Week 14 Project Action Plan: The Joy Luck Club

Week 14 Project Action Plan: The Joy Luck Club

• I have decided to write one of the daughter in the novel of Amy Tan, The Joy Luck Club, one of the daughter is Jing Mei (June) regarding her mother struggle and her struggle to understand her mother motives of making sure she knows her culture and their life from China.
• The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, describe complex life stories of each Chinese women and their daughter. One of daughter that Amy Tan describe as “The Joy Luck Club” is Jing-mei (June) Woo. She is a daughter of Suyuan, who started the San Francisco version of the Joy Luck Club in 1949, two years before she was born. It is a Mahjong table game of dice and always consist of four players and it is played all night long. (p.21). Amy Tan describe Jing-mei (June) has best quality, and weak quality and like many daughters, issues with their mothers about life, love and control. Amy Tan attitude towards Jing-mei is that she has different personalities that when she was little girl, she decided if she want to be strong, or weak that affect her relationship with her mother and other daughters of the Joy Luck Club
• Jing Mei was born here in the United States and adapted the American tradition as she grows up. Jing-Mei felt overwhelm when after her mother died, the other three Chinese mothers want her to fulfill her responsibilities that her mother left behind. They want Jing-mei to seat at her mother place at the Mah-jongg table as representative of Suyuan. They also want Jing-mei to fulfill her mother’s wish to go back to China and find her long-lost half-sisters
• Suyuan felt that Jing-mei has the talent and intelligence that many other Chinese girl has. Suyuan believed that if Jing-mei work hard on her talent, she will also be a prodigy and be a championed pianist. Suyuan has high expectation from Jing-mei because she wants her daughter to be like the other daughter of one of the Chinese mothers, who are chess championed-Waverly.
• Waverly, one of the daughter of Chinese mother Lindo. Waverly knows that she is smart (she was a chess prodigy) and incredibly snobby. Her relationship with Jing-mei, that she can belittle Jing-mei by serving herself some inferior crab.
• My rough thesis, Suyuan failed to recognized Jing Mei best quality because of Jing Mei American attitude and Suyuan culture, behavior and attitude

Week 14 Part B: The Joy Luck Club- American Translation- Four Directions

Week 14 Part B: The Joy Luck Club- American Translation- Four Directions

• Waverly Jong is one of the daughter of The Joy Luck Club. In this chapter “Four Directions”. Waverly wants to tell her mother Lindo that she and her boyfriend Rich wants to get married and they are engaged. Waverly thought that it is a good idea to take Lindo to Four Directions; a Chinese restaurant Waverly likes to eat. Waverly noticed that every time she mentioned Rich’s name and what he does for her and her daughter Shoshana, Lindo changes the subject. After lunch, Waverly invited Lindo to her apartment to show her the mink coat Rich gave her. Her apartment is littered with Shoshana’s toy and Rich’s belongings. Waverly wanted to show her mother that Rich are part of her life and she needs to know the seriousness of their relationship is evident in her apartment. But Lindo says nothing about the evidence of Rich’s presence in the apartment.
• Then, Waverly reminisce on her chess playing years and remembered how talented she was. Waverly was ten years old and even though that she was young, she knew that ability to play chess was a gift (p.170) For Waverly, this gift gave her supreme confidence and her mother loves to show her off. She hated her mother because she thought Lindo takes all the credit of her winning the chess all the time. One day, while walking on Stockton Street, she shouted at her and run off. After that incident, her mother became in silence and do not speak at all. Waverly decided to quit chess temporarily. She did not practice and instead watch TV with her brothers. She initiated the break by purposefully missing a tournament. Although Waverly had meant to hurt Lindo by skipping the event, Lindo was not upset; Waverly alone suffered, as she knew that she could have easily beaten the boy who won. Soon, Waverly broke the silence to tell Lindo that she had decided to play again. Although she expected her mother to react joyously, Lindo was reproachful and told Waverly that “you think it is easy, one day quit and next day play, everything for you is this way” (p. 171).
• Waverly wants her approval about what happen to her personal life, she remembered her first marriage to Marvin. Lindo used to criticize him, and Waverly feels that this criticism contributed to her failed marriage. She remembered that she only see many thing wrong about Marvin and now she fears that Lindo will spoil her marriage to Rich as well. She knows that if the marriage failed it would crush Rich, for he loves her unconditionally, the way she loves her own little daughter, the child she had with Marvin, Shoshana

Reference:

