Literary Analysis

The Joy Luck Club Literary Analysis

In the novel, The Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan, Jeng-mei is given the responsibility of fulfilling her mother’s legacy. Jeng-mei’s mother, Suyuan Woo dies of cerebral aneurysm and Jeng-mei is to take over the Joy Luck Club. They never had a great relationship but Jeng-mei still accomplishes her wishes. Through changes that Jeng-mei goes through, she becomes able to take over the Joy Luck Club and play some games of mahjong. In the end, Jeng-mei succeeds to honor and fulfill her mother’s legacy and wishes.

The Joy Luck Club was started so that Suyuan Woo and others could forget miseries and hardships they had to go through. In the club, everyone took turns to host it and they shared happy memories together. When Suyuan Woo dies and Jeng-mei takes over, Jeng-mei feels like she is incapable of fulfilling the role of her mother. Even her mother thought that Jeng-mei didn’t much about her. Jeng-mei had always felt insecure about herself and didn’t believe in her capabilities.Though after some encouragement she stopped feeling so insecure and joined in the games of mahjong. She began to connect with her mother and took the first step in fulfilling her legacy.

The next thing she does that fulfills her mother’s legacy is going to find her mother’s lost twin daughters to meet them. Her mother had wanted to go back to China to find them herself, but she died at the time she got their address. Jeng-mei decides to go to and find them for her mom. Since, she decided to go find them, it further fulfilled the wishes of Suyuan Woo. By doing this, she took over her as her mom even more, because she made her wish be her own. She wants to tell her long lost sisters that Suyuan Woo had died and tell them all about her. Jeng-mei allows the sisters to meet their mother in a way. Jeng-mei fully finishes what her mother dreamed about accomplishing.

In the end, Jeng-mei does everything necessary to honor and fulfill the legacy of her mother. The Joy Luck Club that her mother started was continued by Jeng-mei. She becomes confident in herself and takes over the Joy Luck Club. She also finishes what her mother had begun. Her mother’s wish was to track and find her long lost daughter’s in China but does not get to finish her dream. Jeng-mei fulfills her wish and goes to China to the twin sisters to tell her about Suyuan Woo. The legacy of Suyuan Woo is continued and honored by Jeng-mei. After completing her mothers desires, she succeeds and becomes more connected to her mother than she ever was.

Suyuan Woo’s dreams were to find her twin daughters in China and to keep the Joy Luck Club going. Suyuan Woo died before any of her dreams could have been completed. These hopes were passed down to Jeng-mei and she succeeded in completing them. Jeng-mei overcame her insecurities, finished what her mother had started and connected with her even more. Jeng-mei most definitely succeeded in fulfilling and honoring the legacy of Suyuan Woo.