Amy Tan: The Joy Luck Club

Questions and Answers

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5.

What universal themes does the novel cover?

Who is the Moon Lady?
What happens to the founding member of the Joy Luck Club?

What wish could she not fulfil?

What is June`s problem when she finally meets her sisters? What task does
she have to fulfil?
6. What is the structure of the novel? How do the characters appear in the
chapters?

7. How does the woman get the swan?

8. Why does the woman immigrate to the U.S.A.?
9. How does Suyuan die? What do the other women say about her death?
10. What relationship did the women grew?
11. Where and why and under what circumstances was the Joy Luck Club first established?
12. How does June`s mother categorize peoples personalities?
13. What did June`s mother say about East?
14. What is the essence of sitting on the East side of the mah jong table?
15. Why must not An-mei ever say her mother`s name?
16. Ch 3 How is Lindo treated in the house of her future husband?
17. When is she forced to get married? Why cannot she have a baby?
18. 2/ Prologue: What is that book about the mother tells her daughter when she warns her to
take care while riding a bike?
19. What is Waverly talented in? What does she use during her games?
20. 2/2 How does racism appear in Lena`s story?
21. 2/3 How did Rose`s mother lose faith in God?
22. 2/4 Why does Suyuan want her daughter to be a prodigy, and what activities does she
force on her daughter?
23. 3/Prologue: What kind of superstition does the mother argue about with her daughter?
24. 3/1 What is Lena`s problem with her marriage to Harold?
25. 3/2 Why does Waverly stop playing chess?
26. 3/3. How does Rose`s marriage with Ted end? How does Rose behave with him in the
end?
27. 3/4. What is the importance of the pendant on Jing-mei`s neck?
28. 4/Prologue What does the grandmother learn from the baby?
29. 4/1 Why does An-mei`s mother commit suicide?
30. 4/2 Why does Ying-Ying tell about her life to her daughter?
31. 4/3 How does Lindo`s mother tell Lindo`s characteristics and future when she is 10 years
old?
32. 4/4 How is Suyuans long-cherished wish fulfilled?

1. family, hope, love, sacrifice, strength, and wishes for a better life.
2. In the last story of the first section, Ying-Ying St. Clair went to an outdoor
performance featuring the Moon Lady, who is said to grant wishes. The Moon
Lady is played by a man.
3. Suyuan Woo dies at the beginning of the novel.
4. her "long-cherished wish": to be reunited with her twin daughters who were
lost in China.
5. She has to tell the sisters about their mother, and she realizes that she
herself does not know their mother really.

6. The novel consists of 16 chapters, every character except the dead mother gets 2
chapters to tell their story.
7. In Shanghai, a woman buys a swan with an incredible story.
8. She hopes to have a girl in America whos value will not be judged based on
her husband, and who will not have to ignore herself and "swallow sorrow."
9. Suyuan died of a cerebral aneurism. They think she died with an unfinished
business.
10. the four of them became BFF as well as WEE (Worst Enemy Ever)
11. In Kweilin, China, during the second Sino-Japanese War, Suyuan and her friends see
no point in being miserable and waiting to die from the bombs, theyd rather
create their own happiness and live their lives to the fullest.

12. Its a system based on five elements.

13. "The East is where things begin."
14. Jing-mei once again realizes that shes at her mothers seat of the table, "on
the East, where things begin." So Jing-meis adventure beings, and so does
the book.
15. Popo tells An-mei never to say her mothers name, because that would be a
disgrace to An-meis dead father. Clearly, An-meis mom has done something
bad.

16. Lindo is treated badly, but even though she cant trick herself into thinking shes happy,
she remains determined to honor her family. She learns to cook, clean, and embroider to
suit the exacting standards of Huang Taitai, who never does any work herself.
17. When she is 16. They never consummate their marriage.
18. The mother knows her daughter will fall because of a book called The TwentySix Malignant Gates, which details twenty-six horrible fates for children.
19. She is a chess prodigy. She uses her mother`s saying about the wind
("Strongest wind cannot be seen." ) and some body language strategies to
show she is just a cute little girl.

20. you get some glimpse of racism that Lena has to deal with: some men on the street think
that Lenas mom is really her maid, since Lena looks pretty Caucasian and obviously all
Asian women are maids.
21. At the beach, Roses mother assigns her to watching her four younger brothers. Later she
sees her 4-year old brother, Bing fall into the sea. Despite all kinds of practice, Bing is
never found.
22. When she was alive, Suyuan, Jing-meis mom, believed in the classic American Dream,
that she and her daughter could be whatever they wanted to be. After seeing the wild

success of Waverly, Jing-meis mother is convinced that her daughter can be a prodigy
too. Jing-mei attempts a number of prodigy-like activities: being a Chinese Shirley
Temple and attending beauty training school, memorizing the Bible, performing amazing
acrobatics.
23. The mother insists that mirrors cannot be placed at the foot of the bed, because they turn
away marriage happiness.
24. Shes sick of their relationship being about accounting. (He doesnt get it.)
25. After having a row with her mother about showing off her talents, the mother gives her
the silent treat, so W. in turn does not play chess for a week. After trying to play again she
realizes she cannot do it well any longer (because her mother is no longer interested in
her results), so she stops.
26. Finally Rose speaks for herself and uses some true words, words of power like her mom
kept trying to teach her about. Rose says, "You cant just pull me out of your life and
throw me away."
27. Her mother says that when Jing-mei wears it, she will know her mothers meaning. She
tells her daughter that the pendant is Jing-meis "life importance."
28. What she learns from the baby is that a person should always hold on to the
ability to laugh and hope even after she has lost her innocence.

29. In order to prevent bad luck from following him all throughout the year, Wu Tsing has to
appease the spirit of An-meis mother. Wu Tsing promises to revere An-meis mother as if
she were First Wife, and to raise An-mei and her brother as his honored children. Second
Wife loses her power.
30. Ying-ying wants to give her spirit to her daughter by telling her daughter
about her life and her pain. She will bring out her daughters tiger nature
(Lena was born in the year of the tiger as well).

31. Lindos mother looks at Lindos face to deduce her character. She goes over all of Lindos
facial characteristics: Lindo has good, thick ears, which means her life will be full of
blessings; a straight nose, which is a good sign; a broad forehead, so shell be clever; etc.
Lindos face shows one flaw, her low hairline shows that she will have some troubles in
her youth.
Lindos mother determines that Lindo will be "a good wife, mother, and daughter-in-law."
32. Jing-mei and Canning are heading to Shanghai to meet the twins.
As Jing-mei gets off the plane to Shanghai, the twins spot her. They instantly run up to
each other, hug, and cry. The meeting isnt at all awkward or sad like Jing-mei had feared
it would be.
Canning snaps a Polaroid of the three women together. They eagerly watch as the picture
appears. Between the three of them, they look like Suyuan.
Finally, Suyuans long-cherished wish has been fulfilled.