Tan, Amy. (1989). The Joy Luck Club. Penguin book New York New York

Week 14: Analysis

Week 14: Analysis

• Ying-ying felt sad that she sees from Lena the powerless in regards to marriage to Harold. When Lena was young, her mother’s warnings about her failure to finish all her rice engendered a sense that she lacked all control over her life and whom she would marry. This in turn led to Lena’s attempts to gain control. At first, Lena decide to control her eating to a point that she will be able to “kill” Arnold and avoid marrying him. After she had forgotten all about Arnold, she tried to maintain control by restricting her eating more strictly, to a point that Harold think that she is just dieting all the time. Yet she remains convinced that she lives in a world of forces that exceed human control: this causes her to passively accept the imbalance and lack of fulfillment in her marriage as her fate, rather than trying to speak up for herself.
• Lena became blind and powerless that allow Harold to decide the “equality” in their household and marriage. Ying-ying remembered how Clifford used to speak to her like that and she hated the fact that she has no control over Clifford.
• Ying-ying wants Lena to do something about the imbalance rather than silently accept Harold “equality”. After years of suffering, Ying-ying finally knows that expressing one’s wishes is not selfish. She doesn't want her daughter to make the same mistake of remaining passively silent. The interchange over the toppled table exudes double meaning: Lena says she knew it would happen, and Ying-ying asks her why she did nothing to prevent it. The “it” here refers not only to the shattering of the vase but to the shattering of Lena’s marriage. Harold feels that this idea of equality is based on money and marriage as well.

Week 14 Part A: Joy Luck Club – American Translation- Rice Husband

Week 14 Part A: Joy Luck Club – American Translation- Rice Husband

• Lena St Clair, the daughter from the chapter of “The Voices on the Wall”, discuss that she believes that her mother Ying -Ying has the mysterious ability to see thing before they happen. They have a Chines saying for “Chunwang chihan”. But said her mother only predict or sees bad things that affect their family. She knows what causes them and she never did anything to stop them.
• Ying-ying is now visiting Lena and Harold new home. During a brief tour of the house, she is already found the flaws. She says the slant door of the floor makes her feel as if she is “running down” She think that the house still a barn, even though everything is expensive and fancy. Despite all those things fancy and expensive, all she can see was the bad part. Lena was annoyed that all her mother sees are the bad part. But she looks around and everything she said is true. The mother had looked in the rice bowl and told me I would marry a bad man.
• When Ying-ying visits, she notices the list of all the prices of shared items that Lena and Harold have bought for the house. Ying-ying do not know the arrangement that Lena was embarrassed knowing what she’s seeing. When they got married in City Hall, Harold insisted on paying the fee. They held their wedding party at their apartment and invited guests need to bring champagne. When they bought the house, they agreed that they should only pay a percentage of the mortgage based on what she earn and Harold earn. It is al written in their prenuptial agreement. Since Harold pays more, he had the deciding vote on how the house should look. 
• Then, there is a discussion about eating ice cream, Ying-ying states that Lena should not be expected to pay back Harold for buying ice cream, because Lena has hated ice cream ever since her terrible vomiting incident. Later that night, Lena decides to mention her hatred of ice cream to Harold, who claims that he always supposed Lena abstained from it merely as part of her frequent diets. Although Harold willingly agrees to pay for the ice cream himself, Lena’s feelings of aggression toward him are not alleviated. Unsure of the source of her anger, she picks a fight. Suddenly, Ying-ying breaks a vase on Harold’s wobbly table in the guest room. Harold had designed and built the table himself during his student days, and when Ying-ying saw it in the guest room, she asked why Lena used it. “You put something else on top, everything falls down,” she says. Lena cleans up the glass and tells Ying-ying not to worry; she knew this would happen eventually. Ying-ying asks why Lena hasn’t done anything to prevent it.

