The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan (1989) (improved) Flashcards
Describe Amy Tan’s context of production (4 points)
1) Amy Tan was born to Chinese immigrants in California (the novel is based in the same place).
2) Her father and brother passed away when she was 15 and it was during this time that she learned about her mother’s first marriage to an abusive man in China,
and the three daughters her mother had to abandon in
Shanghai before the Communist takeover in
1949.
3) The Joy Luck Club, written in 1989, is inspired by her personal family history. Just as June meets her Chinese
half-sisters for the first time in The Joy Luck Club’s final chapter, Amy Tan went to China to meet her three half-sisters in 1987.
4) Amy Tan’s Chinese name is “An-mei,” which
translates to “a blessing from America.” This is also the name of one of her protagonists.
Describe the context of reception (2 points)
1) It is considered a classic text in contemporary (def: literature belonging to or occurring in the now, focusing on the writer’s feelings, emotions and societies as they were experiencing them. Realistic characters and experiences) Asian American literature.
2) Praised for its nuanced and compassionate characterisation of the Chinese immigrant experience and generational tensions between immigrants
and their American-born children.
Outline the historical context of the novel
In the novel, Suyuan flees China as a young woman, when Japanese forces invade the city of Kweilin. This reflects actual historical events in the Second Sino- Japanese War (1937 to 1945) when Japan aggressively attacked mainland China, hoping to expand the Japanese empire. Many Chinese citizens were killed or displaced.
Summarise the whole text
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, published in 1989, explores the lives and familial conflict between Chinese immigrant mothers and their American-born daughters. One of the main protagonists, June Woo, is forced to confront these divisions as Tan explores themes of immigration, conflict and loss throughout her novella.
