Novels to Film 

Model Joy Luck Club Essay

Prompt: Three of the daughters in the novel receive special pieces of jewelry from their mothers. Explain the significance of each gift and how it affects the wearer.

Cherished Gifts

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan is a novel that explores the relationship between mothers and daughters. This novel delves into the live of four Chinese families, Woo, Hsu, Jong, and St. Clair, but the universality of the relationships within the stories relates to every culture. The novel follows the trials, difficulties, triumphs, joy and sadness experienced by the women. In three of the stories, the  mother gives her daughter a special piece of jewelry. The items of jewelry given by the mothers to their daughters in The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan signify the importance of the mother-daughter relationship and give the daughters strength.

Lindo Jong was a tricky and confident woman who idolized her mother and treasured their special bond. Lindo was separated from her mother early in her life, but she always respected and adored her mother. At the age of two, Lindo was promised to marry Tyan-yu and join his family. When Lindo was twelve her life changed as a flood destroyed her home and she was forced to stay with Tyan-yu. When her family left her with Tyan-yu and his family, her mother gave her something special. Lindo explained, "The dowry was enough said my father, but he could not stop my mother from giving me her chang, a necklace made out of a tablet of red jade"(p 47). Lindo was honored to receive her mother's necklace. Her mother gave her the necklace to her saying, "Obey your family, do not disgrace us" (p 48). Lindo cherished these words and her necklace so much that she was "determined to honor [her] parents' words, so Huang Tai Tai could never accuse [her] mother of losing face" (p 49). Lindo's red jade tablet always reminded her of the love she had for her mother, respect for her family, and the strength within herself.

An-Mei, unlike Lindo, lived the first part of her life without her mother, so when the

opportunity rose to be with her mother, she took advantage of it. An- Mei left her grandparent's house in order to live with her  mother, Wu- Tsing, and his four other wives and their children. Wu­ Tsing's first wife tried to win An-Mei over with fake pearls. An-Mei's mother, however, made her take them off because they were a fake gesture to show the second wife’s  power. Instead, An-Mei’s mother gave her a real blue sapphire ring and asked An-Mei, "Now can you recognize what is true?" (p 261). An- Mei' s mother gave her the ring to show the true love and commitment she possessed for her daughter. Later, An-Mei gave the same extravagant blue ring away. An-Mei sacrificed the ring to the sea in order to distract the "Coiling Dragon" that abducted her son into the ocean. An-Mei's sapphire ring represented the real love An-Mei's mother had for her and showed An­ Mei's love for her family when she was willing to sacrifice it.

Jing-Mei Woo, like An-Mei and Lindo, received a special piece of jewelry from her

mother. Jing-Mei's mother, Suyuan, always hoped that Jing-Mei could be the best at everything and become a prodigy. Jing-Mei thought the hope that her mother had for her was overbearing and pushy. Therefore, Jing-Mei began a pattern of failing at almost everything she began to spite her mother. When Jing-Mei felt especially worthless at dinner when Waverly insulted her, her mother offered consoling words and a piece of her love. Suyuan took off her green jade necklace and handed it to Jing-Mei saying, "For a long time, I wanted to give you this necklace. See I wore this on my skin, so when you put it on your skin, then you know my meaning. This is my life's importance" (p 235). The necklace consisted of a curvy line that branched into three jade ovals and hung on a gold chain. Jing-Mei wore it increasingly after her mother died and noticed other young Chinese people who had similar pendants. She asked a man in a bar about his and he told her that his mother had given it to him to show he was worth something. Jing-Mei didn't fully understand the meaning of her necklace and would never know since her mother passed away before she could ask. Jing-Mei didn't particularly care for the appearance of the necklace, but deep down she knew it displayed her mother's love, hope, and the strength that she wished for her daughter.

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan is a novel that explores the strong mother-daughter relationship by following four families. In three of the families, the mother presented her daughter with a special piece of jewelry signifying the bond between them and to remind the daughter of the strength within her. Lindo Jong received a red jade necklace from her mother giving her the confidence she exuded the rest of her life. An-Mei Hsu received a blue sapphire ring from her mother exemplifying the true love between them. Finally, Jing-Mei Woo received a green jade necklace from her mother to represent her life's importance. These special pieces of jewelry given between mothers and daughters proved to be a tradition within the culture and connected the giver and receiver forever. Without the jade and gold, the bonds between these women would remain strong, but the special pieces of jewelry gave the younger women a beautiful material object to treasure that helped them to cherish and remember their mothers’ love for them.