The Joy Luck Club Summary
Amy Tan

Everything you need to understand or teach The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan.

The Joy Luck Club Summary & Study Guide
24 Student Essays
1 Encyclopedia Article
17 Literature Criticisms
1 Book Notes
...and more

30 The Joy Luck Club Lessons
20 Activities
180 Multiple Choice Questions
60 Short Essay Questions
20 Essay Questions
Pre-Made Tests and Quizzes
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The Joy Luck Club Summary

The Joy Luck Club, published by G. P. Putnam's Sons in 1989, presents the stories of four Chinese immigrant women and their American-born daughters. Each of the four Chinese women has her own view of the world based on her experiences in China and wants to share that vision with her daughter. The daughters try to understand and appreciate their mothers' pasts, adapt to the American way of life, and win their mothers' acceptance...

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The Joy Luck Club Study Guide

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Characters

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Topics for Further Study

Encyclopedia Articles (1)

The Joy Luck Club

3,718 words, approx. 13 pages

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan The years following World War II brought a surge in immigration from the Chinese mainland to the West Coast of the United States. This was in part due to the 1943 repea... Read more

Amy Tan Biographies (4)

Amy (Ruth) Tan

4,654 words, approx. 16 pages

On the publication of her first novel, The Joy Luck Club (1989), Amy Tan became an instant star in the publishing world; and her second novel, The Kitchen God's Wife (1991), was a triumph as well. Tan... Read more

Amy Tan

1,731 words, approx. 6 pages

Amy Tan (born 1952) is known for her lyrically written tales of emotional conflict between Chinese-American mothers and daughters separated by generational and cultural differences. Together with her ... Read more

Amy Tan

2,469 words, approx. 9 pages

Amy Tan's novels concerning the bonds between Chinese-American mothers and daughters have earned her a worldwide audience. Although immersed in the rich lore of Chinese myth and history, Tan's works t... Read more

Amy Tan

4,799 words, approx. 16 pages

Biography EssayAmy Tan's roots are in a sorrowful family history and painful personal traumas. Her father, John Tan, immigrated to the United States in 1947. He worked as an engineer and served as a B... Read more

Essays & Analysis (41)

Critical Review by Merle Rubin

809 words, approx. 3 pages

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Critical Essay by Bonnie Braendlin

2,135 words, approx. 8 pages

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Critical Essay by Gloria Shen

5,785 words, approx. 20 pages

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Critical Essay by Sau-Ling Cynthia Wong

11,941 words, approx. 40 pages

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Critical Essay by M. Marie Booth Foster

8,113 words, approx. 28 pages

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Critical Review by Scarlet Cheng

859 words, approx. 3 pages

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Critical Review by Helen Yglesias

1,982 words, approx. 7 pages

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Critical Essay by Walter Shear

3,344 words, approx. 12 pages

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Critical Essay by Stephen Souris

9,674 words, approx. 33 pages

7,842 words, approx. 27 pages

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Critical Essay by Marina Heung

9,916 words, approx. 34 pages

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Critical Essay by Ben Xu

7,706 words, approx. 26 pages

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Critical Essay by Esther Mikyung Ghymn

10,638 words, approx. 36 pages

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Critical Essay by Wendy Ho

7,891 words, approx. 27 pages

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Critical Essay by Michael Delucchi

2,980 words, approx. 10 pages

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Critical Essay by David Leiwei Li

3,427 words, approx. 12 pages

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Critical Essay by Patricia L. Hamilton

10,307 words, approx. 35 pages

904 words, approx. 4 pages

In his renowned novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde wrote, "Children begin by loving their parents; as they grow older they judge them; sometimes they forgive them." A common theme in lite... Read more

The Joy Luck Club: Struggles in Immigration

986 words, approx. 4 pages

A Successful One The Joy Luck Club was written in 1989 in Oakland by Amy Tan. Tan is an American writer, she was born in Oakland, California in 1952 but she has a very strong Chinese ancestry. When ... Read more

Waverly Jong's Childhood and How It Affects Her Adulthood Using Chess

1,313 words, approx. 5 pages

Much of the time you pass though you life wondering, "How did that person become who they are"" This is something studied by many, but understood by few as to how it actually happens. It all starts ... Read more

The Joy Luck Club

596 words, approx. 2 pages

Inside four families, there were four Chinese immigration mothers and their American-born daughters. They each had a different story, and told by their different point of views. Jing-mei (June) had ta... Read more

The Joy Luck Club

1,300 words, approx. 5 pages

Amy Tan beautifully wrote The Joy Luck Club. She has written books such as The Hundred Secret Senses and The Kitchen God's Wife. She illustrates in The Joy Luck Club the passion one can give to a b... Read more

Symbolism Represented in "The Joy Luck Club"

