This displays Waverly disproving of her mother's character and culture since she refuses to comply with her mother. Waverly’s actions relate to the theme we see throughout the story because of Waverley not being taught and embracing the "Chinese character" which is part of culture and heritage. If Waverly is seen not keeping and having dissimilarities with her mother’s character, it shows how her mother did not pass on her Chinese culture. Thus, the difference in characters between the families in the novel proves the theme of it being difficult for immigrants to preserve their heritage. 

Lastly, since there are some characters in the book that understand the words of their native language, some people might say that it is not difficult for immigrants to preserve their own culture. 

This is not entirely true because of how the characters that do understand the words also do not understand the speaker’s tone. Even if someone knew the words, not understanding the tone may cause them to misinteprete the entire conversation. Since tone provides contexts to the message, without understanding the tone, understanding the message as a whole will be difficult. Therefore, if one is understanding words only but not the true meaning, the communication will be considered inefficient since misinterpretations will be formed. According to the text, an example of this misunderstanding is when Lena states, “But with me, when we were alone, my mother would speak in Chinese, saying things my father could not possibly imagine. I could understand the words perfectly, but not the meanings. One thought led to another without connection" (106). What Lena means is how she can not understand her mothers meaning but only the words. This was all due to Lena not understanding her mother’s tone which prevented her from not understanding her mother’s meaning in depth. This associates with the theme because of how without Lena understanding both meaning and the words, Lena developed different connections and interpretations of her mother’s native language. Therefore, Lena’s knowledge of her native language is considered ineffective since she still has different interpretations in communicating with her mother. Lena developing misinterpretations through her native language shows how hard it is for immigrants to preserve their culture.

To conclude, the theme of it being difficult to preserve one’s heritage and culture when one immigrates to a foreign country is shown throughout The Joy Luck Club by the miscommunication between families and the difference in characters. Even though some aspects of their culture was lost, most of the mothers in the novel did not in fact want a loss in some of their culture so they came to face disappointment. Demonstrations of their effort to preserve their heritage were visible but they all fell short of their own expectations. As the children of the four mothers grew up in America, they turn a blind eye in learning their own culture but later realize that what they have done is quite regretful.

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