Week 13 Part B Joy Luck Club- Twenty-Six Malignant Gates

Week 13 Part B Joy Luck Club- Twenty-Six Malignant Gates

• The second part of Twenty-Six Malignant Gates “Half and Half” and “Two Kinds”. In the story of “Half and Half”, Rose Hsu Jordan on the four daughters of the Joy Luck Club. She begins by describing how her mother, An-mei carried the white leatherette bible with great pride for many years but after her mother lost her faith in God, the bible sits at her mother’s kitchen table for over twenty-five years. As Rose watches her mother sweep around the Bible and wonders how she will break the news that she and her husband, Ted, are getting divorced. Rose knows An-mei will tell her that she must save the marriage, but she also knows that an attempt to do so would be hopeless.
• Rose remembers when she first began dating Ted. An-mei and Mrs. Jordan, Ted’s mother did not welcome their relationship with open heart. As a result, Rose and Ted clung to one another with silly desperation. Over the years, Ted made all the decisions, and Rose enjoyed playing the part of his wife with no responsibility. However, after they married, Ted, a dermatologist, lost a serious malpractice suit; he lost his confidence and began forcing Rose to make some of the decisions. He became angry when she resisted, accusing her of shirking responsibility and blame. Soon afterward, Ted asked for a divorce, and Rose was shock with no words to say.
• Rose realized that “when something violent hits you, you can’t help but lose your balance and fall, and after you pick yourself up, you realize you can’t trust anybody to save you- not your husband- not your mother-not God”. Rose remembered the tragic death of her brother Bing, and why her mother An-mei lost her faith in God. The family had gone to the beach to enjoy the day and plan to catch ocean perch. An-mei instructed Rose to watch over her four-year-old brother Bing and became Rose’s main responsibility. At one point during the day, Bing asked if he could walk out on the reef to where their father was fishing. Rose lost her attention to Bing and he fell into water without finding his body. Rose just realized that she believes her inattention caused Bing to drown, she thinks that her inattention to signs of her marriage deteriorating resulted in Ted’s request for a divorce.
• In the story of “Two Kinds”, Jing-Mei Woo describe her mother Suyuan believed that people can do anything they wanted to be in America. They can open a restaurant, work in the government and buy a house with almost no money down and be rich. Suyuan also believed that Jing-Mei can be prodigy if she tried hard enough. Jing-Mei was compared to Waverly Jong, who won championship after championship in chess, with Waverly’s mother, Lindo, bragging day after day, Suyuan became ever more determined that she would find her daughter’s hidden inner talent. Jing-Mei promised herself that she will not allowed her mother to change her into what she was not. However, Suyuan saw a nine-year old Chinese girl play the piano on the Ed Sullivan Show, she made Jing-Mei take lessons from Mr. Chong. Jing-Mei discovered that Mr. Chong was deaf, and that she could get away with playing the wrong notes as long as she kept up the right rhythm, she decided to take the easy way out. As long as she kept time, she did not have to correct her mistakes. Suyuan and Mr. Chong entered Jing-Mei in a talent contest. It was a disaster due to the fact that Jing-Mei did not practice and Suyuan was embarrassed. Despite of the failure, Suyuan insisted that she continue to play the piano. Jing-Mei wishes she were dead like her two sister and Suyuan never mentioned piano lessons again.
• A few months after Suyuan’s death, Jing-mei had the piano tuned. When she opens the lid and touched the key, it sounded even richer that she remembered. She then plays “Pleading Child,” she was surprised how easily the music returned to her. She then played the piece on the facing page, “Perfectly Contented.” After playing both pieces several times, she realized that they were complementary pieces, as if two halves of the same song

Week 13 Analysis Joy Luck Club- Twenty-Six Malignant Gates.

Week 13 Analysis Joy Luck Club- Twenty-Six Malignant Gates.

• The “Rules of Games” and “Voice on the Walls” present a struggle between daughters and mothers over trust and independence.  The struggle when a child should listen and follow what her mother’s wishes or the mothers allow her daughter to find life for herself. A god example was “one thing that one duty I could not avoid. I had to accompany my mother on Saturday market days when I had no tournament to play. My mother would proudly walk with me, visiting many shops and proudly says “This my daughter Waverly Jong” and one day, Waverly said to her mom “I wish you wouldn’t do that telling everybody “I am you daughter” (p. 99) Her mother look down and wondering why was her daughter telling her that “it is embarrassing that she is my daughter” (99).Waverly even said “why do you have to use me to show me off? (p.99) She misunderstands her mother’s pride in her achievement. Waverly does not trust her mother and she wants chess to be strictly her own achievement. When she lashes out at her mother, Waverly breaks her own rule. She essentially puts herself “in check” by revealing her secret weakness, her insecurities about her mother and her need to believe that her chess talent is hers alone.
• In Lena’s stories, she always anticipates the worst from all situations. When Lena hears Teresa and her mother fighting through the wall of her own wall. When Lena hears Teresa and her mother fighting through the wall of her bedroom, she imagines that someone is being killed, that a mother is taking her daughter’s life.  Lena listens to the fighting and, not knowing exactly what is happening, she imagines the worst possibility. After Lena speaks with Teresa, she realizes that these people have their way of communicating with each other and expressing their love. Lena learns that reality does not always conform to one’s most terrible fears. Lena and her father seem to fear that by probing too deeply into Ying-ying’s fears and sorrows they might expose some unbearable horror. Thus, when Ying-ying lies like a statue on her bed after the baby’s death, acknowledging no one, Lena’s father says, “She’s just tired,” although both father and daughter know that the problem is much more serious. Similarly, when Lena asks her mother why she constantly rearranges the furniture, she does so only out of a feeling of duty; she in fact fears to receive a truthful answer.

