The Joy Luck Club Conflict Analysis

The key conflict in The Joy Luck Club is that between mother and daughter. The mothers were all born in China so they grew up with traditional Chinese beliefs. The daughters, however, were all born in America or moved to America a young age, so their lives outside of the home were American. The source of conflicts in the book is mostly that the mothers are more traditionally Chinese and the daughters are more Americanized. The root of these problems can be traced back to the concept of happiness. “[The Fu-Jen Catholic University has] shown that distinct characteristics of the conception of happiness are prevalent in Chinese and Western cultures” (Lu 99). Happiness is different in both cultures, and these differences cause fission in the multi-generational …show more content…
The principal of happiness is the idea of contentment and positive emotion. The Fu-Jen Catholic University defines happiness as “the inner well-being and contentment, as well as the feeling of harmony with the external world. It is also trust, safety and stability” (Lu 103). The Chinese generally feel contentment when they are successful in intellectual pursuits. “Nonetheless, there is no denying that schools of great philosophy have profoundly shaped the Chinese culture and the mentality of Chinese people for thousands of years. . . The Confucian happiness is achieved through ‘knowledge, benevolence, and harmony of the group’” (Lu 101). The University researched happiness and found that the Chinese values were based off intellectual leaders such as Confucius, explaining the emphasis on intellect. In The Joy Luck Club, Lindo Jong finds great happiness in feeling that she accomplished something when her daughter, Waverly, is successful at chess. “But there was one duty [Waverly] couldn’t avoid. [Waverly] had to accompany [her] mother …show more content…
One poll showed that only about a third of Americans considered themselves to be happy ("Happiness Index: Only 1 In 3 Americans Are Very Happy, According To Harris Poll"). Jeffrey Sachs, an editor of the World Happiness Report, attributes the lack of American happiness to a dependence of happiness on income ("Why the U.S. Rating on the World Happiness Report is Lower Than It Should Be –and How to Change It - The Washington Post"). Many Americans also try to link their happiness to their income but this has been proven to be ineffective. Sachs writes, “There is a deep trend that we in America have put too much emphasis on individual income attainment. . . ‘The places that outpace us [in happiness] – the Scandinavian countries – are places that put a lot of emphasis on making sure everyone is brought along’” ("Why the U.S. Rating on the World Happiness Report is Lower Than It Should Be –and How to Change It - The Washington Post"). The route to happiness is found through a sense of togetherness and group. People were created to be with other people. That is why people get stressed about starting something new. They want people to like them and it is a frightening thought of loneliness in new places. People who place too much value on their income are keeping themselves from being happy because they spend the majority of their time working hard so that they can