The Joy Luck Club Quotes

Question 1

‘ I can never remember things I didn’t understand in the first place.’ - June

Answer 1

Mother-daughter relationships, sacrifice, immigration
The tone is very carefree which shows how her mother’s sacrifice of immigrating to America has paid off, allowing her daughter to live a good life. Also portrays her relationship with her mother as she never tried to understand her mother’s lessons and stories and rather forgets them instead.

Question 2

I talked to her in English, she answered back in Chinese.’ - June

Answer 2

Mother-daughter relationships, communication
Portrays the mother-daughter bond which is made out to be distant as they seem to speak “two different languages” where June speaks in “English” and her mother replies in “Chinese”.

Question 3

How can I be my mother at Joy Luck?’ - June

Answer 3

Mother-daughter relationships
Introduction to June, she thinks she is unable to take over her mother’s seat at the mahjong table. She also realises that she doesn’t know anything about her mother’s former life in China, making the weight of “replacing” her even heavier due to years of legacy and tradition

Question 4

They are frightened. In me, they see their own daughters, just as ignorant - June

Answer 4

Mother-daughter relationships and storytelling
The members of the joy luck club are outraged that June doesn’t know anything about her mother’s life stories. As she was born in America, she doesn’t feel that her “mother is in [her] bones” creating a disconnection between them. June’s ignorance represents the mothers’ greatest fear: their life stories won’t be passed on between generations, and eventually, the cultural traditions and personal histories will be lost forever. Legacy is highly valued in Chinese culture, but their American daughters don’t try to maintain it, though perhaps it might also be said that the daughter was so protected that they didn’t know enough to be able to maintain it.

Question 5

My mother believed you could be anything you wanted to be in America. America was where all my mother’s hopes lay”’ - June

Answer 5

Suyuan believes wholeheartedly that her daughter has limitless potential, especially in America, where talent can raise an individual’s status, regardless of one’s heritage

Question 6

Maybe I never really gave myself a fair chance. But I was so determined not to try - June

Answer 6

In this passage, Suyuan thinks she’s found something that June can succeed at piano playing. Suyuan arranges for June to receive piano lessons, working extra hard and spending a lot of her own money to do so. June, who by this point dislikes her mother for forcing her to try so many different activities, rebels by deliberately playing the piano badly. In retrospect, June comes to realize that she could have been a successful piano player, but because she wanted to rebel against her mother, she devoted her energy to playing poorly.

The passage shows the limitations of Suyuan’s approach to child-rearing. Suyuan wants her child to succeed, but because she’s too forceful and aggressive in her motivation techniques, June works not to succeed. The tragedy is that at the same time that June is asserting herself, she is also ignoring her mother’s sacrifice of work and money, and squandering the resources Suyuan has made available to her.

Question 7

“I wish I’d never been born!” I shouted. “I wish I were dead! - June

Answer 7

In this passage, June rebels against her mother and takes things too far. Suyuan wants her daughter to succeed at playing the piano–an activity that June doesn’t particularly enjoy. June resents her mother for pushing her so hard to succeed, and as a result, she lashes out. In this scene, June yells at her mother that she hates playing the piano, and hates her mother, too. Furthermore, she claims that she wishes she’d never been born–she wishes she’d died, like the two daughters Suyuan has “lost” in China. Suyuan is so hurt by June’s outburst that she backs off and never mentions the piano again. In all, the passage shows that the conflict between Suyuan and June is a two-way street, even if Suyuan “started it.” After this, June feels guilty for pushing her mother away. For her part, Suyuan, Tan suggests, isn’t just a stereotypical overbearing parent– she too has feelings of guilt and great loss, related to her two other daughters.

Question 8

You thinking different - Suyuan

Answer 8

Suyuan sees sophistication, as Waverly defines it, as American arrogance, which goes against Chinese values. By having a generous heart, June actually successfully puts her mother’s lessons into practice. And now, suddenly, June sees the ways in which she is powerful—compassion—and understands that her mother recognizes this power in her.