1,042 words, approx. 4 pages

Symbolism is the practice of attributing symbolic meanings or significance to objects, events, or relationships. Symbolism creates an importance and special meaning in objects that normally would no... Read more

Facing Adversity, A Comparative Study

1,320 words, approx. 5 pages

Life always tries to throw adversity at us which we must overcome. Everyone experiences these hardships: young to old, poor to rich, famous to forgotten. Three distinct women come to mind when the t... Read more

Role of Men in "The Joy Luck Club"

709 words, approx. 3 pages

How are Chinese Men represented in a book solely written by Chinese women? They are represented as husbands, fathers, and teachers. They are also the leaders of the family. The Chinese women talk ... Read more

The Joy Luck Club: The Mother Daughter Relationship

1,623 words, approx. 6 pages

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan is about mothers trying to teach their daughters lessons, but the daughters do not understand. All four mothers went through hardships to learn this lesson when they were ... Read more

The Joy Luck Club: A Daughter's Happiness

790 words, approx. 3 pages

In Amy Tan's novel, The Joy Luck Club, the main families, the Woo's, the St. Clair's, the Hsu's, and the Jong's tell about their stories and their lives. The conflict in this novel is mother vs. daug... Read more

Sorrow and Fortune in the Joy Luck Club

1,484 words, approx. 5 pages

The Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan, is filled with many memories from past and present. It is about four mothers and four daughters all Chinese striving in an American world with the new customs. This book... Read more

The Joy Luck Club and My Name is Asher Lev

412 words, approx. 2 pages

The motto for the world today sounds much like "go with the flow." In our current society, people are taught how to think and behave. Often, people are imprisoned by the expectations and restraints ... Read more

Gender and Its Relationship with the Joy Luck Club

1,276 words, approx. 5 pages

The Joy Luck Club, is a film that shows a powerful portrayal of four Chinese women and the lives of their children in America. The film presents the conflicting cultures between the United States and ... Read more

Book Review and Opinions of "The Joy Luck Club"

857 words, approx. 3 pages

Su yuan faces many difficulties in China. One of the difficulties she faced was the war in China. The Japanese were invading her country where she had lived since she was a child. This causes her husb... Read more

Motherhood in the The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

650 words, approx. 3 pages

Motherhood Along the dark and dreary street, I dribbled the basketball, pounding it upon the cement, hearing the echoes of it on the street. I was walking home for a stringent game of basketball, a... Read more

Theme of the Joy Luck Club: Mother's Love

647 words, approx. 3 pages

In the novel The Joy Luck Club written by Amy Tan, the author emphasizes the strength of a mother's love. Mother's love of their children is great and lasts over time. They always think about their c... Read more

The Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan

1,439 words, approx. 5 pages

The Joy Luck Club Summary of the Story: The novel delves into the complicated relationship between 4 Chinese immigrant mothers and their first generation American born daughters. The novel alternates... Read more

Theme of Joy Luck Club

639 words, approx. 3 pages

Joy Luck Club Essay In our lives we come across problems between American culture and our own culture. In this case it's the mixture of American and Chinese culture. A couple of characters have come ... Read more

Joy Luck Club

1,429 words, approx. 5 pages

Lives of Sadness in "The Joy Luck Club"

1,127 words, approx. 4 pages

The Chinese Poet Fu Hsuan once claimed, "How sad it is to be a woman!" In early Chinese society this was a very true statement. Women were expected to be subordinate to all men in their lives and had ... Read more

The Joy Luck Club: The Conflict between Immigrants and Their Children

1,629 words, approx. 6 pages

For as long as America has existed it has drawn people to its shores, to its frontiers, its cities, its soil, and its streets. And the streets were paved with bricks of gold. But one has to walk on t... Read more

Joy Luck Club Essay

1,122 words, approx. 4 pages

The Joy Luck Club Essay My paper will prove that in the Joy Luck Club, Jing-Mei Waverly Jong, Lena St. Clair, and Rose are influenced by culture by different events that their family's. Throughout ... Read more

Breaking Cultural Ties in "The Joy Luck Club"

384 words, approx. 2 pages

Communication in The Joy Luck Club "I wanted my children to have the best combination: American circumstances and Chinese character. How could I know these things do not mix?" Lindo Jong sai... Read more

The Art of Invisible Strength

916 words, approx. 4 pages

The Art of Invisible Strength Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club is a truly rich novel. The concept of "invisible strength" caught my interest in particular, so I have chosen to analyze the relationship be... Read more

Free Book Notes (1)

The Joy Luck Club

18,285 words, approx. 61 pages

The Joy Luck Club Book Notes is a free study guide on The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan. Browse the summary below:   Author Biography / Context of the Work   One-Page Plot Summary   Ch... Read more

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