Ode to Joy

Two Kinds is a short story written by Amy Tan. It is centered around a family (the Mother and Daughter in particular) that moves from China to the United States of America in hopes that their daughter will one day grow up to be a star. The Mother not knowing where Jing-mei’s (the daughter) talents lie decides to test her in various subjects like geography and arithmetic however, Jing-mei does not accel in any of these areas so her mother, after seeing a Chinese girl about the same age as…

The Same Sky and The Secret Language of Sisters, are two novels that have many similarities and differences regarding many diverse topics. The Same Sky, written by Amanda Eyre Ward, is a two storyline book where the main characters face very difficult times in both of their lives. On one end of the story, Carla, a eleven-year-old girl dreams of crossing the Mexican-American border; escaping violence and conflict. On the other end, Alice, the wife of a popular chef of a well-known BBQ restaurant…

raised in America. Alternatively, Tan’s mother speaks in fragments of English due to her being an immigrant who fled China’s Cultural Revolution (Amy, 1990). Tan realises her different “Englishes” when she was giving a public lecture about her book, The Joy Luck Club, she states how she had given this talk to “half a dozen other groups” (Amy, 1990) and that she suddenly realised one major difference in this group, a difference which put…

On Tuesday, September 30, 2014 Amy Tan was a speaker at the third Wooster Forum. Her presentation was called, The Heart of a Writer. Amy Tan is the famous author of the popular novel, The Joy Luck Club. She has written other novels including, The Bonesetter’s Daughter and The Hundred Secret Senses. Tan draws many of her novels influences from the relationships between a mother and her daughter. In her younger years, Amy Tan, never wanted to become a writer. Good or bad fate, images, and memory…

The Joy Luck Club is a novel written by Amy Tan. It was published in 1989 and was her first novel that she ever released. The novel tells the story of four immigrant women from China moving to the United States and their stories with their four American-born daughters. It is said to be partially inspired by her own relationships with her mother. This book is one of those books that seems like anyone can relate to it in some way. This book includes so many different themes and it hits them…

of ethics and obviously they have: that doesn’t mean that you can’t think of overarching ethical principles you would want people to follow in all kinds of places” (Singer 1). Mixing culture is two or more that combine into one big culture. In The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, it is about four moms and four daughters telling their story about their life in San Francisco. It is possible for two distinct cultures to find compatibility with one another because one can experience two different culture,…

Mulan is a popular movie about a girl from China. Many people enjoy the movie without thinking about its true meaning. The storyline describes how the protagonist, Mulan, goes to war in her father's place to protect her family, and to prove herself. This is because throughout the whole movie, her family asks her to bring “honor to the family” and how she needs to “look like a perfect bride”. Her family wants her to be someone that she is not. Similar to Mulan, Squeaky, the protagonist of the…

Nguyens American Experience Through Her Passion of Food Bich Minh Nguyen’s “Stealing Buddha’s Dinner” is a memoir that revolves around herself as a Vietnamese immigrant / refugee in search for her identity. She goes through these experiences while trying to find out about who she is. The book is set at the 1975 to the late 1990’s, Michigan. From candies, fruits, junk food, fast food, and a lot more, Nguyen finds herself describing her American experience through the wonders of food. From fruit…

‘Two Kinds’ is portrayal of difficulties in mother-daughter relationships in San Francisco’s China-town. The focus of the story is the often troublesome but unavoidable “interval between mothers who were born in China before the communist revolution and thus have been cut off from their native culture for decades, and their American-born daughters who must find a way to work through the twin burdens of their Chinese ancestry and American expectations for success”. While the protagonist and…

Title Joyce Carol Oates ‘Where are you going, Where have you been?’ tells the story of a young girl searching for her identity among her mother and society. The protagonist Connie amist being at conflict with her family's view, spends her time flirting with boys and exploring her newfound independence. Connie is put in a difficult position when a boy, Arnold Friend, shows up at her doorstep. Throughout the story, Oates uses setting, point of view, and symbolism to convey the theme of the story.…