Question 9

I was six when my mother taught me the art of invisible strength - Waverly

Answer 9

Mother-daughter relationships
The lessons passed down from mother to daughter are important. Waverly, a young girl, learns from her mother, Lindo, how to be strong and determined at all times. Lindo recognizes that Waverly is a loud child, and she tries to teach her daughter how to be quiet and teaches Waverly how to take care of herself and project inner confidence, without ever saying a word. Waverly’s “invisible strength” later helps her succeed in the game of chess.

Question 10

She and I make a bad combination because she is a Horse and I am a Rabbit - Waverly

Answer 10

Mother-daughter relationship, storytelling and tradition, fate
Despite the genetic bond between mother and daughter, there is another complex relationship between predestined personality types in Chinese tradition. Certain personalities simply do not get along.

In this passage, Waverly complains that she and her mother are destined to never get along, thanks to their incompatible Zodiac signs. Waverly is thin-skinned, while Lindo is frank and tactless–together, they just make each other miserable. Waverly makes no real effort to get along with her mother anymore–instead, she throws up her hands and says that they’ll never get along.

The passage is interesting because although it shows the conflict between Waverly and her mother, it also shows the deep connection between them, rooted in their shared knowledge of Chinese culture. Even two people whose Zodiac signs are incompatible have one thing in common: they both believe in the same Zodiac. Subtly, then, the passage communicates the unshakable bond between Waverly and Lindo, a bond that’s tied to their Chinese heritage. (Yet this particular part of their heritage–the idea that the Zodiac predicts one’s personal qualities–also keeps them apart, as they feel they are “fated” to never get along.)

Question 11

my mother loved to show me off, like one of the many trophies she polished - Waverly

Answer 11

Mother-daughter relationships, sacrifice
Waverly becomes deeply resentful of her mother’s pride in her chess victories. Although Waverly is happy with her victories, she’s worried that her mother isn’t really concerned with Waverly’s happiness or success; Lindo is more concerned about taking credit for her daughter’s games. Waverly begins to think of herself as a mere object for her mother’s gratification: a “trophy” to be shown off to Lindo’s friends and associates.

The passage shows the extent of the rift between Waverly and Lindo. Waverly is a talented person, but her interest in her chess games is second to her obsession with her own mother. Waverly can’t stop thinking about Lindo–she’s fixated on Lindo to the point where she can’t concentrate on strategy anymore. Thus, the passage could be considered an example of a mother-daughter relationship that’s self-destructive, rather than mutually beneficial.

Question 12

I always became the pawn and she was the queen - Waverly

Answer 12

Mother-daughter relationships, power between mother and daughter
Waverly is unable to escape her mother’s endless pursuit and even believed that she poisoned her first marriage. This shows how she feels Lindo is able to find weaknesses and always be the main reason behind how she views her partners differently.

Question 13

making me see black where I once saw white - Waverly

Answer 13

Even though he is a good man, Rich has no understanding of Chinese values and mistranslates polite behaviour. Rather than forgive him, Waverly internalizes her mother’s complaints and can’t see him objectively anymore. Her mother can make her see the opposite of what she thinks

Question 14

If you show one, you must always sacrifice the other - Lindo

Answer 14

Waverly enjoys the idea of seeming mysterious because she’s always been able to switch between American and Chinese identities without consequence. As an immigrant, Lindo does not have the luxury of choosing which face she wears but also wonders why it is that she can’t wear “both” of her faces, as those two faces really do speak to her total experiences.

Question 15

They knew my face was not one hundred percent Chinese. They still charged me high foreign prices.” - Lindo

Answer 15

Sacrifice
Even though the hairdresser says that Waverly and Lindo look alike, in China, she is still considered a foreigner, an American, This may have been due to her mannerisms and the way she acted which showed that she was not 100% Chinese.

