Point-of-View

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan was entirely written in the first person point of view (with exception of the beginning of the story [P.3 & P.4]) However, the story is composed of chapters that are written in different characters’ point-of -views.
I found it an interesting way to write a story. The characters in each chapter are connected, but doesn’t seem to be one big plotline that all of them followed. Other books are often told only through one person’s point-of-view throughout the entire story or switching with characters but still focusing on one main event. This story, however, seemed to weave through different characters’ lives. Not only the thoughts of the characters were given, but their experiences and feelings as well. I could really relate to these characters more by reading their views as well as looking at their experiences. For example, in the first chapter through Jing-Mei Woo’s point of view, I thought Auntie An-Mei was an indecisive worrywart. However, in the next chapter I learned about An-Mei’s life and how she carried it out, being separated from her mother by her protective Popo. From her perspective of her story, I saw her as a strong person who endured her hardships.

The Joy Luck Club

When I first heard of the title: The Joy Luck Club, I thought the story would be about some teenagers’ club. The title also reminded me of four-leaf clovers because of the word “luck”. That was why I was surprised to find that The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan had more of a Chinese background. It had been out of my expectation that the book would be about Chinese immigrants in America. The “luck” had been about the chances of winning over the game of mah jong.
However, it did make sense that the book would contain the Chinese cultural background if thinking back to the “Writer’s On Writing” article, in which I had coincidentally chose Amy Tan’s “Family Ghosts Hoard Secrets That Bewitch the Living.” Even in her article, she mentioned about the mysteries of her family, specifically her mother and her half-siblings that she did not know about. Her life was a story of its own with details and complex puzzles behind it. Therefore if I connect her story and her life together, I would find that she leaked many of her life aspects into the book she wrote.