The Joy Luck Club

趙瑞婷, 婷婷, Zhao Rui Ting , and Tina Zhao are all different name variations for my mother. She was born Guangzhou, a city in China and immigrated to the United States after marriage. Unlike many other immigrants, 婷婷 was lucky enough to be a stay at home mother, yet because of this, she faced many problems that involved finance. Living in a foreign country without an income, 婷婷’s life represents those who are burdened by financial and language barriers. Her birth name “趙瑞婷” is pronounced “ziu seoi…

There are many different understandings of how a children is grown to learn and have the knowledge to succeed academically. Several people portrait a different image of their children’s potential and ability to achieve success. In Amy Chua’s essay “Why Chinese Mothers are Superior,” she writes a memoir of how she raised her two daughters following the Chinese culture. She describes what she did to help her daughters to achieve success academically even though her method was harsh. She did what…

Being children born to immigrants comes with many significant struggles, especially culturally. Parents adapting to overwhelming culture shocks, separation from familiarities and children growing up unfamiliar to their own heritage.I felt as if the premise of the novel held many deep and marvelous insights into different stories about being raised in 2 different worlds.Whilst reading through the novel you are able to clearly identify with all the characters feelings.I think the author was able…

“The individual” informs the way one views others and the world. In the personal essay “us and Them” by David Sedaris “Here is the boy sitting on a bed, his mouth smeared with chocolate”(87). He doesn't want Tomkey kids to have any candy because they went to the boat house for halloween instead of Trick or Treating. Plus his mother was going to give them his candy that he worked so hard for it, in the end he stuffed his mouth with the candy and he ended up being allergic to it.…

[America is the land of the free and the home of the brave. It is where people from all over the world come for a fresh start and a better opportunity than they had in their country.] Jing-mei’s mother decides to come to America from China to get away from all the things she had lost including her mother, father, home, husband and twin baby girls. When she came to San Francisco in 1949, she knew that things were going to get better. She decided that her daughter, Jing-mei, is going to be a…

The American Dream means that with hard work and a little luck we can be anything we wanted to. Amy Tan, the author of “Two Kinds”, seems to say that although Jing-Mei’s mom can be bossy, she probably does this to help her daughter succeed. In this short story, “Two Kinds”, the main character, Jing-Mei Woo, also known as June, is forced by her mother, Mrs. Woo on learning how to play the piano and be the ultimate best. Mrs.Woo doesn’t really give Jing-Mei a choice, she wants to be able to brag…

I felt very fortunate to have Ms. Bear as my piano teacher. When I heard my friends talk about their piano teacher, they complained how strict she was. Although I thought some of them were better piano players than me at the time, I did not relate to the pressure they felt when they had to do recitals or when they told stories of their piano teacher yelling at them when they did not play right. Ironically, those friends are the ones that ended up quitting earlier or to my knowledge no longer…

There has always been a time where you might've thought to yourself, "I'm not enough," or "I will never be enough." With this mindset embedded into your brain, it's hard to believe that you will ever be proven wrong in these circumstances. In the short story, "Two Kinds" by Amy Tan, Jing-mei tries to fight off who she's not but is compelled by her mother to become the prodigy that she's always hoped for in her daughter. These two forces collide, causing conflict within their relationship where…

Subject: This novel is a memoir of Hongyong Baek, who grew up in Korea and had to experience the repressed roles assigned to women within the society. It examines the gender, religious, and racially oppressed individual between world war II and the Korean Civil war. She left during the Japanese occupation and again during the korean civil war that now divides her family, but be becomes victorious and continues her successful ch’iryo practice in California. Occasion: Lee is the author of…

The poem ”Grandma Ling” Amy Ling uses symbolism, imagery and smaller messages to show the theme Your love for your family only grows stronger the farther away you are. To start off, the theme is shown through using symbolism to show the theme. In the poem “If you can that howl deep another you'll reach china.” Ling uses this quote to represent their new home Pennsylvania is where they live now but their heart and history our in china ware also their family lives. And the hole that is being dug…