Warm-Up

Today is 11/13, day 41 – 2 sheets of paper

  What expectations do your parents have for your future? Do they align with your own expectations or not? Write at least six sentences.

Themes from The Joy Luck Club

Review theme from Unit 1.- What is a central idea?- What is theme?- Universal

Central Ideas of The Joy Luck Club- Mother-Daughter Relationships - Collective Mentality vs. Individualistic

Mentality (family vs self)

- Language Barriers (Chinese vs English)

- Cultural differences (Asian vs Asian American)

- Generational differences

- Self-Worth / Self-Value

- Hopes and Dreams

- Communication / Miscommunications

Central Ideas inThe Joy Luck Club- We will discuss each of these central

ideas in the first half of the book- Our focus today is on how these

central ideas DEVELOP into themes over the course of the book

- Thus, when we will describe the theme, using EVIDENCE, in both the first four chapters and the second four chapters.

Independent Work – Graphic OrganizerFeathers from a Thousand Li Away - Mothers

The Twenty-six Malignant Gates - Daughters

Suyuan Woo – “ The Joy Luck Club (Ch 1):

QUOTEWaverly Jong – “Rules of the Game” (Ch 5) QUOTE

An-mei Hsu – “Scar” (Ch 2):

QUOTE Lena St. Clair – “The Voice from the Wall” (Ch 6) QUOTE

Lindo Jong – “The Red Candle” (Ch 3) QUOTE

Rose Hsu Jordan – “Half and Half” (Ch 7) QUOTE

Ying-ying St. Clair – “The Moon Lady”(Ch 4)

QUOTE Jing-mei Woo – “Two Kinds” (Ch 8) QUOTE

Individual Writing

Directions: Use the evidence and examples you have collected in your graphic organizer and elaborate on the following introduction to create a one-page explanation of your chosen theme.

Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club focuses on the experiences of four Chinese immigrants to the United States and their American-born daughters. However, one does not have to be a Chinese-American woman in order to identify with the novel, because themes are a statement about the human condition. For example, one theme of The Joy Luck Club is…

Example Answer

Communication as a foundation of strong relationships is a theme with which I connect as it reminds me of a time when…

‘American Translation’ pp 147

1) What does the mother hope to do with the extra mirror?  

2) Why is the daughter annoyed of her mother in this anecdote?  

3) What is the mother referring to when she says “peach-blossom luck”? 

4) What does the daughter’s reflection represent? 

5) Can you make a prediction about what the next four chapters will be about?