The Joy Luck Club: The Evolution Of Asian-American Culture

“The old woman remembered a swan she had bought...many years ago in Shanghai for a foolish sum. ‘This bird,’ boasted the market vendor...’was once a duck that stretched its neck...in hopes of becoming a goose and now look. It is too beautiful to eat,’” (Wang & Markey, 1993). Stemming from The Joy Luck Club, this intro to the movie adaptation, describes the history, culture, and experience of Asian-Americans. The quote describes of a woman that aimlessly strolls through a market when she stumbles upon a swan. As she looks at it, the vendor comes up to her and explains how the swan used to be a duck, but as it stretched its neck, it changed its form—making it irresistible to not consume. Asian-Americans have adapted from their history and incorporated their culture with their newfound American culture to enhance the experience of their children’s and the experience of their lives in America, such as the duck changing, to negate their original precedent future of continuous racism. By comparing and contrasting the past standing of Asians in society to their placement today, there is a coherent change in their experience. The history of Asian-Americans has helped them to succeed in the future. Asians have always been categorized under one spectrum: Oriental. In the book Orientalism, Edward Said explains the likeness of the images Americans and Europeans have constructed to ensure their domination over all that fall under the category.