The Joy Luck Club (Magill’s Literary Annual 1991-2005)
At a glance:
- Author: Amy Tan
- First Published: 1989
- Type of Work: Novel
- Time of Work: Primarily the 1980’s, with flashbacks
- Setting: San Francisco and China
- Principal Characters: Jing-Mei “June” Woo, Suyuan Woo, An-Mei Hsu, Rose Hsu Jordan, Lindo Jong, Waverly Jong, Ying-Ying St. Clair, Lena St. Clair
- Genres: Long fiction, Psychological fiction, Social realism, Domestic realism, Family literature
- Subjects: North America or North Americans, Self-discovery, United States or Americans, Mothers, Parents and children, Twentieth century, Authors or writers, Marriage, California, West, U.S., Asia or Asians, Immigration or emigration, Multiculturalism, Women, Divorce, Lifestyles, Bilingualism, Asian Americans, China or Chinese people, Chinese Americans, Career women, Luck or misfortune
- Locales: San Francisco, CA, China
In a brief story that opens The Joy Luck Club, a woman leaves Shanghai for America, carrying with her a beautiful swan which she is determined to give one day to her yet unborn daughter, as a symbol of her high aspirations for her in the new land. At the immigrations office amid a confusion of forms and foreign sounds, the swan is confiscated, leaving the woman with only one loose feather and a now dazed conviction about why she had even wanted to come to America. Nevertheless, she saves the worthless-looking feather, still planning to hand it someday to her daughter, in hopes...
[The entire page is 2504 words long]
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
Navigate
See Also
