The Joy Luck Club By: Amy Tan Q & A

The Joy Luck Club

By: Amy Tan

“Feathers From a Thousand Li Away”

1. The novel opens in which type of mood?

The novel opens in a joyous mood because of the anecdote that this is.

2. What is the purpose of this short opening to the novel?

The purpose of the opening of the story is it provides a background to the story.

“Jing-Mei Woo: The Joy Luck Club”

1. What purpose does the First Chinese Baptist Church serve for the Woos, Hsus, Jongs, and St.Clairs?

The Woos, Hsus, Jongs, and St.Clairs  met each other in the First Chinese Baptist Church.

2. Why would Suyuan Woo not tell the whole story of her life in China to her daughter when she was younger?

Jing-Mei’s, “mother…had unspeakable tragedies”(20).

3.What evidence can the reader find of prejudice in Suyuan’s story?

In Suyuan’s story she says that she, “…had lost everything execpt for three fancy silk dresses…”(26) which implies she had lost the babies at the time.

4. What irony can be seen in the establishment of the original Joy Luck Club?

The woman were miserable and without any luck so at that time it was ironic for them to name their club like this.

5. What can be intimated about Suyuan’s personality from the following quotation: “But to despair was to wish back for something already lost or prolong what was already unbearable.”

Suyuan is the type of person who doesn’t have hopes for the future because she thinks everything is lost.

6. When Suyuan would not speak of the babies, except to say you are not those babies to say, “You are not those babies,” what does one assume?

June is another chapter in her mother’s life and the babies were another.

7. What does this quotation show about June and her mother? “These clothes were too fancy for real Chinese people, I thought, and too strange for American parties.”

Suyuan and her daughter don’t have a very good relationship and aren’t very close to each other.

8. In present time, how does June remember her mother while at the Joy Luck club?

People in the Joy Luck Club tell June she is just like her mother and she has flashbacks to when her mother tells her she can’t be like her and she can’t replace her in the Joy Luck Club like everyone else tells her she can.

9. What characteristic is revealed about Auntie Lin when she chatters about her family still in China?

Auntie Lin behaved affectedly in front of the other aunties and June which reveals she is a bragger.