Juxtaposition in The Joy Luck Club Essay Example

“They are frightened. In me, they see their own daughters, just as ignorant, just as unmindful of all the truths and hopes they have brought to America (Tan 31)”. In the Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, the story focuses on four mothers from China who have brought their daughters to the US. These mothers have faced many challenging hardships and have been through the unimaginable. They choose to raise their children in America to give them what the mothers could not achieve. As the mothers come to the U.S, the daughters soon realize that there is a barrier between their American heritage and their mothers’ Chinese heritage. Amy Tan uses juxtaposition to show the difference between American and Chinese culture and how where you are grown up determines who you are and what your background is.

Amy Tan illustrated this truth in the chapter "Rules of the Game," juxtaposing the values and expressions in American and Chinese culture". Waverly has a very observant personality and shows it in this example. On page 92, Waverly says, “Ma, what is Chinese torture?” As Waverly is brought up in an American culture, she is very oblivious to the values and traditions of Chinese culture. Her mother compares how Chinese culture is more substantial than the American “way”, and how “Chinese people do more compared to American people. Chinese people do business, do medicine, and do painting (Tan 92).” Lindo overtly expresses how Chinese culture is more industrious compared to American culture by saying, “Not lazy like American people. We do torture. Best torture (Tan 92).” As we notice, Lindo likes to express the feeling of Chinese character, and the American conditions they are faced with on a daily basis. Lindo, not like any other mother, gave her daughter an American name, coming from the street their family lived on. She compares how the American culture is very “lazy”, and how the Chinese people aren't lazy, and become a big “name”. Likewise, Lindo always expresses her thoughts about Waverly’s ability to play chess very well. This is reflected on page 101 where Lindo says, “This is my daughter Wave-ly Jong.”As Lindo starts saying this more often to everyone, Wavely starts to get frustrated and soon after says, “I wish you wouldn’t do that, tell everyone that im your daughter” (Tan 101). In Chinese culture, the mothers always brag about their child, and their accomplishments. Growing up in America, Waverly is surrounded by the American culture in which it may be very different compared to Chinese Culture When Waverly is with her mother, she feels embarrassed because they are living in America and not China, in which the cultures are completely different. This shows how juxtaposition showed how there is a contrast between Chinese and American cultures.

In the chapter "Without Wood,," Amy Tan demonstrated how juxtaposition leads to cultural differences between Americans and Chinese. Rose always talks about how the different cultures had different opinions and how they both had different views on what was going on. Rose says, “Chinese people had Chinese opinions. American people had American opinions. And in almost every case, the American version was much better (Tan 209).” Rose had always thought that the American opinions were way better than the Chinese opinions. This was because she had grown up in a society where American culture was wildly spread compared to Chinese culture back home. Likewise, in the chapter Rose explains how there is a difference between the English and Chinese language. On page 209 Rose says, “ I suppose the closest in meaning would be “confused” and “dark fog.”  The words hulihudu and heimongmong have a respected meaning in American culture but a completely different meaning in Chinese culture. Later on Rose states, “Maybe they can’t be easily translated because they refer to a sensation that only Chinese people have (Tan 209).”  Rose is trying to convey that different cultures have their own way of saying “phrases''.  As for moving to the U.S, An-Mei wouldn't be able to use those same phrases because of the cultural differences that U.S offers. Rose explained how whenever her mother tried to tell her something she would get confused by the way it was worded, or the way it was said. To An-Mei, what she was saying was pretty standard because she had that Chinese background compared to Rose who grew up in an American society. Even though Rose is Chinese, she wasn't of Chinese heritage when growing up, which is why she doesn’t understand a lot of the things her mom says. We can see that the differences of cultures can make a big impact on what you are trying to portray. 

Amy Tan highlighted  how juxtaposition leads to cultural differences between Americans and Chinese in the chapter "Two Kinds". Throughout the chapter Jing Mei never believed in herself as much as she should have. She always thought she wasn’t good enough or could never be enough to make her mother happy. On page 154 Jing Mei says, “ It was not the only disappointment my mother felt in me. In the years that followed, I failed her so many times, each time asserting my own will, my right to fall short of expectations. I didn't get straight As. I didn't become class president.didn't get into Stanford. I dropped out of college.” In Chinese culture it is normalized that you have to be really smart in everything, and to be doing everything right. Suyuan had given up on Jing Mei and tried to tell her, but Jing Mei would always think that she couldn’t do it. As she was grown up in American culture, she didn’t really pay attention to grades, joining clubs, getting a job, or even attending education. Sueyan Suyuan would get became infuriatedand tell her that in Chinese culture, you had to do good, and either become a doctor, a successful businessman, or even a lawyer. Jing Mei didn’t ever want to focus on this and always thought she wasn't good enough for anything. 

In this novel there were many conflicts between the American and Chinese cultures. All the conflicts that have occured showed that the mothers really had a lot of love for the daughter, but weren't able to teach them the "Chinese way,” but rather they were normalized in American culture. All three four daughters, not three daughters, had experienced the difference between Chinese and American culture by different ideas surrounding them. In our life, there are many cultural differences compared to many people surrounding us. Our friends may have a culture that may be way different than yours, and your culture may be different from theirs. Overall, the cultures we see on a daily basis show us really how different our cultures may be from one another. In the Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan employs juxtaposition to demonstrate the differences between American and Chinese culture, as well as how your upbringing shapes who you are and your background.