Flashbacks And Characters In Jing-Mei Wong's Joy Luck Club

FEATHERS FROM A THOUSAND LI AWAY In the beginning of Joy Luck Club, the readers are introduced to the character Jing-Mei Woo. Quickly it is discovered that her mother has died only two months prior, and there are many mixed feelings regarding her death. The story continues by explaining the background of the “Joy Luck Club,” and giving more information about Jing-Mei’s mother who was a Chinese immigrant that escaped the Japanese attacks during that time period. A flashback is included of her mother telling her daughter the story of how she was placed in Kweilin with her two babies by her husband during the war and it was considered a beautiful place, although it lost its radiance quickly to her mother experiencing the harsh side effects …show more content…
Lindo begins her tale with a flashback to her earliest memory. She was two years old, and she was considered a precious child for being born a girl with extraordinarily attractive attributes. A matchmaker visited her and her mother and she was promised to the son of a boy that was a year younger than her named Huang Tyan-yu. Lindo’s own mother prepared for this by making Lindo call her future husband’s mother, Huang Taitai, “mother.” This made Lindo feel as if her mother had replaced herself with her future mother-in-law. Later on, when Lindo was twelve, a terrible storm took her house and her family’s crops which was a major part of their wealth. They had to move immediately but Lindo did not relocate to the new village with her family, instead she moved in with her future husband and his family where she was treated as a servant. She began to work with incomprehensible devotion to this family that was not really hers, seeking the approval of Huang Taitai and seeing her husband as a god that was more valuable than herself. At the age of sixteen, four years after her arrival, she and Tyan-yu were finally married. This event filled Lindo with so much despair that she considered suicide, but finally noticed the strong wind and resolved that she too was strong. She vowed to keep the promise of honoring her parents but that she would also do all she could for her own …show more content…
Clair’s story is told in flashbacks, keeping with the theme of this section of the book. She recalls the story with clarity despite having forgotten it for many years. She was four years old and she was preparing to celebrate the moon festival with her mother. Her nurse, called Amah, dressed her in new, fancy clothes and they traveled to a lake where the celebrations would take place. Amah told Ying-ying that at this festival the moon lady would grant her one wish, but she was not allowed to say it out loud. Amah taught Ying-ying that this would make her wish become a selfish desire, which was not the traditional Chinese way. Women were not meant to speak, only to listen. Once on the boat, Ying-ying became fascinated with watching the chef kill and gut the fish meant for the feast. After some time, she looked down and saw that her new yellow clothes were spotted with blood and fish scales from the butcher’s mess. She panicked and decided that she would camouflage the accident by smearing turtle blood on her outfit. When Amah discovered this, she was furious and stripped Ying-ying out of the soiled clothing and left her alone on the back of the boat in her underclothes. The celebration began and Ying-ying was frightened by firecrackers and fell off the back of the boat. She was caught in the net of a fisherman that attempted to help her find her family, but when he took her to the boat she said was hers, all she