Week 13 Part A- Joy Luck Club Part #2 The Twenty-Six Malignant Gates.

Week 13 Part A- Joy Luck Club Part #2 The Twenty-Six Malignant Gates.

• The second section of Amy Tan’s Joy Luck Club Book was about the American raised daughters Waverly Jong, Lena St. Clair, having conflict with their mother.
•  In the story of Waverly Jong “Rules of the Game”, she learned from her mother to “bite back your tongue” and “the art of invisible strength”, a strategy for winning arguments, respect from others, and eventually to become a child chess prodigy. The Jong family attended Christmas party and children received Christmas present from the donations of another church. Waverly got multipack of Lifesavers, and one of her brother got a secondhand chess set and has missing two pieces. Waverly got interested on playing the chess and offered two of her Lifesavers in order for her brother to teach her how to play the chess. Waverly soon learned the game hinges on invisible strength in the form of secret traps and keen foresight. Waverly began playing with named Lau Po, an old man on the playground who played chess and he taught her many new strategies. Waverly began to attract attention because of her young age, and she became a celebrity within San Francisco’s Chinatown community. She played in tournaments, and become a national champion, Lindo took great pride in her daughter’s talent, and bring her to stores to show her. One day, Waverly yelled at her mother in the street, telling her that she was embarrassed by her constant bragging. Waverly ran off, ignoring her mother’s shouts; when she returned later that night, Lindo said that because Waverly had no concern for her family, the family would have no concern for her. Waverly went into her room, lay down on the bed, and envisioned a chess game in which her mother was her opponent. Waverly ends her story with the statement, “I closed my eyes and pondered my next move.
• In the story of Lena St. Clair. “The Voice from the Wall”. Lena remembered that her mother Ying-ying never spoke of her life in China. Lena’s father Clifford, an English-Irish man explained to Lena that terrible tragedy happened and could not bring Ying-ying to speak about it. Language barrier was issues long before Lena was born, Clifford learned limited Mandarin and so as Ying-ying. Often times Lena was forced to translate for her mother and trick her mother into acting normal. The family moved to San Francisco due to Clifford’s promotion. The apartment was built of steep hill and Ying-ying was not happy and keep rearranging the furniture due to reason of “no balance” Lena found out the she will be a big sister but the baby boy died immediately after birth from severe medical issues. Ying-ying blame herself and speaking incoherently of another son that she had killed in the past. Lena translated to her dad that her mother’s word into hope and consolation. When they got home, their neighbor Teresa knocked on their door and explained that her mom locked her or waiting for her to apologized. Later that night, Teresa and her mom still yelling, but laughing with strange joy and love.

Week 12 Project Work Revision

Week 12 Project Work Revision

• I added a conclusion as part of my final revision:

