In my family history story, Jay's story, and Crystal's story, there are similar in that all our families faced troubles and had to overcome them. Although all these troubles are different in big ways, I realized that in nearly every family story, a parent or a family member had to withstand many hardships.
     In Jay's story, his mother is very successful, but in some ways, she realizes that she has to work hard and the despite all her work, she has to work even harder in order to reach the 1st place she wants to get.

"One day, there was a competition or a test between all of the people in her school district. It was somewhat like an Advanced Placement test, as it was only for people that had a certain class placement, which were the “high achievers” at the school, and the test had everyone in the Chinese equivalent of a school district taking it. "

 Jay's mother is successful in that she was able to place so high and was honored with opportunity, but when she takes the test, she only scores 60 percent, still gaining 2nd place. This score serves as an obstacle she must overcome. Even though she was able to get 2nd place with this low percentage, she knows she could do better.
    Crystal's story is much different from Jay's. In her story, her grandparents took a huge risk in trying to help others in their family and their lives were put on the line for this cause.

"She had been to preoccupied with hiding the food that she did not notice a Japanese soldier, or as they called it a soldier of the Imperial Army, had seen her grandmother's attempt to hide the food. As to why she had to hide the food, it was because Japanese soldiers were looting and stealing supplies and food where ever they saw it available. It was part of the policy that the Japanese government decided to implement upon all the nations that it invaded."

Crystal's great great grandma and grandma took a huge risk in trying to to save themselves from starvation. Her great great grandmother was abused by a Japanese solider and took the risk of hiding food for the sake of the survival of her family.
     My mother was forced to overcome her parents and their unwillingness to help her to a better future. She was forced to do things on her own and become more independent than ever.

Joy Luck Club FINISHED!

     Finally, we've finished the Joy Luck Club!
Throughout this book, Amy Tan uses a lot of "cycles" and repeats many of the things that she wants to emphasize. One thing that stood out to me was the used of jewelry.In the first chapter/last, The Joy Luck Club, the Red Candle, Two Kinds, and in Magpies, jewelry plays a role in the story.
     In the first chapter by Jing-Mei Woo, she talks about her mother's story of what had happened to her in China and why she had come to America. Jing-Mei's mother, Suyuan Woo, had had two daughters who she was forced to leave behind. In the last chapter, when Jing-Mei decides to go back to China to find her sisters, her father tells her the story of what her mother experienced. It turns out that Suyuan had left a family picture, a letter, jewelry and clothes to bundle the two babies all on the side of the road when she was fleeing form the Japanese. These were the only things that she had to offer and she gave them up in order for her children to have a slight chance of living. The jewelry was especially significant because it was the thing that her mother hoped would be enough money to allow her children to live under the care of others. The jewelry was the thing that represented Suyuan's willingness to sacrifice all she had for her children.
     In the Red Candle, again, a piece of jewelry expressed a mother's love and a mother's sacrifice. When Lindo's home was flooded, Lindo was sent to go live at her future husband's house (her arranged marriage). When her family left, they left Lindo. Her mother gave Lindo her jade and expressed her sadness to give her daughter up to another family. Her father did not let her mother show pain or sadness, but the only form of love her mother was able to show her was by giving her a jade pendent for luck and as a memento of love from her family.
     In Two Kinds, Jing Mei's mother wanted her to be a prodigy of some kind and her mother decided on her being a piano prodigy. Jing- Mei did not take her lessons seriously and when her mother pushed her to do a competition, she still felt confident she would do well. As a token of luck from her mother, Suyuan gave Jing-mei her jade. Again, the jade represented the pride an the luck from a mother.
     In the last section's first chapter, Magpies, An-mei's mother brings her back to her husband's house where she is a concubine. At their first meeting, the 2nd wife gave An-mei a pearl necklace. An-mei was overjoyed, but soon, her mother proved to her that it was in fact fake and the An-mei had been shallow to be won over by cheap means. Her mother gives her a sapphire ring and An-mei treasures it as a truth. The fake pearl necklace represents lies and deception, but the ring represented trust and truth. An-mei's mother proved that she should be trusted by An-mei because she did not want her child to be deceived by underhand means.
     All the jewelry in the Joy Luck Club represented a mother's love and caring for her daughter. This cyclical object meant a lot to the context of the stories.

