Jing-Mei Woo: A Pair of Tickets

Jing-Mei is carrying out her mother’s dream of going to China. She is with her father, Canning Woo. They are going to visit his aunt in Guangzhou. Then, they are going to visit Jing-Mei’s long lost sisters. The sisters did not know that their mother had died three months earlier. They had written a letter to her explaining their life stories and telling her that they always referred to her as their true mother. Canning Woo was heartbroken and gave the letter to Auntie Lindo, asking her to write back and gently tell them that their mother had died. Auntie Lindo and the rest of the Joy Luck Club wrote back and told them that she would be visiting them.

Jing-Mei asked Auntie Lindo to write her sisters a letter explaining her mother’s death. She handed her the letter right before she left for China. After visiting Canning Woo’s aunt, they fly to Shanghai. Jing-Mei steps off the plane and immediately sees her two sisters. They look identical to her mother. They are all overjoyed to see each other. Together, they had fulfilled their mother’s wish.

Lindo Jong: Double Face

Lindo explains how upset Waverly is when she tells her that she does not look Chinese. Waverly wanted to be American, so she did not listen to her mother when she tried to teach her to be Chinese. Lindo believes it is her fault because she wanted her daughter to be “American-made.” At Waverly’s beauty salon, she was told that she looked like her mother. This made her upset.

Lindo remembers looking into the mirror with her mother when they were in China. She had always wanted to look like her.  After her first marriage, she came to America and “lost her Chinese face.” She decides to tell Waverly the story. She also tells her that when she returns to China forty years later, people could tell she was not completely Chinese anymore. She was a foreigner. 

Ying-Ying St. Clair: Waiting Between the Trees

Ying-Ying has always been able to know something before it happens. She is saddened that her daughter, Lena’s, marriage is falling apart without her realizing it. Ying-Ying remembers her first marriage. She met a guy that she knew she would end up marrying. They had an arranged marriage and she always tried to please him.

She became pregnant and knew it would be a son. Her husband, however, left her several months into the pregnancy for an opera singer. In rage and sorrow, Ying-Ying aborted her son. Ying-Ying lost her spirit after her first marriage. She could see Lena losing hers and did not want the same to happen to her. She decided to tell Lena about her first marriage.

An-Mei Hsu: Magpies

An-Mei is convinced that Rose needs to speak up for herself in her divorce. She says, “If she doesn’t speak, she is making a choice. If she doesn’t try, she can lose her chance forever.” An-Mei was taught to desire nothing, but she raised her daughter the opposite way. Rose, however, still ended up like her and desired nothing.

An-Mei told how her mother took her back from her aunt and uncle. An-Mei’s grandmother was dying, so her mother came to see her. After she died, An-Mei’s mother was forced to leave. An-Mei decided to go with her. They went to live with Wu Tsing. In the winter, Wu Tsing’s wives came back from their summer homes. One night, Wu Tsing raped An-Mei’s mother. Second Wife went around telling everyone that An-Mei’s mother had seduced Wu Tsing. This was a major disgrace, and An-Mei’s mother was forced to marry Wu Tsing. She gave birth to a son, who Second Wife took as her own. An-Mei’s mother committed suicide after telling her that she was killing her weak spirit to make An-Mei’s stronger. 

Jing-Mei Woo: Best Quality

Jing-Mei’s mother gave her a jade pendant after a crab dinner celebrating the Chinese New Year. She told her that it was her life’s importance. Jing-Mei’s mother died shortly after, so she was never able to find out what that had meant. She then wore the pendant every day.

Jing-Mei had a FLASHBACK of the day her mother gave her the pendant. They were having a crab dinner and had to pick out eleven crabs. They chose the best quality of crabs until they had one whose leg was torn off. The store owner made them buy it, so they had ten good quality crabs and the one with the missing leg. The crab with the missing leg was a bad sign on Chinese New Year. At dinner, Jing-Mei and her mother were the last ones to get their crabs. All that was left was a large crab and the crab with the missing leg. Jing-Mei tried to take the crab with the missing leg, but her mother would not let her. After everyone left, Jing-Mei asked her mother about the crab with the missing leg. Her mother said, “Only you pick that crab. Nobody else take it. I already know this. Everybody else want best quality. You thinking different.” 