• The story of Four Poems of Angel Island and Chinatown was from a collection of poetry by anonymous Chinese writers from two sources: Island (1980), edited by Him Mark Lai, Genny Lim, and Judy Yung; and Songs of Gold Mountain (1987), edited by Marlon K. Hom (Hicks, p.354) It is a story of  United States and its immigration uses power, interrogation, and intimidation on thousands of Chinese immigrants who only wishes to come to America to fulfill a promise of a better life. From 1910 to 1940, United States immigration authorities used Angel Island in San Francisco Bay as the port of entry for all Chinese arrivals, detaining some for “review” for as long as they wished (Hicks, p.354). According to Ying Diao, this historical event was the fruit of labor of the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act that legally banned the free immigration of all Chinese laborers and prohibited the naturalization of Chinese immigrants already in the United States. It was the first national legislation against immigration based on race and national origin. (www.festival.si.edu). Marlon K. Hom explained that many of Chinese detainee showed their frustration and pain by carving their poems in the wooden doors and wall of Angel Island Building (Hicks, p.354). This poem shows its historical, social, political and/or economic suffering of Chinese immigrants who came to America to take a chance to better their lives
• Hicks et al describe the poem “Over a hundred poems are on the walls, looking at them, they are all pining at the delayed progress” (p. 354) The poem shows more than historical relic. This part of poem tells us that it is a remnant of the past while they are significant reflections of the economic and labor mistreatment in California at the turn of the century. The reason many of these Chinese immigrants were detained because of ideology of so called of Equal Opportunity for everyone. Equal Opportunity was not about to happen in America especially when unfair treatment can be manipulated and abuse.
• The dismal treatment and conditions that resembled prison “Face haggard, turning yellow and puffy, waist bent like a drawn bow” (Hicks, p. 355) During the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, the government political and economic injustice developed a dual wage system to pay Asian laborers less than other workers, pitting the groups against each other to depress wages for both (Takaki 13). The political and economic climate of U.S. immigration regarding Asian was brought by people blaming Chinese-American taking jobs from them. They are called the “minorities”, who can work cheap, efficient and on time. (Johnston, Robert, 2002). Chinese immigrants in the 19th century worked as laborers, particularly on the transcontinental railroad, such as the Central Pacific Railroad. They also worked as laborers in the mining industry and suffered racial discrimination at every level of society. While industrial employers were eager to get this new and cheap labor, the ordinary white public was stirred to anger by the presence of this "yellow peril". (Ching-Ching, 2007) 
• They endure endless and undetermined detention in Angel Island by “I count on my fingers: a year is about to end. In the embroidery room, a young woman laments: I am still somewhat young and yet times passes ever so quickly, in the blink of an eye”. Yet, they still want to wait and hear their fate because Chinese saw America as a land of equality and opportunity and certainly, they never expected to be imprisoned
• Memories of oppression and mistreatment of many Chinese immigrants, shows on all these Chinese characters and symbols they wrote on the walls. They want everyone to know that hate and desire to avenge their unfair treatment by saying “Lazy, remiss, he won’t move even if you drag him. He’s about to meet King Yimlo at Hell’s tenth palace”
• These poems were not just to show frustration and oppression but like many ancient culture, carving on the stones and rock was the way people tells their stories but how they live their lives. Some culture used handicrafts such as woodcarving and other uses embroidery that gives the different culture unique and have enduring vitality and creativity. We tell our stories because we want our children and their children knows and respect the culture and beliefs of their ancestors. The idea of these memories was to remember good memories and tradition of our ancestors. It is sad to see and remember that these writing on walls were memories and voices of sadness, anger, and desperation to be free and for us to hear and speak in their behalf. They left these poems to share their stories and for us to do something in the future. These people were brave and endure suffering and still have the strength to leave historical and immigration marking of abuse that maybe someday we learn from it and it can help us to voice out and have an impact and make changes to our immigration policies.
• In conclusion, this historical, social, political and/or economic tragedy and discrimination of Chinese immigrants who came to America to take a chance to better their lives, were seem to have become a thing of the past. People developed and accustomed to these tragedies that “In a foreign country, we celebrate the joyous festival in springtime clothes, we greet each other by the door, with auspicious sayings- “May you claim a mine full of gold and may wealth soothe your soul” (Hicks et al, p.355). We cannot deny the reality of people learned to accept and assimilate themselves to the tragedy of the situation and create their life out of that tragedy. Thousands of years of oppression will never go away because it is allowed. “He holds the pipe as his family fortune goes down its hole, soon he will be six feet underground” (Hicks et al, p. 355) Millions of undocumented immigrants are still taking their chance to stay here in America and hope to have the opportunities like every else.

References

Ching-Ching Ni. "A Chinese American immigration secret emerges from the dark days of discrimination". L.A. Times. Retrieved 2007-09-01.

Hicks, J., Houston, J., Kingston, M., & Young, A., (2000). The literature of California. Writing from the Golden State. University of California Press Berkley and Los Angeles California

Takaki, Ronald. Strangers from a Different Shore: A History of Asian Americans. Boston: Little Brown, 1989.

Week 12 Analysis- The Joy Luck Club

Week 12 Analysis- The Joy Luck Club

• In her book “The Joy Luck Club”, author Amy Tan raises the issue of cultural and language barrier that exists between each immigrant mother and their American-born daughter.  In the book, daughters have never known the sorrows that their mother experienced in China. They cannot appreciate their good fortune because they do not know their mother’s story. The story explained that the mother desires to live out her hopes through her daughter, the lack of communication between them prevents her wish from being granted in its entirety. Even if the mother were to learn “perfect American English,” she would never be able to translate fully the sorrow and sadness of her story.
• In today society, I believe parents especially mothers want their daughter to know deeper level of understanding and communication in order to see the value of culture and beliefs that many mothers want them to know. They want their daughter to know how to appreciate the good fortune they having by knowing the sorrow and sadness of what their mother experience when they were young.
• The significance of “The Joy Luck Club” the connections of stories of their former life that they want their daughter to cherished and valued. Their survival from the past and tragedy should be a lesson for their daughter and see their culture “eye to eye”.
• The book also shows the generational gap into Jing-Mei’s fear and anxiety about replacing her mother in the club. Jing-Mei felt that it was a big undertaking to take her mother’s place in the Joy Luck Club because it is an important tradition and ritual that carries the memory of what was begun in China and resurrected in America. Jing-Mei just realized that she is a piece of her mother’s past in her own present. Suyuan created the Joy Luck Club in Kweilin because she wanted to create, a sense of joy and gladness, amidst the chaos and uncertainty of war.

