Highland Park High School English Department
Text Rationale for
___________Joy Luck Club____________by_Amy Tan_______
_______ (1989)
Title of Work
Author
Copyright date
Originally written for National Council of Teachers of English and edited for use by the Highland Park HS
English Department
March 2015
Rationale (including age/ability appropriateness and how text fits into the course’s philosophy and
enduring understanding):
According to Pam Spencer (1994, p. 516), author of What Do Young Adults Read Next? A Readers Guide to
Fiction for Young Adults, she suggests that The Joy Luck Club is appropriate for grades ten through adults.
Enduring Understandings:
Ø A person’s heritage shapes their personality.
Ø Despite an individual’s best efforts, one cannot disassociate from their culture even when assimilation
is encouraged.
Ø The blending of cultures is essential for an individual as well as a society to effectively function.
Summary:
The Joy Luck Club, written by Amy Tan, is a story about four Chinese women who become friends after they
move to America. They form "The Joy Luck Club," where they meet together to tell stories and play mah jong.
When one of the central members, Suyuan Woo, passes away, her daughter, Jing-mei, takes her place in her
mother's club. From hardships to living in wealth, the four Chinese women, Suyuan Woo, Anmei Hsu, Lindo
Jong, and Ying-ying St. Clair, tell the tales of their differing childhoods by flashing back from their present
lives in California. Some of their life events include promised marriages, tragedies from war, hopes for a
bright future, and a longing to gain back one's lost spirit.
Mothers:
-An-mei Hsu tells of her childhood as she is forced to live with her aunt, because her mother had left her to
work for a man.
- Lindo Jong tells of her arranged marriage and her cunning ideas to get the marriage revoked. Through her
witty mind, she is able to make the matchmaker believe that he had made a mistake when matching her and
her present husband together. Once she gets out of the marriage, she moves to California where she meets and
marries Tin Jong. She tells of the death of her first son, but takes pride in her other children, Vincent and
Waverly.
- Ying-ying St. Clair tells of her love for the Moon Lady as a child and her wish to be found by her parents
when she had fallen off the boat and was lost. She also tells of the awful man she was married to and the
abortion of his son. Years later, however, she is able to marry St. Clair and move with him to America.
- Suyuan Woo tells of the tragedies of war and the pain she felt when she had to leave her two babies on the
side of the road, in hopes that a nice couple would raise them.
Daughters:
- Waverly Jong tells of her enthusiasm with chess and her natural-found talent. When she is older, she conveys
a deep love for Rich and wants to marry him. The only problem she has is telling her mother of her love,
because her very opinionated mother thinks she can do better.
- Lena St. Clair thinks that her mother is a little crazy and quite unstable. She also tells of her troubles with her
marriage to Harold and the fights that they have.
- Rose Hsu Jordan expresses her need to divorce her husband Ted. Ted has had an affair and wants to divorce
Rose Hsu. Troubled not only from her marriage, Rose Hsu is still very disturbed by her younger brother's
death.
- Jing-mei Woo explains her mother's insistence that she become a prodigy child, which leads to Jing-mei's
eventual hatred of the playing the piano. As she is older, her mother gives her a jade pendant to remind Jingmei of her heritage and as a sentimental piece that she could treasure.
Merit Awards and Recognition :
- ALA Notable Books (1990)
- ALA Best Books for YA (1990)
-
Commonwealth Club Gold Award for Fiction (1989)
Bay Area Book Reviewers Award for Best Fiction (1989)
National Book Critic's Circle Award nomination for best novel (1989)
Los Angeles Times Book Award nomination (1989).
Benefit to Students:
- It allows them to engage in an exploration of different cultures and their customs
- Focuses on determination, defeat, love for one another, and a sense of self-acceptance.
- It lends itself to powerful discussion and understanding of differing cultures and ways of thinking.
Addresses the curricular guiding questions:
o How does one’s culture impact their values?
o How does culture evolve across generation?
o How do future generations maintain their culture while attempting to assimilate into the
dominate culture?
o How does family shape one’s identity?
Brief description of proposed classroom activities generated by text:
Ø Character Development
Ø Narrative storytelling
Ø Analyzing connections of family and ancestry
Ø Analyzing cross-cultural connections
Ø Supporting analysis with textual evidence
Ø Using figurative language in writing
List of the TEKS curricular objectives the proposed text supports
(5) Reading/Comprehension of Literary Text/Fiction. Students understand, make inferences and draw
conclusions about the structure and elements of fiction and provide evidence from text to support their
understanding. Students are expected to
C) evaluate the connection between forms of narration (e.g., unreliable, omniscient) and tone in works of
fiction; and
(7) Reading/Comprehension of Literary Text/Sensory Language. Students understand, make inferences
and draw conclusions about how an author's sensory language creates imagery in literary text and provide
evidence from text to support their understanding. Students are expected to
A) explain the function of symbolism, allegory, and allusions in literary works
(9) Reading/Comprehension of Informational Text/Expository Text. Students analyze, make inferences
and draw conclusions about expository text and provide evidence from text to support their understanding.
Students are expected to:
(A) summarize text and distinguish between a summary and a critique and identify non-essential
information in a summary and unsubstantiated opinions in a critique;
(12) Reading/Media Literacy. Students use comprehension skills to analyze how words, images, graphics,
and sounds work together in various forms to impact meaning. Students will continue to apply earlier
standards with greater depth in increasingly more complex texts. Students are expected to:
(D) evaluate changes in formality and tone within the same medium for specific audiences and purposes.
(13) Writing/Writing Process. Students use elements of the writing process (planning, drafting, revising,
editing, and publishing) to compose text. Students are expected to:
(A) plan a first draft by selecting the correct genre for conveying the intended meaning to multiple audiences,
determining appropriate topics through a range of strategies (e.g., discussion, background reading, personal
interests, interviews), and developing a thesis or controlling idea;
(15) Writing/Expository and Procedural Texts. Students write expository and procedural or work-related
texts to communicate ideas and information to specific audiences for specific purposes. Students are expected
to:
(C) write an interpretative response to an expository or a literary text (e.g., essay or review) that:
(i) extends beyond a summary and literal analysis;
(ii) addresses the writing skills for an analytical essay and provides evidence from the text using embedded
quotations; and
(iii) analyzes the aesthetic effects of an author's use of stylistic and rhetorical devices; and
(17) Oral and Written Conventions/Conventions. Students understand the function of and use the
conventions of academic language when speaking and writing. Students will continue to apply earlier
standards with greater complexity. Students are expected to:
(B) identify and use the subjunctive mood to express doubts, wishes, and possibilities.
Clarification of any potentially controversial segments and why the text remains a suitable choice,
despite being potentially controversial.
-Profanity and harsh language
-Violence
-Abortion
- Feelings of helplessness or desperation
-Makes reference to the Bible
- Chinese traditions
- Reference to homosexuality
- Mistresses, extra-marital affairs
- Opium is discussed as way to suicide
- Sexual references
- Argument within marriages
Tan’s eloquent prose and narrative structure allow the student to face the issues that challenge the characters,
but in a non-confrontational way. Posed as lessons in life and culture, the realities of the characters’ lives and
their struggles help students develop empathy and understanding for societies other than their own.
Similar Works:
Buck, Pearl. (1965). The Good Earth. John Day Co.
Chin, Frank. (1991). Donald Duk. Coffee House.
Lee, Gus. (1991). China Boy. NAL.
McCunn, Ruthaane Lum. (1989). Thousand Pieces of Gold: A Biographical Novel. Beacon.
Ng, Fae Myenne. (1994). Bone. HarperCollins.