Rose Hsu Jordan: Without Wood

Rose was getting a divorce and her mother was trying to get her to talk to her husband, Ted. She was always trying to get Rose to listen to her, but Rose was stubborn. Ted sent Rose the divorce papers with a check for ten thousand dollars. Rose did not know what to do and was confused. Her mother said she was confused because she “was without wood. Born without wood so that she listened to too many people.” Rose had asked many of her friends for help, but none of them told her what the best option was.

Rose’s mother called her one day and told her to speak up for herself. Rose came up with a RESOLUTION and had Ted meet her at the house. She handed him the unsigned divorce papers and told him that she wanted to keep the house. She did not want him to just put her out of his life and throw her away.

Waverly Jong: Four Directions

Waverly took her mother out for lunch to put her in a good mood. She was going to tell her that she was marrying Rich. The lunch was a disaster. Waverly’s mother complained about the food and service the entire time. Waverly gave up trying to find a good time to tell her mother about her engagement, so she took her to her house.

Waverly thought of a way to get her mother to meet Rich. She stopped by her aunt and uncle’s house with Rich and stayed for dinner. They loved him and told her mother about him. Waverly’s mother called the next day and invited them over for dinner. A few days later, Waverly visited her mother and talked to her about Rich. It was IRONIC because her mother had already known they were going to get married. Waverly was worried about nothing. 

Lena St. Clair: Rice Husband

Lena believed that her mother could see things before they happened. Lena said that her mother “sees only bad things that affect our family. And she knows what causes them. But no she laments that she never did anything to stop them.” She was able to FORSHADOW the death of her husband because of a dead plant. Lena remembered this ability as she showed her mother her new home. She was afraid of what her mother would see.

Lena’s mother once told her that she would marry a bad husband if she did not finish her rice. Lena was afraid she would marry the neighbor boy, Arnold, so she finished all of her rice. A few days later, she decided it would be better to make him die, so she stopped eating all of her food. She forgot about the reason she stopped eating until a few years later when her father told her that Arnold had died. Lena gorged herself with ice cream that night. Lena and her husband, Harold, split everything. Lena’s mother did not think that this was the proper way to live. She tried to get Harold to realize it, but he did not understand. She then asked Lena why she lived like that and why she did not try to stop it.

Jing-Mei Woo: Two Kinds

Jing-Mei’s mother believed in the FANTASY that all children in America could grow up to be famous. She was obsessed with the idea that her child could become a prodigy. She wanted Jing-Mei to be the best, so she had her try many different tasks. Jing-Mei tried acting, singing, dancing, and various other activities. One day, she saw a little Chinese girl playing the piano on television. Three days later, Jing-Mei began piano lessons.

Jing-Mei did not like being her mother’s doll. She said, “Why don’t you like me the way I am? I’m not a genius! I can’t play the piano.” Jing-Mei, however, did not stop playing the piano. She learned to cheat at it because her instructor was deaf. She learned her lesson when she was entered in a recital. She did not realize how bad she was until she was playing in front of the crowd. She had devastated her mother.

Rose Hsu Jordan: Half and Half

Rose was trying to wait for the right moment to tell her mother that she and Ted were getting a divorce. Her mother told her to work it out and fight the divorce. This was surprising because she did not like Ted. He was different and she did not like things to be different. Rose dealt with the divorce DILEMMA by thinking of her brother Bing.

Rose was in charge of watching Bing when they went to the beach. He went out on the reef and was trying to get to their father. Rose was distracted by her other siblings and was not keeping a close eye on Bing. She looked over and saw him slip into the water. He was never found. After remembering her brother, she realized that she “had never expected to find Bing, just as she will never find a way to save her marriage.”

Lena St. Clair: The Voice from the Wall

Lena’s mother never spoke of her life in China. Her father had saved her mother from some kind of horrible life there. He helped her get a new life in America and named her Betty St. Clair. She did not speak the VERNACULAR of her new home, so she communicated with gestures and sounds.