Week 12 Part B: The Joy Luck Club-Feathers from a thousand Li Away

Week 12 Part B: The Joy Luck Club-Feathers from a thousand Li Away

• The Joy Luck Club is a book that tell stories about four strong women, who endure suffering before they left China, the creation of The Joy Luck Club from Mahjong party and how their daughters have different prospective in life and being women in America.
• The book has four major themes the begins “Feathers from a Thousand Li Away”. Jing-Mei Woo (June). This is where Jing Mei Woo (June) daughter of one the four women Suyuan died from cerebral aneurysm two months ago tells the story about becoming the new member of The Joy Luck Club. Her father Canning, as asked her to take her mother’s place at the Joy Luck Club, a weekly mahjong party. (Mahjong is a traditional Chinese game with four players involving dice and domino-like tiles.) Jing-Mei (June)tells her mother’s story about the club’s beginning. Suyuan actually founded the Club earlier, when she was still in China.
• Suyuan’s first husband, Fuchi Wang, had been an officer in the Kuomintang, took Suyuan and their twin daughters to the town of Kweilin, leaving them to go to city called Chungking. Kweilin was full of refugees at the time, and cultural, ethnic, and class tensions added to the hardships resulting from lack of food and money. During her stay in Kweilin, Suyuan created the Joy Luck Club with three other women in order to escape the fear and uncertainty of the war. They cooked “feasts,” played mahjong, and traded stories into the night. “Each meeting game, we could hope to be lucky,” Suyuan told Jing- Mei “That hope was our only joy and that’s why we called our little parties Joy Luck.”
• One day, an army officer told Suyuan that she needs to travel to Chungking to be with her husband. Suyuan knew the officer’s message meant that the Japanese would soon arrive in Kweilin, and she knew that the families of officers would be the first to die. She packed her children and some belongings into a wheelbarrow and began to walk to Chungking. The journey was long, and Suyuan’s hands began to bleed from carrying her bags. Suyuan realized that her load is too heavy and she needs to begin to lightening her load by leaving items behind. By the time Suyuan arrived in Chungking, she had only three silk dresses and she did not mention of the babies. Jing-Mei was never told what happened to Jing-Mei’s older half-sisters.
• Finally, the three other players (Auntie An-mei, Auntie Ying, and Auntie Lin) of Mahjong parties told Jing-Mei about her older half-sister. They told Jing-Mei that they save enough money for her to see and meet her sister in China. They want Jing-Mei to meet with her half-sister and tell them how wonderful her mother was. To their surprised, Jing-Mei said "What will I say? What can I tell them about my mother? I don’t know anything about her.” The three Aunties was furious and criticized Jing-Mei of saying something like that about her mother. They told Jing-Mei that her mother was smart, kind, and excellent cook. They were frightened. In me, they see their own daughters, just as ignorant, just as unmindful of all the truths and hopes they have brought to America. They see daughters who grow impatient when their mothers talk in Chinese, who think they are stupid when they explain things in fractured English. They see that joy and luck do not mean the same to their daughter and they see daughters who will bear grandchildren born without any connecting hope passed from generation to generation (Tan, pp.40-41).

Reference:

Tan, Amy (1990). The Joy Luck Club Penguin Books

Week 12 Part A- The Joy Luck Club

Week 12 Part A- The Joy Luck Club

• Amy Tan was born February 19, 1952, an American writer whose works explore mother-daughter relationships and the Chinese American experience. She was born in Oakland, California. She is the second of three children born to Chinese immigrants John and Daisy Tan. Her father was an electrical engineer and Baptist minister who traveled to the United States in order to escape the chaos of the Chinese Civil War (Connelly, 2001) Amy Tan's first novel, The Joy Luck Club, consists of sixteen related stories about the experiences of four Chinese American mother-daughter pairs (Tan, 2008)
• Introduction of The Joy Luck Club, is a about a Chinese woman who decides to emigrate to America. Before she leaves Shanghai, the woman buys a swan from the market and tells her that the bird was once a duck. In an attempt to become a goose, the duck stretched its neck so far that it became a swan, exceeding its own hopes for itself (Tan, p.17) It seems that the story reflects on the force nature of changing their lives when they leave China to find a better life
• As the woman sails to America, she dreams of raising a daughter amid the plentiful opportunities of the new country. She imagines that her American-born daughter will resemble her in every way, except that, unlike her mother, she will be judged according to her own worth, not by that of a husband (Tan. P.17) The mother wants her daughter to be strong will, capable, able and not be under control by a man. The mother wants her daughter not to missed opportunities in life because a man dictates her future.
• Like the swan, the daughter will exceed all hopes, so the woman plans to give her daughter the swan as a gift. Yet, when the woman arrives in America, the immigration officials seize the swan and leave the woman with nothing but a feather (Tan, p. 17) This is exactly what the mother was afraid of being control and cannot do anything about it. They left China from chaos of Civil War hoping to have opportunities and better life, but unfortunately, her hopes were tossed in the garbage the moment their seize the swan -a representation of hope for her daughter.
• The daughter is born and grows up to be the strong, happy woman her mother had imagined. The woman still wishes to present the feather to her daughter and to explain its symbolic meaning, but for many years she holds back. She is still waiting “for the day she could explain it in perfect American English.” (Tan, p.17).The mother was afraid that her daughter might not understand her because of her limited English language and do not understand the meaning of swan feather of hope and success to be a free woman.

References:

Tan, Amy. The Joy Luck Club Penguin Book

Tan, Amy." Contemporary Literary Criticism. Vol. 257. Detroit: Gale, 2008. Literature Resource Center.

Sherryl Connelly (February 27, 2001). "Mother as Tormented Muse Amy Tan Drew On A Dark Past For 'Daughter'". nydailynews.com. New York Daily News. Archived from the original on 2011-03-14. Retrieved 15 December 2013.

Week 11 Weekly Review

Week 11 Weekly Review

• Spring break was amazing and I almost forgot to turned in my Project Submission #2. I guess we we’re caught on the excitement of getting a break from all the projects and homework, we close our computer and laptop, absorb the sunshine.

• Now, Week 11 is almost done and we are embarking on new book to read for Week 12. I am excited to read Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan for my project submission. I can’t wait to finish the reading because it sound interesting from the review.

Week 11 Analysis

Week 11 Analysis

• David Henderson poems of “California 13”, shows the different street, tunnel and freeway. Henderson was a co-founder of the Black Arts Movement in the 1960s. He has been an active member of New York’s Lower East Side art community for more than 40 years. In 1962 he helped found the Society of Umbra, group of African American writers with a decidedly political bent whose aim was to support black artist by establishing separate journals and publishing companies. Henderson’s poem “California 13” represent the hopefulness and opportunity this atmosphere African American, and their despair and disappointment when dreams were not realized. “California 13” comprises of three segments: Warren Freeway, Tunnel Road, and Ashby Avenue
• It is interesting how the road travel relates to our life, the hope, the struggle and opportunity that coming along with this atmosphere. It makes sense because our life is a journey that we try have a better life and future. He describes Ashby Avenue- representing a connection of hopeful and opportunity to better their lives by describing “a patch of connection highways thru the village of the philosopher’s theory where nothing exists in pure logic where mountain and the sea divination on extremes”
• He shows that people tries to be better to fulfill a dream by showing their talent and famous by describing the life of being important “I; live in New York, L.A. Manhattan’s my night, Hollywood’s my day flying crosstown to greet the scene, in my supersonic limousine”
• And not all can be successful and famous and Henderson show that in the poems by Disappointments of life by “unattainable Dog Mountain looming stupidly beyond the hiss of the freeway, dinner somewhere on twilight El Cajon Avenue, processions of cars in the California night zone, dancing in loud public rooms with strangers they knew no one, and did not want to dance and drank alone”
• The road, the street, the avenues is a reflection on how we can better ourselves by choosing the right path. we create our own destiny by picking the path we want. We create our world by creating our character and behavior. How you perceived life happens to you and the road you want to travel is how you create your destiny.

Week 11 David Henderson

Week 11 David Henderson

• David Henderson (born 1942) is an American writer and poet. Henderson was a co-founder of the Black Arts Movement in the 1960s. He has been an active member of New York’s Lower East Side art community for more than 40 years. In 1962 he helped found the Society of Umbra, group of African American writers with a decidedly political bent whose aim was to support black artist by establishing separate journals and publishing companies. In 1968 Henderson traveled to Berkley, California, bringing with him the unique perspective of this New York movement. Henderson’s poem “California 13” represent the hopefulness and opportunity this atmosphere African American, and their despair and disappointment when dreams were not realized. “California 13” comprises of three segments: Warren Freeway, Tunnel Road, and Ashby Avenue
•  David Henderson describing how our everyday life happens to working class individuals. We wake early, we drink our coffee and smoke our cigarette and watch the television broadcasting porno-aerobic exercises.

