Tiger in the Shadows
Ying-ying St. Clair is one of the four Chinese mothers in Amy Tan’s novel, The Joy Luck Club. Ying-ying gets thrown into her voyage when she falls from a boat as a child. She faces many trials such as marrying a bad man, having an abortion, giving birth to a stillborn, and becoming lifeless. These incidents qualify Ying-ying as a hero because she “learns to experience the supernormal range of human spiritual life . . . "(Campbell). According to a scholar, Joseph Campbell, a hero’s journey starts when she departs to the unknown. She faces many tests along the way that she must overcome. Her expedition comes to an end when she returns from a metaphorical death with an elixir that saves her daughter, Lena. Lena always abides with Harold and she is slowly becoming similar to her mother. In order to rescue Lena, Ying-ying enters her dark forest and withstands the horrible trials in her past. These events help her gain strength to give Lena a new life.
Campbell states that “There are both kinds of heroes, some that choose to undertake the journey and some that do not.” In Ying-ying’s case, she is launched into her excursion at the age of four. After she plunges into the water, she feels that she does not belong, so she becomes a lost child that wants to be found. Her perspective on the world …show more content…
Her “fierceness can come back [her] golden side, [her] black side”(252). She is constantly lost because she first loses her family, loses two children, two husbands, and loses her tiger self. Now she gathers her courage for the sake of saving Lena. She wants to stop Lena from becoming ghost-like. Ying-ying tells Lena about her life story and how she conquers them. She hopes that her stories will give Lena confidence. She is going to “win and give [Lena] [her] spirit”(252). Ying-ying achieves “[giving] [her] life to something bigger than
Ying-ying St. Clair is one of the four Chinese mothers in Amy Tan’s novel, The Joy Luck Club. Ying-ying gets thrown into her voyage when she falls from a boat as a child. She faces many trials such as marrying a bad man, having an abortion, giving birth to a stillborn, and becoming lifeless. These incidents qualify Ying-ying as a hero because she “learns to experience the supernormal range of human spiritual life . . . "(Campbell). According to a scholar, Joseph Campbell, a hero’s journey starts when she departs to the unknown. She faces many tests along the way that she must overcome. Her expedition comes to an end when she returns from a metaphorical death with an elixir that saves her daughter, Lena. Lena always abides with Harold and she is slowly becoming similar to her mother. In order to rescue Lena, Ying-ying enters her dark forest and withstands the horrible trials in her past. These events help her gain strength to give Lena a new life.
Campbell states that “There are both kinds of heroes, some that choose to undertake the journey and some that do not.” In Ying-ying’s case, she is launched into her excursion at the age of four. After she plunges into the water, she feels that she does not belong, so she becomes a lost child that wants to be found. Her perspective on the world …show more content…
Her “fierceness can come back [her] golden side, [her] black side”(252). She is constantly lost because she first loses her family, loses two children, two husbands, and loses her tiger self. Now she gathers her courage for the sake of saving Lena. She wants to stop Lena from becoming ghost-like. Ying-ying tells Lena about her life story and how she conquers them. She hopes that her stories will give Lena confidence. She is going to “win and give [Lena] [her] spirit”(252). Ying-ying achieves “[giving] [her] life to something bigger than