Friday, February 18, 2011
Joy Luck Club Post 3: Newsworthy connections
Post 3: (Chapters 5-6, pages 40-65) After reading two more chapters respond using these questions: What connections are you seeing between the book and current events? Be specific – include quotes from the book to help you convey your ideas. Find some news articles, video shots on youtube and other video hosting websites and post them to the blog. Explain the connections you see. Ask your group members to comment.
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I think that a theme I have been noticing is the overwhelming advisement of mothers to their daughters to not speak up or express themselves in fear that their daughters will seem unappreciative, too inquisitive, or have a voice. To me, it seems as though all of the stories so far have an underlying theme of mothers being unable to speak for themselves or make their own decisions, ultimately resulting in unhappiness. In Ying-Ying St. Clair’s story, she says “For all these years I kept my mouth closed so selfish desires would not fall out” (67). In Waverly Jong’s story her mother “teachers her art of invisible strength” by telling her to “bite her tongue back” (89). Waverly Jong’s mother often gets angry and quickly dismisses questions that Waverly Jong has about life and her experiences. Whenever she asks about the things kids talk about in school, like “Chinese torture” (91), it seems like Waverly Jong’s mom gets offended at the American impact on her daughter. I think that along with the previous theme, generational conflicts and Chinese-American curiosity begins to grow for the children within each story. “This American rules” says Waverly Jong’s mother on page 94. Is Waverly Jong’s mom really teaching her invisible strength by having her always biting her tongue? Maybe in the sense of impulse or by China’s standards of how young children and women should act, but I think that in America, voice is strength and the daughters in Joy Luck Club begin to see this and are conflicted with this.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAG5PwTrhug
This Youtube link is Katie Couric briefly discussing the benefits of women being able to speak up in relationships. I think that if this was shown to students it might be a good segway into a discussion about the differences between men and women expressing themselves and how society looks at each.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0vZbGbPivg
This is something cool I found also. It could be used to highlight how American women are encouraged by some degree to be independent and speak their minds. How do we feel this differs from the characters in the story?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xN2V38pXdko
Also very interesting.
Great post Randi! I was also struck by Waverly’s story about invisible strength, but I think having a voice and speaking up can be just as empowering. If we look at June’s story, “Two Kinds”, we get a glimpse of what happens when a character speaks her mind and stands up for herself. She says to her mother: “You want me to be the kind of daughter that I’m not…I’ll never be the kind of daughter you want me to be!” (142). I can’t imagine any of the other characters lashing out like this and the result is sort of liberating and haunting at the same time for June. She regrets her words, but they can never be taken back. Contrast this with Waverly, who constantly learns to “bite her tongue back” (89), and we are presented with two forms of conflict – one is silent and reserved while the other is loud spoken and critical. Which is better? I am not sure if I can answer that question because it truly depends on the situation. Both Waverly and June live in similar family situations, but end up reacting in entirely different ways.
ReplyDeleteI have found it difficult to make connections across these last few chapters, especially Rose and Lena’s, and I am beginning to wonder if it is necessary to read this entire novel. If I were teaching this book in an ELA classroom, I think I would give students opportunities to select different passages on their own, almost like a book club within a book. This way they can still take about similar themes like gender, family, and generations, but bring multiple perspectives to discussion. Might be an interesting task…
Back to connections…I actually think there are plenty of connections to be made with what is going on in Wisconsin. People are up in arms with their Governor’s proposed budget cuts, and they have taken to the streets and the capital in an effort to voice their concerns. Is this an example of Waverly’s invisible strength, or is this more like June’s lashing out?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41703174/ns/us_news-life/
Take a look at this video, paying attention to only the first couple of minutes and the footage from the capital building in Wisconsin and the protesters.
A theme I have noticed is how strict the mothers are with their daughters and children in general. To me, the relationships between the mothers and daughters seem very cold and rigid, like there is so much tension between them. In the chapter of Lena St. Clair I found her interest and fear of the mother/daughter relationship of her neighbors to be really interesting. I think Tan added this story to show another aspect of mother daughter relations. At the very end after Lena finds out that the girl is not going to be killed, and Lena’s reaction is that she is stunned and that she could “almost see them hugging and kissing one another. I was crying for joy with them, because I had been wrong”(Tan 115). So far in the book I do not remember reading anywhere that any of the daughters and mothers were “crying and laughing” or “shouting with love” (Tan 115). It seems like as with Jing-Mei and her mother the fights and silence continued. For example after Jing-Mei’s terrible performance at the talent show her mother her mother did not yell at her or criticize and then continued the next day with her piano lessons. It was here that Jine-Mei told her mother that she wished she was dead like the other babies in China. A really powerful statement for me was on page 142, “For unlike my mother, I did not believe I could be anything I wanted to be. I could only be me”(Tan 142). Jing-Mei’s mother had such high hopes for her and yet Jing-Mei could never meet them.
ReplyDeleteIn relation to how I see this fitting into current events, I found a few different “Time” magazine articles that relate to how Chinese parents raise their children and specifically in relation to mother relationships. Being in the education field as we are, I hear all the time about how ‘smart’ and ‘bright’ Chinese students are and yet why does this stereotype exist? I think a lot of it has to do with these familial expectations and relationships that exist in Tan’s book and in real life.
http://healthland.time.com/2011/01/11/chinese-vs-western-mothers-q-a-with-amy-chua/
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2043296,00.html
I really like the vignettes so far! The only real question I have is whether the remainder of the book is going to touch on the mothers journeys from China to America; I think each of those individual stories would actually be interesting. Is anyone wondering if ‘The 26 Malignant Gates’ is an actual novel? I’m going to look it up. It sounds quite interesting.
ReplyDeleteCall me cold blooded but I really think Waverly up until this point is a BRAT! It is so obvious that the mother is really in her corner and is proud of all her daughter’s accomplishments but the daughter is unwilling to see it this way. Don’t get me wrong, I know that she’s still a child, but there’s something unsettling about Waverly’s actions, especially when she runs away from her at the market. I can pinpoint several instances that I deemed were disrespectful:
“I was annoyed but I couldn’t say anything,” (97)
“I wish you wouldn’t do that, telling everyone I’m your daughter,” (99)
“Why do you have to use me to show off? If you want to show off, then why don’t you learn to play chess,” (97).
Her disrespect is appalling to me! I think she should be grateful that she is being encouraged to play
And that her mother is showing her off! Hopefully, Waverly will change her attitude as the novel progress.
In terms of current events, again, I hate to be cold blooded, but the bit about Waverly makes me think about the mothers in the media lately committing violent acts against their children all because they felt as if the children were acting in an ungrateful manner. Although I would never advocate violence against anyone, I can certainly understand how angry a parent must feel when the offspring you bring in the world no longer feels as if they have to respect you in any manner. Here are two separate cases that have sparked controversy in the media:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQWnrUXitkA
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/07/16/muslim-mother-strangled-daughter-wont-jailed-judge-rules/