Fam Story ((Blogger wasn't posting for me, i woke up just now, 2:37 and posted))

            “As a child, I was never treated the same as my brothers and sisters. I’m the middle of five children and my older and younger brothers and sisters were favored so much more than me. I didn’t know why. It was mostly my dad, but my mom followed him because that’s just who she is. She doesn’t know how to start things herself and feels like she needs the support of my dad. I could understand.

            Let me tell you some things that happened at home. My brothers and sisters and parents all lived in the larger portion of my house in Taiwan. I lived in the basement with my father’s grandparents. We shared a small space, nearly the size of half a typical kitchen and we would sleep and I would do homework there because I never wanted to be around my brothers and sisters. They looked down on me and wouldn’t treat me as in equal. Even my younger brother and sister looked at me as a lower person despite the traditions of respecting your elders. Still, I think it was the influence my dad had on them. They saw how my parents treated me and came with the thoughts that it would be ok to treat me horribly as my parents did.

            During Chinese New Years when my brothers and sisters and I all got new clothes and new things, I always got last pick, leaving me with the ugliest and cheapest of all things in the pile of goods. I took what I can get. After all, this is the only new clothes I get of the year. All I got were my older sibling’s hand me downs while my younger siblings got a constant supply of new clothes and new toys monthly. I saw the unfairness of it all, but I couldn’t do anything about it. When something bad happened to anyone, I was blamed and punished. The only people I had were my grandparents and my two dogs.”

She laughed as she reminisced and switched to Cantonese. (This is where some of the translation isn’t direct)

            I remember those two dogs. One was a German shepherd the other was one of those herding dogs. That herding dog would hide under the couch the whole day. It was a silly dog.

            Ok. Back to the story now. We moved to San Francisco and life was still the same. When I told my dad I wanted to go to college, he told me I should stay home and work and make money for my family instead. I knew that if I couldn’t get into college I couldn’t make money anyways, so I applied using my own money. I got accepted to Cal Poly and decided to go there. When my family found out, they tried to do everything they can to put me down and discourage me from going. But I was determined. The day I had to leave for college, I had a small suit case and a duffle bag with only 200 dollars in my hands for tuition and food. As I called out a hopeful “goodbye” in my house, and all I heard was my own voice echoing back at me. I was sad, yes, I admit it, but I knew what I needed to do. I turned and stepped out of the house, heading for the Greyhound I was going to take to my new college. I’ll tell you the truth. I was crying the whole way there. But I let the excitement of college and the prospect of a new future take over me.

            Now you see why I spoil you guys so much? Now you see why I know you can do so much better than me? It’s because I didn’t have anything when I was younger. I didn’t have anyone to support me and push me towards success. Now that you have me and your dad, people who push you further than you push yourself, you better do the best you can.”

She continues ranting about things I refuse to type into blog post.

What do you learn about yourself, or your role in your family, from this story? How does the story connect to and highlight something about you?

            From this story my mom told me, I learned that my role in my family is to try my hardest and make the best of everything I have. My mom didn’t have much. I wouldn’t say she didn’t have anything because she still had a home to live in, food to eat, and other things many others did not have. But she was forced to take on a very emotionally harsh road because of the decisions and things my grandparents made. She was bought down from her true potential because of them. Even though she was forced to endure such hardships, she was still able to reach her goal. She wanted to make enough money to support herself and not depend on her parents and she wanted enough money to support a family. She has fulfilled both of these goals to an extent that I would never be able to fulfill if I were put into the position my mother was put into. It really does pain me to know about my mother’s pain and I was shown her definite strength. It shows me that I can do anything because I have the support of my whole family while my mom achieved so much without any help from anyone.

            This story was passed on by my mom because she wants us to know what she went through. It isn’t for her to get out sympathy, but it is to show us how far she has gone even though she’s had to put up with so much. 

