Yesterday I just finished the novel The Joy Luck Club written by Amy Tan who is a Chinese-American.

In this novel tells of the stories about four mothers and their American-born children. In 1949, four Chinese women immigrated to San Francisco, began meeting to dim sum, played mahjong, and talked. They called themselves the Joy Luck Club.

The four Chinese mothers had their own stories. The first mother called Suyuan appeared in the first chapter. During the war, she lost her twin daughters who were adopted by a couple. In addition, she found she lost not only her parents but also her husband. Her twin daughters were her only hope but she failed to find them. However, she came to American with her second husband. There she had a family again and born a daughter. But in her mind, she never forgot her losing twin daughter. Even though she was over seventy, she still kept on looking for them. In the end, her twin daughters were found but she never saw them again because of her death. Her American-born daughter Amy came to see her sisters in China instead of her mother. What a pity that the mother and twin daughters never see each other. While I think this is still a nice ending.

The second mother is An-mei. When she were very little, she had to live with her grandmother. Her dad was dead but her mother left her and her brother. Her mother didn’t come back until her grandmother was ready to die. Until then, she realized her mother loved her and her mother was a concubine of a rich man. After her grandmother’s death, she came with her mother to the family of that rich man. There she knew her mother was the third concubine and how her mother was forced to be like that. In order to give her daughter a better future, the mother killed herself.

The third mother is Lindo Jong. When she was a two-year-old baby, the village matchmaker found her a future husband. The future husband was the only one son, so he got too much attention and got very spoiled. Although she knew that she was getting such a bad husband, she had no choice but to follow her fate. She even came up with some ideas so that she couldn’t marry such a husband. But her family made a contract and it couldn’t be broken. If she did, she would disgrace her family. She was a obedient girl. One year, her family was destroyed by a big flood. She was sent to the home of her future husband by her parents and her family moved to another place. There she found the future husband was still like a troublesome boy and didn’t fall in love with him at the first sight. Where she did housework as a servant, she was taught how to care for the future husband and the mother-in-law. On the night of the wedding day, she thought up a way to make herself free from her husband without disgracing her own family. They didn’t blame her and the mother-in-law gave her clothes and money. With the enough money, she came to American and began her new life there.

The last one is Ying-ying. She was born in a rich family. Her mother was her father’s wife instead of the concubine. She was looked after well by her wet nurse, with her childhood. She lived a happy and colorful life. When her aunt was marrying to a man, she met a young man who became her husband. In the first year, she was a happy wife. However, when she was pregnant, she realized that her husband often left to do business and let her alone at home. Then the news came to her that her husband lived with an opera singer, a young girl. Hearing that news from her aunt, Ying-ying tried to commit suicide by jumping into the lake. However, the baby in her stomach stopped her doing that. Actually she would like to take revenge on her husband. But the baby didn’t come to the world, alive. Then she left her home and went to another place where nobody knew her. At a new place, she worked as an assist in a store shop, where she met her second husband, an American man. After marring, they moved to America.

All of them were born in Chinese traditional families. when they began to live in American, it was hard for them to be used to the western culture. But they seemed not to get rid of their Chinese characters. Luckily, they met together in this new place and shared sorrow and happiness while playing mahjong.

Comparing with their mothers, their American-born daughters are totally different. Even though these girls have Chinese faces, they are completely Americans in their mind. As you can image, there are some conflicts between mothers and daughters. In this book, it also contains the stories of daughters, besides their mothers’.

In my opinions, the stories of mothers are more appealing to me. When their mothers always exactly find out the problem and trouble which will appear in their daughters’ lives. As mothers, they are eager to give their daughters advice to correct their lives. As times go by, mothers know that it is hard to make daughters follow their suggestions. Then they get used to thinking on the good sides and accepting the things which can’t be changed or saved. In their girls’ eyes, mothers are traditional, superstitious and stubborn. But daughters are surprised that most of moms’ suggestions are right. So whenever they like and decide to do the important things, they are expecting to get moms’ support. Sometimes they are tired of their Chinese mothers but they never really leave their wise mothers.