Shows how she feels disconnected from both countries

Question 16

In America, I will have a daughter just like me. But over there nobody will say her worth is measured by the loudness of her husband’s belch - Opening Parable 1

Answer 16

In the prologue to part one of the novel, Tan sets up one of the book’s key themes: the importance of family. The unnamed woman in the parable told here could stand for any one of the novel’s main characters: she wants to move to the United States in the hopes of building a new life for her child. Furthermore, the woman’s decision to travel to America reflects her exasperation with Chinese culture: she doesn’t like that in China, women are measured by their husbands, not their own personalities. The woman in the story wants the best for her child, even if achieving “the best” involves schooling the child harshly and giving up parts of her own culture–forcing her to speak only American English, for example. The women in the novel, as we’ll see, sometimes treat their children severely, but only because they want their children to be successful and happy

Question 17

I once sacrificed my life to keep my parents’ promise. - Lindo

Answer 17

The passage begins on an aggressive note: the parent, Lindo Jong, speaks about her child, Waverley Jong. Lindo thinks of herself as being a faithful, respectful daughter–i.e., one who honours her promises to her parents at all costs. Lindo’s own daughter, by contrast, is flighty and unpredictable– sometimes she keeps her promises, and sometimes she doesn’t. According to Lindo, if anything is wrong with Waverley (a headache, for example), and Waverly breaks her word.

Lindo’s tone is clearly frustrated: she weighs her daughter’s loyalty to her against her own loyalty to her own parents and concludes that Waverly is somehow an inferior daughter. Lindo’s speech shows the strengths, but also the limits, of the mother-daughter relationship. Daughters show incredible loyalty to their parents, and vice-versa, but sometimes, such loyalty can fade away, or be placed behind other priorities–and perhaps it’s irrational for a parent to demand total loyalty from her daughter

Question 18

You cannot understand it. That is why
you must listen to me - Opening Parable 2

Answer 18

In the second prologue of the book, a mother tells her daughter not to bike away into the distance, because doing so is forbidden according to a supposed book, written in Chinese. The daughter, suspicious that the book’s warning is made-up (which it probably is), asks to see it for herself, but the mother insists that the daughter won’t be able to understand it since it’s written in Chinese.

The passage is amusing, but it also conveys a serious point: the mother in the parable is using her Chinese heritage to both educate her daughter and tyrannise her. She orders the daughter what to do, and rather than explain her reasons for doing so, she cites a book that the daughter won’t be able to understand. The barrier between the Chinese and English languages symbolizes the wider barrier between the two generations: the mother raises her daughter according to a set of rules that the daughter finds absurd, and yet the mother seems to lack the ability to justify her own ways to her child. As a result, resentment and cultural misunderstandings build up between the daughter and the mother.

Question 19

And the girl ran outside, jumped on her bicycle, and in her hurry to get away, she fell before she even reached the corner.

Answer 19

In the second part of the parable in Part Two, the impudent daughter of the mother disobeys and bikes away on her own. In the end, however, she falls off her bike and hurts herself. The mother seems to be vindicated: she’s ordered her daughter not to bike away on her own, and when the daughter does so, she gets hurt.

The passage could be interpreted as a fable, the moral of which is to obey your elders. But perhaps Tan’s point is subtler: the mother, while technically “right,” is also a tragic figure–she seems to be motivated by a sincere desire to help her child, and yet she can’t quite connect with her. The barriers between English and Chinese languages, and between American and Chinese cultures, conspire to keep the daughter and her mother apart both physically and emotionally.

Question 20

And I think, My mother was right. I am becoming Chinese. - June

Answer 20

In this passage, June is coming back to her mother’s home in China. June was always opposed to returning to China–she thought of herself as an American, without any particular connection to Chinese culture, in spite of her heritage. But after Suyuan’s death, June decides to return to China to learn about her mother’s life and find out about her long-lost daughters.

The passage depicts an almost supernatural connection, not just between mother and daughter but between person and country. As June passes into China, she feels herself becoming Chinese. In spite of her American citizenship, June intuitively senses that she knows China–something in the environment triggers her. Here, as in other parts of the book, Tan conveys the extent of the relationship between a person and her background–try as she might, June can’t escape her Chinese heritage.