The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan is an internationally bestselling novel published in 1989.Thenovel explores vast amount of struggles faced by women in the past centuries. It consists of sixteen stories about the lives of four Chinese immigrant mothers,An-Mei Hsu, Suyuan Woo, Lindo Jong, Ying-Ying Saint Clair, and their American born daughters Rose Hsu Jordan, Jing-Mei Woo, Waverly Jong and Lena Saint Clair.
The story of each character reveals the struggles they face due to different kinds of guidelines and expectations the society has set for them. Through the portrayal of the struggles faced by the characters, each story displays the importance of speaking up in order to not only gain freedom butalso peace of mind. In the novel, Tan conveys a major theme of justice throughstanding up for oneselfby the sculpting…
She awakens the entire house on the day of the Festival of Pure Brightness, the day of ancestors, screaming that her ancestors came to her in a dream to tell her that Tyan-Yu would die if he stayed in the marriage. Also, that a servant girl, impregnated by a delivery man, is Tyan-Yu’s spiritual wife. She blames the matchmakers for making a wrong match of her and Tyan-Yuto earn money. Speaking up in accordance to her plans convinces Taitai that Lindo is speaking the truth. As a result of the incident, she revealsat the end of her story that, “they didn’t blame me so much. Huang Taitai got her Grandson. I got my clothes and enough money to fly to America.”(Tan66) Therefore, by finally standing up for herself, Lindo earns the freedom and peace that was impossible for her to find in her married life with Tyan-Yu, and hence, she does justice to herself without dishonouring her own family. The theme of justice through standing up for oneself is also expressed in The Joy Luck Club in the story of Lena St. Clair as she comes to realize that speaking up against her husband’s ignorance towards her is the only way to fix her passionless marriage….
