The Joy Luck Club
Uploaded by irony_life on Aug 30, 2000
Please refer to the book, “The Joy Luck Club” by Amy Tan. Turn to page 35(for those with the red cover version by the series editor, Judith Baxter) and refer to the story ‘Scar’.
Extract: “ I was sitting at the top of the stairs when she arrived. I knew it was my mother……………………………………She cried with a wailing voice that was so sad. And then I remembered the dream with my mother’s voice.” (till page 37)
Question 1: EXPLAIN CLEARLY WHAT FEELINGS IN THIS PASSAGE AROUSES IN YOU TOWARDS AN-MEI AND HER MOTHER. YOU SHOULD REFER CLOSELY TO THE EXTRACT IN SUPPORT OF YOUR ANSWER.
I am saddened by the relationship between An-mei and her mother. “ I knew it was my mother even though I had not seen her in all my memory”, this shows us that, despite being mother and daughter, they did not have the opportunity to establish a close bond. An-mei had no memories of her mother, even though she “knew it was my mother”. An-mei’s mother is foreign and strange to her as her mother looked “strange too, like the missionary ladies at our school, who were insolent and bossy in their too-tall shoes, foreign clothes, and short hair”.
I am touched by An-mei’s mother’s perseverance and determination to go to her dying mother. An-mei’s aunt “quickly looked away”, “did not call her by name” and “offer her tea”, which is the Chinese traditional way of treating visitors. Even the servant looked down on her as she “hurried away with a displeased look”. Despite the aunt’s protest, “Too late, too late”, it “did not stop my mother”. In spite of the humiliation and disrespect given by the aunt and servant, An-mei’s mother did not leave as she tolerated all this for the sake of Popo, her own mother.
I feel sorry for An-mei as her mind has been greatly influenced by her grandmother. She observed her mother and “saw that she had a long white neck”, “just like the goose that had laid me” (one of her grandmother’s stories). She knew she “was the girl whose belly held a colourless winter melon”. “ Popo told me not to speak her name”, thus An-mei “stood there, mute”, not daring to address her mother. This is pitiful of An-mei as she does not deserve this treatment from her grandmother, making her confused and hesitant towards her mother. I have pity for...