Journal Article

Between Two Worlds

Al-Aulaqi, Reem Nasser Abdullah, El-Nour, Eiman Abbass

2019

Overview

\"The Joy Luck Club\" is a novel written by Amy Tan, who is very famous in writing about mother-daughter relationships. There were four pairs of mothers and daughters whose stories were told in \"The Joy Luck Club\". The book was divided into a number of chapters which talk about the stories of eight women; mothers and their daughters. What held all the stories together was that they were all about mothers and daughters- four mothers who migrate from China and their four daughters who were raised in America. All four mother-daughter pairs had their own communication issues: ordinary mother-daughter problems, but also intergenerational, linguistic, and cultural barriers to understanding each other. In addition to the inner conflict migrant women had when raising their children in a place not their own country, there was an essential question which the stories raise which was how well did a daughter knew her mother, and how well did a mother knew her daughter? The book dealt with many of the sacrifices mothers went through, the mistakes they made in their own lives and how those mistakes followed them throughout their lives. In addition to how those mothers attempted to pass on their love, wisdom, and hope to their daughters although they themselves never felt those aspects in their lives. All of the mothers of \"The Joy Luck Club\" were born in China however they had migrated to America with hope to escape their miseries in China and start new lives there. The mothers: Suyuan Woo, An-Mei Hsu, Lindo Jong, and Ying-Ying St. Clair had all experienced some life-changing awfulness before coming to America, and that had forever stained their perspective on how they want their children to be raised. Their daughters, on the other hand, were born in America and due to their upbringing, those daughters were extremely Americanized. Consequently, they did not value the Chinese heritage which their mothers used to value deeply. The four Chinese mothers of \"The Joy Luck Club\" by Amy Tan were not passive agents of migration but rather were the decision makers when it came to migration. Although migrating was not their first choice but it was the best alternative to escape their miseries. To them, migration meant an increase in social flexibility, an escape from social, economic and political problems, and a fair chance for a better life.

• Publisher: جامعة النيلين - كلية الدراسات العليا
• Subject: الآباء والأبناء / الأسرة / الرواية / العلاقات الأسرية / المجتمع الأمريكي / المجتمع الصيني / النساء المهاجرات / تان، آمي / رواية جوي لاك كلوب