Section 1: Feathers From A Thousand Li Away, Chapter 2: Scar

Chapter 2
An-Mei Hsu
Scar

This chapter is narrarted by An-Mei Hsu. An-Mei begins the chapter with reflecting on her grandmother whom she called "Popo". Popo always told An-Mei that her mother was a ghost; not in the literal sense but in chinese culture, a ghost was someone whom is so terrible that you should never speak or think of them. An-Mei's aunt had told her, "Never say her name. To say her name is to spit on your father's grave" (pg 43). This was because An-Mei's mother was a window only a year when she became a 3rd concubine (woman who lives with a man but has a lower status than his wife or wives) to a man named Wu-Tsing. This action displayed lowliness and dishonor. However, when Popo becomes very ill and is lying on her deathbed, An-Mei's mother arrives. An-Mei says, "I was sitting at the top of the stairs when she arrived. I knew it was my mother even though I had not seen her face in all my memory" (pg 44). Though An-Mei's uncles and aunt's shooed her mother away, An-Mei's mother stayed to pay her respects. That evening, when An-Mei returns to her room, she finds her mother there. Her mother asks her if she knows who she is, then touches the scar under An-Mei's chin. This sets An-Mei into a flashback when she was four years old during an argument when her mother came home to retrieve An-Mei. Her family is arguing that if she goes with her mother, she will never be able to show her face to the world. During this argument, a pot of hot soup spills all over An-Mei which causes her to nearly die. This is why the chapter is named "Scar". Late that night, as Popo was dying, An-Mei saw her mother do a very honorable thing. Her mother cooked a soup that contained her own flesh and blood in a last attempt to cure her dying mother. An-Mei then says, "This is how a daughter honors her mother. It is a shou so deep it is in your bones. The pain of the flesh is nothing. The pain you must forget. Because sometimes that is the only way to remember whatis in your bones. You must peel off your skin, and that of your mother, and her mother before her. Until there is nothing. No scar, no skin, no flesh" (pg 48). This quote really stuck out to me because, although it is grotesque, there is a beauty to it. It shows that truly sacrificing sometimes is the only way to show how much something means to you.

This chapter displayed a strong feminist theme. The reader starts to really understand what it was like as a woman during this time in China. I am starting to see that there were not many options for women, even less than in America during this time period.

Section 1: Feathers From A Thousand Li Away, Chapter 1: The Joy Luck Club

Chapter 1
Jing-Mei "June" Woo
The Joy Luck Club

This novel contains the stories of multiple fictional characters.
Mothers: Suyuan Woo, An-Mei Hsu, Lindo Jong, Ying-Ying St. Clair
Daughters: Jing-Mei "June" Woo, Rose Hsu Jordan, Waverly Jong, Lena St. Clair     


The first chapter of this novel provides some brief background information on exactly what the Joy Luck Club is and gives the reader some insight on June's mother, Suyuan Woo. June narrates this chapter. She tells the story of her mother's creation of the Joy Luck Club and how she must now take her late mother's place. She tells the troubles and tragedies her mother faced in China as the Japanese invaded. To have some kind of escape from these troubles, she created the Joy Luck Club with three other women in Kwelin. At the tie, Suyuan was married to a Chinese officer whom she had a set of twins with. June explains that her mother used to tell her the story of Kweilin and the Joy Luck Club many times, but always left something out. June's mother eventually had to leave Kweilin as it was facing invasion from the Japanese. She put her twins in a wheelbarrow and pushed as far as she could to Chungking. She was suffering from dissentary and, when she was close to death, realized she needed to leave the twins on the side of the road and hope that they would survive. As June recalls this tale, she does not think she is right to take her mother's place at the table. June is then informed by Suyuan's friends that her twin sisters are alive. Her mother had been trying to find them all this time and before she could go to China to see them, she died. June is assigned with the task of going to China, meeting her sisters, and telling them everything about their mother. However, June knows nothing of her own mother. Suyuan's friends are shocked to hear this, then become worried that their own daughters will one day say the same. Suyuan's friends begin to tell their own tales, thus starting the stories that will be told in the duration of the book.

Watercolor painting of Kweilin, China

Introductory Post

Hello! I am Emily Newman and this is a blog I will be keeping as I read The Joy Luck Club. I am 18 years old and I am both a high school and a cosmetology student. Some of my hobbies and favorite activities are: video gaming, hanging out with friends, swimming, hairstyling, and reading. I am pretty thankful that my current English class offered a novel project final because, with how busy its been, I haven't gotten the chance to curl up with a good book. When I saw the list of novels, I was thankful I found one that is very familiar to me. Though I had not read the book, I had watched the movie countless times with my mother. The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan is a very powerful novel about 8 Chinese women, all mothers and daughters. I chose this novel 1. because I am familiar with it and 2. because it speaks to me in a personal way. Based on what I have seen in the film, a reoccurring message in the story is to be empowered as a woman. This is something my mother has taught me from a young age, so the story itself is similar to the relationship because me and my own mother. I hope to gain a better understanding of this novel and find the ultimate theme of the entire piece by the end of this project.