She seemed to be scared of everything and was very superstitious. After they moved to San Francisco, she felt an unbalance around her. She did not like anything about the house and would rearrange the furniture daily. Soon, Lena realized that her mother was pregnant. Lena said her mother “did not speak of the joys of having a new baby; she talked about a heaviness around her, about things being out of balance, not in harmony with one another.” These feelings seemed to have truth about them because the baby died. 

Waverly Jong: Rules of the Game

One year on Christmas, Waverly’s brother, Vincent, received a chess set. He refused to let Waverly play but later gave in. After he grew bored with the game, Waverly took over and began to study it. This set the SCENE for her to become a young chess prodigy.

Waverly went to many tournaments and won. She learned from others and developed an eye for seeing moves ahead of time. By the time she was nine, she was a national chess champion. Her mother would show her off to others by saying, “This is my daughter Wave-ly Jong,” to anyone who looked their way. Waverly grew tired of being the center of attention and told her mom to stop telling everyone that she is her daughter. They had a fight and Waverly ran off. She returned later that night, but was not welcomed home.

Ying-Ying St. Clair: The Moon Lady

In 1918, when Ying-Ying St. Clair was four, she attended the Moon Festival. It was on a hot autumn day. Amah braided her hair and wound ribbons into it. She dressed Ying-Ying in a fancy outfit and told her about the LEGEND of the Moon Lady.

While Ying-Ying and her family were on a boat, fireworks scared Ying-Ying, causing her to fall in the water. Another boat picked her up and took her to shore. She saw the presentation of the Moon Lady and was determined to make her wish. The Moon Lady changed out of her costume after the show. As Ying-Ying got closer, she realized the Moon Lady was really a man. She was so surprised that she could never remember what she had wished for. She said, “For many years, I could not remember what I wanted that night from the moon Lady, or how it was that I was found again by my family.”

Lindo Jong: The Red Candle

Lindo Jong tells an ANECDOTE of her marriage. She had an arranged marriage to Tyan-yu that was made by the matchmaker. The matchmaker chose Tyan-yu when they were both very young. When Lindo Jong was twelve, her family had to move because of a flood. She was sent to live with the Huangs. She was determined to honor her parents, so she obeyed every wish of the Huangs.

They had a small wedding at the Huang house. Lindo Jong made a promise to herself and said, “I would always remember my parents’ wishes, but I would never forget myself.” After a few years, Lindo Jong told everyone of a dream she had. In the dream, she was told that awful things would happen if she did not leave Tyan-yu. Everyone believed her, so she left and went to America.

An-Mei Hsu: Scar

When An-Mei was a young girl, her grandmother told her that her mother was a ghost. In that time, something that was considered a ghost was like an ANALOGY. It was not something that was dead, it was just forbidden to talk about. An-Mei was afraid of her grandmother. She told An-Mei stories that would scare her into doing what she was told. An-Mei was to never speak of her mother.

One day, An-Mei’s mother showed up at the house. Because she was told to never speak her name, An-Mei was frozen and fearful. She said, “And because I remember Popo told me not to speak her name, I stood there, mute.” Her mother stroked her face and searched for the scar under her chin. An-Mei learned the value of honor and pain.

Jing-Mei Woo: The Joy Luck Club

Jing-Mei’s mother passed away, so she was going to replace her at the Joy Luck Club. She was to be the fourth corner and would sit in her mother’s seat at the mah jong table. It was thought that Jing-Mei’s mother died with unfinished business left behind.

Jing-Mei told the story of how her mother started the Joy Luck Club. It was the year her parents left China. When they arrived in San Francisco, they joined the First Chinese Baptist Church and attended weekly Bible study class and choir practice. Through these events, she met the Hsus, the Jongs, and the St. Clairs. She came up with the idea of Joy Luck to raise spirits. She said, “We knew we had luxuries few people could afford. We were the lucky ones.” They used the Joy Luck gatherings as excuses to move on and forget past wrongs. Many people believed they were HUBRIS, but the Joy Luck ignored them. The club gave them hope.