The Joy Luck Club Essay example -- Essays Papers

The Joy Luck Club The Joy Luck Club is a story about four Chinese friends and their daughters. It tells the story of the mother’s struggles in China and their acceptance in America, and the daughter’s struggles of finding themselves as Chinese-Americans. The movie starts off with a story about a swan feather, and how it was brought over with only good intentions. Then the movie goes on, the setting is at a party for June the daughter of Suyuan. Suyuan has just past away about four months ago, and her mother’s friends have found her long lost daughters. But it is too late for her to go see them so they tell June, about it and they arrange a meeting for her in China. The party is a going away party for June’s trip to China. At the party June realizes that she was expected to take the place of her mother at the mahjong table. June sat at the East where it all starts â€Å"The Joy Luck Club†. The Joy Luck club was a weekly meeting of the best friends, were they talked about their hopes for their daughters and there stories of the past. The swan feather in the beginning was a symbol of all the hopes and dreams that the mother wanted to give to her daughter. This woman crossing a vast ocean, with only the company of a swan, yet she is not scared. She has dreams for her daughter, and this dream is the driving force of her actions. She is moved to realize this dream, that she is not even aware of the potential bad outcomes. There is no talk about hoping to have a daughter it says I will have a daughter just like me, and she will always be to full to swallow any sorrow. There is no single thought of failure in her mind. Her dreams have instilled in her blind faith, and inherent optimism. She will go as far as that she lets these qualities take her. The swan feather is a symbol of Chinese culture, in that it was brought from China with only good intentions. It was not a symbol for failure but for hope. The swan grew up to me more than what was hoped for it was too beautiful to eat. But when it was taken away, the only thing that was left was a feather a symbol of something that was meant to be nothing but became more. It was a symbol for the mothers it was what they wanted there children to become more then what they where in China. This symbol was learned through the stories that the mothers have told to their daughters. It was learned throu... ...o this movie more than then the other because I am a Chinese American. I don’t relate so much to the daughters but more than the mothers, since I am a 2nd generation Chinese. The movie was more about the spirits and dreams of the mothers and the hopes for a better life for their daughters in America. The struggle between the two cultures and the acceptance of mother and daughter are also present in the movie. By looking at the different stories of mother and daughter I could see the differences in the Culture and the gap that they had to overcome. I think that in my life the gap is much smaller than the gap that the mother and daughters had to overcome. I think this because of the way that my mom raised me. She raised me thinking nothing but the best for me. I think that I can live up to her expectations because of the way that she accepts what I do. The movie opened my eyes to this and made me think, and to come to a conclusion on why I do what I do. The ugly du ckling that came from afar and grew into more than what it was supposed to be, a beautiful swan. But taken away and only the feather and the memories of what it was. A beautiful swan, that proved everyone wrong.