Hundred Secret Senses
The Hundred Secret Senses and The Joy Luck Club
Amy Tan
A major part of the novel of Amy Tan's novels has been devoted to the reflection of the role of ethnicity in the life and choices of the narrator. Tan tries to force her characters to face the question and make decision that take the Chinese and American heritages into account. More specifically, the author, who hands the novel over to the narrator, centers on the drama of ethnicity and identity the various characters meet on occasion. In addition, in her novels, Amy Tan has tried to express the deep love and compassion between the relationships of the mothers and daughters of the novels. In her books, she presents the conflicting views and the stories of both sides, providing the …show more content…
"Their deepest wish is to pass their knowledge, their tales, on to their children, especially to their daughters, but those young women are undergoing a slow death of their own; drowning in American culture at the same time they starve for a past they can never fully understand." (Carolyn p. 91) Tradition and culture becomes very important to their mothers because it becomes what their past is founded on and a way for their daughters to find their other identity as Chinese. In the Hundred Secret Senses tradition becomes essential because in order for Kwan to help Olivia mend her marriage, Kwan must take the couple back to China and have them experience the past life in Changmien. It is only through tradition and heritage that Kwan would be capable to store in Olivia's mind that they really had a past life together and that it if she believed it, Olivia would eventually realize that Simon still really loves her. In China, Kwan has transformed into a historian, the only person who is well adjusted to both past and present, to poverty and mystery, to the ways of the living and of the dead. Kwan comes to function as a sort of pathfinder. As in the case of masters, she explains things, which the others are required to understand, she opens up new and old worlds, reveals secrets. The importance of tradition can affect and mend the trust and distance created by the daughters. "[The mothers] are migrants who interpret life through the vivid eyes of their youth, through experiences." (Michael Dorris
Amy Tan
A major part of the novel of Amy Tan's novels has been devoted to the reflection of the role of ethnicity in the life and choices of the narrator. Tan tries to force her characters to face the question and make decision that take the Chinese and American heritages into account. More specifically, the author, who hands the novel over to the narrator, centers on the drama of ethnicity and identity the various characters meet on occasion. In addition, in her novels, Amy Tan has tried to express the deep love and compassion between the relationships of the mothers and daughters of the novels. In her books, she presents the conflicting views and the stories of both sides, providing the …show more content…
"Their deepest wish is to pass their knowledge, their tales, on to their children, especially to their daughters, but those young women are undergoing a slow death of their own; drowning in American culture at the same time they starve for a past they can never fully understand." (Carolyn p. 91) Tradition and culture becomes very important to their mothers because it becomes what their past is founded on and a way for their daughters to find their other identity as Chinese. In the Hundred Secret Senses tradition becomes essential because in order for Kwan to help Olivia mend her marriage, Kwan must take the couple back to China and have them experience the past life in Changmien. It is only through tradition and heritage that Kwan would be capable to store in Olivia's mind that they really had a past life together and that it if she believed it, Olivia would eventually realize that Simon still really loves her. In China, Kwan has transformed into a historian, the only person who is well adjusted to both past and present, to poverty and mystery, to the ways of the living and of the dead. Kwan comes to function as a sort of pathfinder. As in the case of masters, she explains things, which the others are required to understand, she opens up new and old worlds, reveals secrets. The importance of tradition can affect and mend the trust and distance created by the daughters. "[The mothers] are migrants who interpret life through the vivid eyes of their youth, through experiences." (Michael Dorris