Four Moms, yet Four Lessons
Catherine Magee
Writing Prompt #1
Out of all the parables my favorite would have to be the "Twenty-Six Malignant Gates". I find this parable fascinating because the story line represented how a young child will not understand their parents reasoning until they experience a fault in their own plan. In this parable the young girl is warned by her mother not to ride her bike because there happens to be twenty six bad things that may happen outside "the protection of their house", but the child fails to obey her mother and she goes outside the home(Tan 87). The young girl decides to do exactly what her mom tells her not to do and she falls before she reaches the end of the block.
Writing Prompt #2
If I were to read another mother daughter pair I would choose to read Jong. I believe I would related best to Waverly Jong because her mother expects the best possible of her and my parents expect the same from me. After Waverly won her first chess game her mother proclaims that in her next game she must "win more and lose less" this shows her mother believes that her daughter is capable of much more than she believes (Tan 97).
Writing Prompt #3
My favorite quote is "Never hurl pieces into the sandbox after you have lost a game, because then you must find them again,by yourself, after apologizing to all around you"(Tan 95-96). This is one of my favorite quotes from the book because it is stating that even though you may fail don't let it effect the way you work towards you're goals. By making a huge deal out of you're failures you are just embarrassing you're self so its better to just use you're failures to make you work even harder like Waverly Jong did in her piano lessons.
Thematic Statement
In The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan presents the idea that respect is nessesary within families even though doing what they say to do may not be ideal. For example in The Joy Luck Club the daughter of An-mei is struggling because of her recent divorce, and An-mei is her only hope in having any source of mental support. An-mei describes to Jordan that young women are like growing trees. She believes that one "must stand tall and listen" to their mothers becasue this is the only way "to grow strong and straight"(Tan 191). Throughout this book many mothers are trying to bulid their daughters, but not every daughter takes their moms advice. This shows that in order for children to strive in their future following their parents advice might be challenge at the time but in the end its for the best.