• Now driving the road and reflect on the mountains and famous atmosphere of Los Angeles, where night sky and city lights become an immense bedspread covering the city that has demanded our presence.
• Ashby Avenue- representing a connection of hopeful and opportunity to better their lives by describing “a patch of connection highways thru the village of the philosopher’s theory where nothing exists in pure logic where mountain and the sea divination on extremes”
• They hope for better life and reflect when Henderson said “He came into Union Station, he called a number in Beverly Hills with no reply then he walked across the street and waited for the bus that would take him to Hollywood where “everything is negotiable”
• Attempts to be successful by showing their talents and smart happens. Describing the life of being important “I; live in New York, L.A. Manhattan’s my night, Hollywood’s my day flying crosstown to greet the scene, in my supersonic limousine”
• Disappointments of life by “unattainable Dog Mountain looming stupidly beyond the hiss of the freeway, dinner somewhere on twilight El Cajon Avenue, processions of cars in the California night zone, dancing in loud public rooms with strangers they knew no one, and did not want to dance and drank alone”
• He finally describes the endless boulevard of southern California of hope where other ways to have opportunities using the train and planes that coincide to help bridge hope and success.

David Henderson “California 13”

Week 11 Leroy Eldridge Cleaver (August 31, 1935 – May 1, 1998)

Week 11  Leroy Eldridge Cleaver (August 31, 1935 – May 1, 1998)

• Leroy Eldridge Cleaver (August 31, 1935 – May 1, 1998) was an American writer and political activist who became an early leader of the Black Panther Party. (Gates et al. p. 173) In 1968, Cleaver wrote Soul on Ice, a collection of essays that, at the time of its publication, was praised by The New York Times Book Review as "brilliant and revealing". In the book, Cleaver acknowledges committing numerous acts of rapes for political purposes (Patterson, 2013). The essays in Soul on Ice are divided in four thematic sections: “Letters from Prison", “Blood of the Beast”, “Prelude to Love - Three Letters", “White Woman, Black Man”. (William et al, 1997)
• Letters from Prison- part of Soul on Ice book, where Cleaver describe the day he began serving his prison sentence when he was 18 years old. During his prison time he started the reflection on what it meant to be black in white America. He knows that he is black but accepting the indignities and the oppression without reaction. In Soledad state prison, I fell in with a group of young blacks who, like myself, were in vociferous rebellion against what we perceived as a continuation of slavery on a higher plane. We cursed everything American—including baseball and hotdogs. All respect we may have had for politicians, preachers, lawyers, governors, Presidents, senators, congressmen was utterly destroyed as we watched them temporizing and compromising over right and wrong, over legality and illegality, over constitutionality and unconstitutionality (Segundo, p.16). It is understandable that in prison those things withheld from and denied to the prisoner become precisely what he wants most of all. Because we were locked up in our cells before darkness fell, I used to lie awake at night racked by painful craving to take a leisurely stroll under the stars, or to go to the beach, to drive a car on a freeway, to grow a beard, or to make love to a woman. In the process of enduring my confinement, I decided to put a “pin up girl” to paste on the wall of my cell (Rampart Magazines, p.18) The guard saw it and ripped it to pieces and told him he should put a black pin up woman and the guard will not rip it off. He felt and admitted to himself that hearing that from the guard, he felt the he betrays his human dignity as black and feeling and seeing white woman more desirable that his own black woman. He became a rapist and believe, was the most satisfying to me because I was very resentful over the historical fact of how the white man has used the black woman. I felt I was getting revenge. From the site of the act of rape, consternation spreads outwardly in concentric circles. I wanted to send waves of consternation throughout the white race (Rampart Magazines, p. 20)

References:

 Andrews, William L., Frances Smith. Foster, and Trudier Harris. The Oxford Companion to African American Literature. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.

Gates, Henry Louis; Higginbotham, Eveleyn B. (2004). African American Lives. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 173–175. ISBN 019516024X. Retrieved May 15, 2012.

Patterson, Lindsay (April 27, 1969)."Eldridge Cleaver; Post-Prison Writings and Speeches", The New York Times. Retrieved June 10, 2013.

Rampart Magazines, Essays: Letters from Prison. August 1966, pp. 15-26