THE JOY LUCK CLUB The bond berween a mother and daughters very strong. Tegoes deeper than words ean reach ad continues beyond the grave. During life, however, it may not be at all comfortable there may be battles and misunderstanding, impatience and anger. And if your mother was bora in pre-Revolutionary China, and you were born in San Francisco in che 1950, a child of ewo widely differing cultures, how do you explain your problems to her? How will she understand your feelings? Jing-mei, Waverly, Lena, and Rose grow up speaking English and drinking Coca-Cola, fret choose their jobs, ‘hei life-syles, and thei husbands, Bu they also cary che hopes and expectations of thie mothers, who let lunspeakable sorrows behind hem ia China travel to America, a country where thei children will have choices cha were denied to them. But iis also a country of change and confusion, place where the Chinese idea ‘of joy lek’ does not mean the same to an American-born ind Each mother and daughter tells her own story, except for Jing-me's mother, who has just died, Now Jing-mel nervously cakes her mothers place at the Joy Luck Club, sining at the mah jong table on the East comet, the ection from hich the san rises, where the wind comes from, where things beginCONTENTS Sing mei Woo: The Joy Luck Club ‘Anne Hsu: Scar Lindo Jong: The Red Candle Ying-yingS¢Clair The Moon Lady ‘Waverly Jong: Rides of the Game Lena St Cli: The Votce frome the Wall Rose Hi Jordan: Without Wood Jigmi Woo Best Ouaity [QUEEN orHER OF rae WESTERN ses Anne! Hou: Magpies Ying-ying Se Clair: Waiting Betwoen the Trees Lindo Jong: Double Face JFingemei Woo: A Pair of Tickets scriviries: Before Reading cris: While Reading sscrives: After Reading 4 » 28 as 26 ss 6 ” 33 o% 08 10 1 17 uiPEOPLE IN THIS STORY THE MOTHERS THE DAUGHTERS Suyuan Woo Jing-mei ‘June’ Woo Ansmei Hsu Rose Hsu Jordan Lindo Jong ‘Waverly Jone, ‘Ying-ying St Clair Lena Se Clie ‘The mothersin histor apeaka variety of ngs that wes on standard form Voroxampl, ming aries or aus es) “Ths feature hasbeen ean in ee adaption artis poeta reminder of he clearltasios ithe ry, both beeen ‘une and alo bewern is and second generation Ames, A Feathers from a Thousand Miles Away ‘Tue o1 wowan remembered a swan she had paid too uch for, many years aga in Shanghat, Thie bird, oasted the market seller, was once a duck that stretched its neck in hopes of becoming something better, and now look! ~it ist beautiflr et ‘Then the woman and the swan sailed acros an ocean ‘many thousands of miles wide, stretching their necks towards Americe. On her journey she whispered (0 the swan: ‘tor America Iwill ave a daughter just like me. But over there nobody will sy her worth is measured by the loudness of her husband's belcb. Over there nobody will lok down on her, and she wil aly be 0 full to swallow any sorrow! She will know my ‘meaning, Because | will give her this stan, ‘But wen she arrived in the new country, the ofcials Dulled er swan away from her, leaving the women ‘wth only one swan feather fora memory. And ther she ‘bad 10 ansoer so many questions that she forgot why she bad come and what she had lef bebind. Nowe the woman was old. And she had a daughter who grew up speaking only English and swallowing ‘more Coca-Cola than sorrow. Fora long time now the ‘woman had wanted to give er daughter the single swan feather and tll ber, ‘This feather may look worthless, butt comes From a long wsty ateay and carves with it ally good intentions.” ‘And she ited, year afer year, for the day she could teller daughter this perfect American English u uvJING-MEI WOO Daughter of Suyuan Woo The Joy Luck Club “My father has asked me tobe the Fourth player atthe Joy Luck Cub. Iam replacing my mother, whose sea a the mah jon. table has been empty since she died two months ago. My father ‘thinks she was klled by her own thoughts, “She hal anew idea inside her head,” sad my father. But the though grew co big and burst. Ie must have been a very bad idea? “The doctor suid she died because blood vessel in the brain swelled up and burst. And her friends ac the Joy Luck Club said she died jus ikea rabbit under the wheels of car: quiekly and With unfinished business lf behind, My mother was supposed to host che nese meeting ofthe Joy Luck Club, She had stared the San Francisco Joy Luck Club in 1949, so years before Iwas born. This was the year my parents fe China ‘with one large eather case filled only with fine silk dresses. There was no time to pack anythingelse, my mother had explained to my father after they boarded the boat. Sil his hands swam desperately between the slippery silks, looking for his cotton shires ‘When they arived in San Francisco, my father made her hide those shiny clothes: She wore the same brovn Chinese dress very day, unt she was given two second-hand dresses by the \white-haited ladies from the local church Because of hese and ‘other gifs, my parents could nor refuse the old ads invitation to jin the church, Nor could they ignote the ladies’ practical Ling-mei Woo (daughter ofSuyuan Woo) 3 advice 10 improve theie English by atending religious study lasses on Wednesday nights, This was how my parents met the Hisws, che Jong andthe St Claire, My mother could sense that the women ofthese families also had unspeakable sorcows they had lef behind in China, and hopes they couldn’ begin t0 ‘express in their broken English, Or at least she recognized the