Joy Luck Club Themes

“The Joy Luck Club” was a written in 1989, this books focuses on several different themes, but the first theme many readers pick up on is the Chinese American immigrant families and fitting into a different culture. The book follows four immigrant families in San Francisco who start a club; this club is a way to connect to their culture and heritage in a foreign country, America. These two very different cultures causes many issues between the two generations, the mother was raised by strict Chinese parents. The mothers of the four immigrant families wanted to ensure their children had the best of each culture. Being an immigrant within America during this era was not easy, the children mainly speak English which made it less difficult for the children to fit in, but some of the parents do not speak English which makes it difficult for them to fit in within the community other than the Chinese community.
The daughters of the four families have grown up embracing the American emphasis on individuality they feel that their mothers are “Old World fossils.” They rebel against the Chinese tradition of attending to their elders and pleasing their parents above everything. All of the mothers are appalled
The red candle has two ends that can be lite; one end represents one of the women, Lindo and her husband’s marriage. If the two ends of the candle stay lite during the entire marriage night, the bond would be complete and the two would live happily ever after. Lindos end burnt out, she told her mother in-law and both knew the marriage was untrue, but the marriage bond can not be broken by devoice or death in this culture. This is shocking because leaving the fate of the marriage in the hands of a candle seems strange, because if you do not love that person anymore you should be able to move on and find a better