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In her Auntie An-mei’s home,

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Jing-Mei reluctantly takes her seat

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at the eastern corner 
of the mahjong table.

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At the north, south, and west 
corners are her aunties,

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long-time members of the Joy Luck Club.

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This group of immigrant families 
comes together weekly to trade gossip,

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feast on wonton and sweet chaswei, 
and play mahjong.

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However, the club’s founder, Jing-Mei’s 
mother Suyuan, has recently passed away.

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At first, Jing-Mei struggles 
to fill her place at the table.

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But when her aunties reveal a deeply 
buried secret about Suyuan’s life,

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Jing-Mei realizes she still has a lot 
to learn about her mother, and herself.

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In Amy Tan’s 1989 debut novel, 
"The Joy Luck Club,"

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this gathering at the mahjong table 
is the point of departure

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for a series of interconnected vignettes.

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The book itself is loosely structured 
to imitate the format of the Chinese game.

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Just as mahjong is played over four 
rounds with at least four hands each,

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the book is divided into four parts, 
each with four chapters.

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Alternately set in China 
or San Francisco,

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each chapter narrates a single 
story from one of the four matriarchs

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of the Joy Luck Club 
or their American-born daughters.

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These stories take the reader through 
war zones

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and villages of rural China, 
and into modern marriages

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and tense gatherings 
around the dinner table.

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They touch upon themes of survival 
and loss, love and the lack of it,

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ambitions and their unsatisfied reality.

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In one, Auntie Lin plots an escape 
from the hostile family

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of her promised husband,

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ultimately leading 
to her arrival in America.

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In another, the Hsu family’s all-American 
day at the beach turns dire

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when Rose is overwhelmed by the 
responsibility her mother assigns to her.

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The resulting tragedy traumatizes 
the family for years to come.

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These tales illustrate the common 
divides that can form

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between generations and cultures, 
especially in immigrant families.

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The mothers have all experienced great 
hardships during their lives in China,

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and they’ve worked tirelessly 
to give their children

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better opportunities in America.

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But their daughters feel weighed down 
by their parent’s unfulfilled hopes

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and high expectations.

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Jing-Mei feels this pressure as she plays 
mahjong with her mother’s friends.

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She worries, “In me, they see 
their own daughters, just as ignorant,

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just as unmindful of all the truths 
and hopes they have brought to America.”

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Time and again,

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the mothers strive to remind their 
daughters of their history and heritage.

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Meanwhile, their daughters 
struggle to reconcile

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their mothers’ perception of them 
with who they really are.

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"Does my daughter know me?" 
some of the stories ask.

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"Why doesn’t my mother understand?" 
others respond.

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In her interrogation of these questions,

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Tan speaks to anxieties 
that plague many immigrants,

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who often feel both alienated 
from their homeland

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and disconnected 
from their adopted country.

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But by weaving the tales of these 
four mothers and daughters together,

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Tan makes it clear that Jing-Mei

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and her peers find strength to tackle 
their present-day problems

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through the values their mothers 
passed on to them.

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When "The Joy Luck Club" 
was first published,

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Tan expected minimal success.

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But against her predictions, 
the book was a massive critical

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and commercial achievement.

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Today, these characters 
still captivate readers worldwide.

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Not only for the way they speak 
to Chinese American

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and immigrant experiences,

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but also for uncovering a deeper truth:

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the need to be seen and understood 
by the ones you love.