The Mahjong Table
Michael Tran
Writing Prompt 1
Writing prompt 2
Writing Prompt 3
Theme Paragraph
In The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan presents the idea that love can cause sacrifices to be made no matter the cost. Many of the mothers and daughters in the story make great sacrifices for their loved ones. When Popo falls ill, An-mei's mother slices off a piece of her own flesh to use in an ancient traditional soup recipe and as she "cut a piece of meat from her arm, tears poured from her face and blood spilled to the floor. [Anmei's] mother took her flesh and put it in the soup. She cooked magic in the ancient tradition to try to cure her mother this one last time . . . this is how a daughter honors her mother" (Tan 48). To An-mei's mother, the physical pain can be ignored. What matters more is the fact that no sacrifice is too great when love is threatened. Likewise, Suyuan, Jing-mei's mother, was unable to afford piano lessons for her daughter, so "she [talked] to Mr. Chong, who lived on the first floor of [their] apartment building. Mr. Chong was a retired piano teacher and [Jing-Mei's mother] traded housecleaning services for weekly lessons and a piano for [Jing-Mei] to practice on every day, two hours a day, from four to six" (Tan 136). At the time, Jing-Mei resents her mother’s desire to turn her into some sort of child prodigy and refuses to practice. As an adult, however, she appreciates her mother’s attempts to push her to be her best. These acts of sacrifice exhibit the powerful love between each mother-daughter pair and show that giving up anything for a loved one is a true sign of love.