Eternal Bonds
Michael Walter
Feathers from a thousand li away
Feathers from a thousand li away is my favorite parable because it shows how your intentions may change but you must remember the thing that is most important to you. People often feel similar to the immigrant woman in this parable who feels that "she forgot why she had come and what she had left behind" (Tan 17). Even though ones priorities might temporarily shift it is important to not lose sight of the thing that is most important.
Lindo and Waverly Jong
Actually Knowing Someone
Perseverance
In the “Joy Luck Club”, Amy Tan presents the idea that perseverance is necessary for one to achieve their goals however it can be extremely difficult. The theme of perseverance is very prevalent in Suyuan and Jin-mei Woo. She had a goal to visit her daughters in China, which was something that she wanted to do for a long time, however she died before she could fully pursue her plan. This left her daughter Jing-mei to finish what her mother started. Suyuan and Jing-mei had to push through many things on the journey to find their family. There are many obstacles when trying to find thir long lost family, Jing-mei suffers from anxiety during the plane ride to china, she feels “so nervous [She] cannot feel [her] feet. [She is] just moving somehow” (Tan 287). It would have been extraordinarily easy to just give up and turn back but she chooses to tough it out and she proceeds with her mother’s goal. Perserverance is not the easiest option but is generally the right choice, had either Suyuan or Jing-mei given up, Jing-Mei would have never been reunited with her family.