The Search for Identity in Amy Tans The Joy Luck Club Essay

The Search for Identity in The Joy Luck Club When Chinese immigrants enter the United States of America, it is evident from the start that they are in a world far different than their homeland. Face to face with a dominant culture that often times acts and thinks in ways contrary to their previous lives, immigrants are on a difficult path of attempting to become an American. Chinese immigrants find themselves often caught between two worlds: the old world of structured, traditional and didactic China and the new world of mobile, young and prosperous America. They nostalgically look back at China longing for a simpler life but look at the United States as a land of opportunity and freedom that they did not know in China.†¦show more content†¦The only Chinese culture that they receive is what their parents are holding on to in America. The second generation is busy assimilating - absorbing American beliefs and practices even if those beliefs are negative views of their own race. But can the second generation Chinese Amer icans be truly happy as completely assimilated American for in this they are denying their heritage which runs much deeper than sallow skin and almond shaped eyes? Undoubtedly, the most profound struggle for the second generation Chinese American will be to seek out their identity and to find some fusion between the polarized worlds in their lives. The second generation Chinese Americans search for identity is indeed a challenge; however, the second generation Chinese American woman search for identity is magnified. For not only does the Chinese American woman struggle to find her ethnic identity, she must also find her strength and power as a woman. It is a dual struggle. But not only is it a dual struggle, it is a dual reality. The two entities cannot be separated. As Shirley Geok-Lim and Amy Ling stated so eloquently in their introduction the Reading the Literatures of Asian America, race and gender categories are never unitary and separate but are historically and socioculturally embeddedShow MoreRelated Essay on Search for Identity in Amy Tans The Joy Luck Club1103 Words   |  5 PagesSearch for Identity in Joy Luck Club      Ã‚   Each person reaches a point in their life when they begin to search for their own, unique identity. In her novel, Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan follows Jing Mei on her search for her Chinese identity – an identity long neglected.    Four Chinese mothers have migrated to America. Each hope for their daughter’s success and pray that they will not experience the hardships faced in China. One mother, Suyuan, imparts her knowledge on her daughter throughRead More Search for Identity in Amy Tans The Joy Luck Club Essay examples848 Words   |  4 Pages nbsp;Search for Identity in The Joy Luck Clubnbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Imagine, a daughter not knowing her own mother! And then it occurs to me. They are frightened. In me, they see their own daughters, just as ignorant, just as unmindful of all truths and hopes they have brought to America. They see daughters who grow impatient when their mothers talk in Chinese, who think they are stupid when they explain things in fractured English. (Tan 40-41) Amy Tan frames The Joy Luck Club with Jing-meiRead More Search for Self in Amy Tans The Joy Luck Club Essay1058 Words   |  5 PagesThe Search for Self in The Joy Luck Club       Amy Tans novel, The Joy Luck Club, presents a character with a divided self. 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Rape, suicide, death, war, oppression, and racism invade the two novels. In The Color Purple, Celie overcomes racism, violence, and other issues to find dignity and love. In the Joy Luck Club, the daughters struggle for acceptance, love, and happiness. Though the characters endure many hardships they survive not only by not becomingRead More Movie Essays - Comparing the Novel and Film Version of Joy Luck Club1811 Words   |  8 PagesComparing the Novel and Film Version of Joy Luck Club   Ã‚   Wayne Wangs adaptation of Amy Tans Joy Luck Club combines literary and cinematic devices by adopting the novels narrative techniques and strengthening them through image and sound. 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Though different experiences have shaped each woman, they are all tied together by the common thread of strength.    The Joy Luck Club portrays strongRead More Relationships Between Mothers and Daughters in Tans The Joy Luck Club1457 Words   |  6 PagesRelationships Between Mothers and Daughters in Tans The Joy Luck Club â€Å"Now the woman was old.   And she had a daughter who grew up speaking only English and swallowing more Coca-Cola than sorrow.   For a long time now the woman had wanted to give her daughter the single swan feather and tell her, â€Å"This feather may look worthless, but it comes from afar and carries with it all my good intentions.†Ã‚   And she waited, year after year, for the day she could tell her daughter this in perfect AmericanRead MoreThe Joy Luck Club, The Bonesetter s Daughter, And The Kitchen God s Wife3745 Words   |  15 PagesFor the past few decades, waves of immigrant families come to the United States in search of a new home. People from all over the world who have escaped their native country wanting to have jobs in order to support their family and live the â€Å"American Dream†. The U.S. Demographic History states, â€Å"In any event, 1965 initiated a second ‘Great Wave’ of mass immigration, which continues today. During the 19 90s, legal immigration averaged 900,000 annually, increasing to about one million per year during