          This story hasn't been passed down many generations at all, but I think that I will pass this story down to my children because it is important for the to know that they have the ability to do good even if they have to go through they did not have it worse than my mom in terms of family and support. When they go through a horrible time of pain and emotions, they should have something to motivate them and let them know that if someone else can do it, then they can. 

     In society, there are always fantasies for children. For example, we all go to Disneyland in our childhood and believe that every success and every bit of happiness will come without any effort into anything. Disneyland is just an example of a childhood fairytale that every child wants to live. The reality of life is much more different and is much more complex than a simple wave of a wand and everything is accomplished. Telling a story like that opens a child's eyes up and shows them the true nature of life. I fel like sharing such an important life lesson and story with my children will help them realize that they ahve to work for things and can't depend on anyone else but themselves if they want to reach success.

Twenty Six Malignant Gates

In "The Twenty-Six Malignant Gates", the second section of four stories in The Joy Luck Club, the relationships between the mothers and daughters in America are very similar to Amy Chua's Tiger Mom article we read in class a few weeks ago. In Chua's article, she describes how she forces her child to learn the piano and learn the piece until she knew it and perfected the piece. In The Joy Luck Club, Jing-Mei's mother forces her to take piano lessons because she wants her child to become a prodigy.   

The difference between the two situations are that Jing-Mei's mother wanted her daughter to be a prodigy because she wanted her daughter to be able to compare with Waverly Jong, who was a national chess winner at a very young age. Jing-Mei's mother wanted Jing- Mei to be able to beat Waverly and her mother in a contest of who's daughter is better than the other. In the Tiger Mother article, Chua's intentions was to get her daughter to be able to perfect this piece on the piano.

"Over the next year, I practiced like this, dutifully in my own way. And then one day I heard my mother and her friend Lindo Jong both talking in a loud bragging tone of voice so other would hear." (138) 

      Jing -Mei's mother may seem demanding and mean, but really her underlying intentions are to give Jing-Mei a goal to become someone and Waverly was just a benchmark for Jing-Mei for how good her mother wanted her to be. Chua knew that her daughter could do it and can do the piano piece without any flaws and thats why she forced her daughter to sit down and just play and practice. Both mothers had the intentions to help their children see their potential and to reach. Both mothers didn't mean to be mean or to make their daughters feel bad, but they expected their children to live to the best of their abilities. To get them to reach their potentials the mothers believe that they need to push their daughters to get somewhere.  

Rules of the Game + The Voice from the Wall

What is Amy Tan's purpose behind this introductory piece? What thematic elements, characterization, or plot foreshadowing connect it to the stories that follow, particularly "Rules of the Game" and "The Voice from the Wall"?


     In the Rules of the Game and The Voice from the Wall, both daughters didn't listen to her mother. In the introductory piece, the girl on the bike also did not listen to her mother. Ultimately, the daughter was the one who got into trouble from trying to prover her mother wrong about how she cannot do something. 
     In "The Rules of the Game", Waverly Jong is a gifted girl with skills in playing chess. When her brother gets a gift from church for Christmas, it is the first chess set Waverly has seen. She learned how to play and soon, she excelled into playing at the national level. When her mother began to show her off, Waverly got embarrassed and upset at her mother. She yelled at her in public telling her mother that if she wanted to show off something so badly, then her mother should play chess instead so she can brag. She then proceeds in running away. When she gets back home, her mother tells her family to ignore her. And says that if she did not care about her family, her family doesn't have to care about her. In the introductory piece, the girl thinks her mother is full of it and decides that she doesn't have to listen to her mother. In the end, something bad happened to her.
     In "The Voice from the Wall", Lena St. Clair visualizes everything as being wrong. She hears of her mother's great grandfather, who did something wrong and sentenced a beggar to life in prison. Lena's mother tells her that the beggar's ghost still lives and follows them. At night, Lena hears her neighbors yelling at each other, a daughter and a mother. She only sees the worst parts of their relationship. She thinks that this girl is being abused. Ying Ying, Lena's mother, nearly has a baby, but the baby turns out to have died before being born. Lena's father puts words into Ying Ying's mouth and keeps saying that she is okay and would be fine by tomorrow. Ying Ying doesn't have the courage to tell her family of the guilt or the pain she is suffering from.