Chinese Tradition in America
Lea Berry 4th
The Twenty-six Malignant Gates
all the bad things that can happen to you outside the protection of this house." She complains, and when her mother will not tell her what the twenty-six possible bad things are, she gets on her bike and rides away and falls down before she even reaches the corner.
Lindo Jong and Waverly Jong
I believe i would enjoy reading the mother/ daughter pairing of Lindo and Waverly Jong. From the beginning of her stories I admired Lindo's strength and sense of rebellion. In The Red Candle she blows out a red candle which symbolizes the ever lasting burn of her forced marriage. I would enjoy reading about the journey of Lindo and her self awareness along with her daughter Waverly.
Chunwang chihan
My favorite quote from the book "The Joy Luck Club" is a Chinese saying Ying-ying tells Lena. Chunwang china is a saying which translates to "If the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold" which means one thing is always the result of another (Lena 250). I believe this quote has an appeal to me because I'm a firm believer that your actions have consequences and one action always leads to another.
Thematic Paragraph
In "The Joy Luck Club" , Amy Tan presents the idea that culture is more influential than heritage when growing up. This is shown when Lena puts her mother Ying-ying in the guest room, which is the smallest bedroom in her home. However, in "Chinese ways of thinking, the guest bedroom is the best bedroom, where she and her husband sleep"(Ying-ying 243). Growing up in America and not in china Lena was never exposed to these Chinese traditions except in her own home, adapting and following others around us is human nature and Lena did just that. Despite her heritage being Chinese Lena was raised in America and in this culture made lena more of who she grew up to be than her Chinese background.