Joy Luck Club :: essays papers

Joy Luck Club In The Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan, one examines the story of four Chinese families throughout the generations. By examining specific examples of sacrifice within each of the four families, sacrifice will be proved to be one of the main themes of the story. Ying-Ying St. Clair made quite a precious sacrifice while she was in China. The sacrifice was 14 years of her life. That which adds to this sacrifice is that the years make up the time from which she was age 18-32, which most people consider to be their prime years. These lost years of loneliness were what she unknowingly sacrificed for having killed her first unborn child. She punished herself by moving into a small and shabby house that was occupied by three families and was infested by mice and flies. She chose to live here despite the fact that she came from a wealthy family and could have returned to them whenever she wanted to. Of the place she chose to live, she said " It was not a comfort to be there, and that is what I wanted." (P.249). Thus, one can see that as a result of a selfish act, Ying-Ying ends up sacrificing a large piece of her life. Suyan Woo also sacrifices a piece of herself, yet it was out of love. After she had been fleeing the Japanese for three days on foot, she was no longer able to carry her two babies. She left them by the roadside in hopes that someone would find them. That which shows that she was abandoning herself rather than her babies is the fact that she left all of her valuables and a note with them(P. 282). Suyan obviously wasn't leaving them in order to increase hopes of her own survival. Thus, one can see that in the Woo family, the theme of sacrifice is quite apparent, not to mention dramatic. The Jong family too, makes many sacrifices. Lindo's mother promised her into marriage at a young age in order to give her a better life. Ever since then, her mother had referred to her as "Huang TaiTai's daughter". It is evident that giving her daughter to Huang TaiTai's was not a selfish act, like unloading a burden, but it was a loving sacrifice.