Discussion Topic
Women's experiences and responses to oppressive sexism in The Joy Luck Club
Summary:
In The Joy Luck Club, women respond to oppressive sexism through resilience and solidarity. They often draw strength from their cultural heritage and personal experiences, finding ways to assert their identities and reclaim their voices. The intergenerational relationships among the women highlight their struggles and triumphs, illustrating their enduring fight against societal constraints.
How do the women in The Joy Luck Club handle oppressive sexism?
I think that this is the central focus of the novel. The exact answer to this question is the novel, itself. Essentially, I think that Tan wants to make the argument that sexism is something that is applicable in both the East and the West. It looks different in both worlds, but it is there. It seeks to silence women and place them in gender stratified boxes. While the East's sexism is understood as "tradition," the West's is more insipid, more subterranean. For Tan, the critical defense mechanism that all of the women require to deal with such a structure is the advocacy of voice and the power to empower themselves through their voice. This looks different in both cultures. In China, the girls who became mothers later on were forces to actively resist a cultural setting that saw the violation of women's rights by men and even other women...
Unlock
This Answer NowStart your 48-hour free trial and get ahead in class. Boost your grades with access to expert answers and top-tier study guides. Thousands of students are already mastering their assignments—don't miss out. Cancel anytime.
Already a member? Log in here.
as something necessary. These girls in China had to summon the courage to raise their voice in protest. Perhaps, it was done through the channeling of other loved ones who perished, such as their mothers or other siblings. Yet, the raising of voice is what enabled these children who later become mothers to repel the sexist structure in China and assert their own voice.
In America, these women see their daughters "swallow their sorrow with Coca- Cola" and adopt Western ways. However, the sexist structure is still there. Tan makes the argument that these "modern" and "Western" girls still need their Chinese mothers to impart to them the lessons of the past in dealing with sexism. This is why each of the modern Chinese girls have to undergo two changes. The first is to repel the sexist structure, as their mothers did in China. The second is to not dismiss their mothers as being of the "old world." In each mother- daughter scenario, there is a reconciliation of sorts in which daughter must acknowledge that while mother's experience is of the old world, it is an applicable one because sexism exists. The coping mechanism thus for the daughters is to embrace the past in their mothers, embrace their identities as Chinese women, and fuse both into an advocacy of voice in opposing the Western brand of sexism that they find. It is here where Tan seems to be making an interesting argument that the mothers at least understood the experiences of the elders in battling sexism. This is something that the more cosmopolitan and younger generation has to undertake in order to fight the same demon in a different context.
How does The Joy Luck Club demonstrate women's experiences?
The Joy Luck Club details the experiences of eight women (one is seen in the book only through memories) in two different generations: the Greatest Generation and the Baby Boomer Generation.
In The Joy Luck Club, named after the mahjong club the older women form, the older generation's experiences during World War II in China are detailed through mahjong games and flashbacks, while the younger generation's experiences are discussed in real time or in each daughter's own voice. The novel is told in four sections, which represent the mahjong game the older women play.
The first section of the novel introduces the three remaining older female characters and also the character of Jing-Mei, who is the daughter of Suyuan, the founder of the club, who died before the novel begins. The women reveal the secrets of their childhoods to Jing-Mei and tell her about her mother's childhood and early adulthood in China. Most of the discussions take place over mahjong. The older women feel that Jing-Mei needs to understand her mother's character better, and their own characters as well. In the past, the women did not discuss their difficult upbringings in China, believing that their bad luck should remain in China.
The second and third sections of the novel discuss the younger generation and their relationships with their mothers. Several themes are present in the women's experiences here, particularly the relationship between mothers and daughters in general, first generation versus second generation immigrants, racism and cultural shifts, and the daughters' feelings of inadequacy.
Finally, the fourth section returns to the stories of the older generation, which are revealed to all of the younger daughters during mahjong and in the families' homes. The daughters realize they need to celebrate their mothers, and they understand the hardships their mothers went through to give them the best lives possible.