The Joy Luck Club Discussion Questions The Joy

The Joy Luck Club Discussion Questions

The Joy Luck Club “The Joy Luck Club”-”Scar” Write your answers to the following questions in your discussion section. Discuss your answers with your group to share with the class. 1. Look at the first paragraph from the first two stories. How do these introductions depict the point of view of the narrator? 2. What is one possible meaning for the title as a symbol used in the chapter “Scar”? Use evidence from the story to support your answer.

The Joy Luck Club “The Joy Luck Club”-”Scar” Write your answers to the following questions in your discussion section. Discuss your answers with your group to share with the class. 1. How is the idea of sacrifice represented in the first 2 chapters? 2. How is Popo characterized in “Scar”? How does this affect our understanding of the truth of An-Mei’s experience?

The Joy Luck Club “Scar” Write your answers to the following questions in your discussion section. Discuss your answers with your group to share with the class. • • How has your family’s history affected your life? How will your life affect your family’s history? What does your family dream of for you? What happens when your family’s dreams and yours conflict? 1. Find a passage in the chapter (Scar) which shows the conflict between one character’s desires for her life and her family’s desire(s) for her. Explain this conflict’s importance.

The Joy Luck Club “The Red Candle” 1. Name at least two symbols in the chapter, “The Red Candle, ” and then explain what they symbolize. 2. How is the motif of destiny discussed in this chapter? 3. What does Lindo believe about right and wrong? 4. Think about this: What action does she judge others for doing? What dishonest action does she commit, but justifies as “right”? What do these actions lead you to believe about Lindo’s character? 5. What does the wind represent for Lindo? Why? • Challenge: write a 6 -word sentence that sums up Lindo’s life.

The Joy Luck Club “The Moon Lady” 1. How does the narrator use structure, or the way she unfolds events, to make her story more interesting? 2. What things did Ying learn during the Moon Festival as a child? 3. Compare Amah and Ying’s actual mother. What is different about the two relationships? 4. In what passages does the narrator use indirect characterization to reveal her own personality? Make sure to use evidence to support all of your answers.

The Joy Luck Club “The Moon Lady” 1. Consider Ying’s shadow. What does it symbolize? 2. What does the “Moon Lady” symbolize for Ying? 3. Explain Ying’s words on page 81: “Even though I did not understand her entire story, I understood her grief. ” Make sure to use evidence to support all of your answers.

Joy Luck Club “The Rules of the Game” Discussion Questions—Use evidence to support your answers. • How do those in Waverly’s community view Americans? • What is the “art of invisible strength”? Who uses “invisible strength? ” • The title of this chapter is “Rules of the Game. ” What is “the game? ” What are the literal and figurative “games” people play in this chapter? • Explain the meaning of Mrs. Jong’s words on page 94: “Every time people come out from foreign country, must know rules. You not know, judge say, Too bad, go back. They not telling you why so you can use their way go forward. They say, Don’t know why, you find out yourself. But they knowing all the time. Better you take it, find out why yourself. ” • What is the conflict between Waverly and her mother? How does Waverly view her mother? How does her mother view Waverly? • Explain Waverly’s imagined experience at the end of the chapter.

Joy Luck Club “The Voice from the Wall” Discussion Questions—Use evidence to support your answers. 1. Compare how Lindo Jong viewed the wind to how Ying views it. 2. What is “the other side? ” What does it represent for Lena? 3. How do both Ying-Ying (mother) and Lena (daughter) struggle with fear? With identity? 4. How is the idea of communication discussed in this chapter? 5. How does this chapter discuss the idea of “appearance vs. reality? ” 6. What does Lena imagine would be the way to save her mother? Explain her thought. 7. Compare the St. Clairs to their Italian neighbors. What is the same? What is different? Which is the better situation? Explain your answer.

Joy Luck Club “Half and Half” Discussion Questions—Use evidence to support your answers. 1. What kinds of barriers are presented in this chapter? Who do these barriers affect? 2. How is the idea of balance represented in this chapter? How might balance also apply in a different way (thematically)? Hint: think about the title of the chapter. 3. What is one conflict in the chapter? 4. Think about what Jing Mei’s mother had said about An-Mei Hsu in the first chapter of the book. Explain her opinion about An-Mei. How does Rose exhibit the same quality as her mother? How does her mother push her to change?

Joy Luck Club “Half and Half” Discussion Questions—Use evidence to support your answers. 1. How does Chinese mythology and The Twenty-six Malignant Gates influence characters in this chapter? 2. How are the ideas of grief, faith, and fate discussed in this chapter? 3. How does Bing Hsu’s death impact the life of An-Mei and Rose Hsu? If Bing had lived, how might Rose’s ideas about marriage, faith, and her mother be different? 4. Recall what the Chinese mean by “shou” (from the chapter, Scar). How does Rose exhibit “shou” in this chapter?

Joy Luck Club “Two Kinds” Discussion Questions—Use evidence to support your answers. 1. What is one conflict in the story? What is the character’s motivation behind the conflict? 2. What is the significance (importance/relationship to the story) of the title of this chapter? 3. What is one place where the writer slows down the action and zooms in for a close detail? What is the effect? 4. How are honor, hope, and the American Dream discussed in this chapter? 5. What is the symbolic meaning of the two songs Jing-mei plays at the end of the story?

Joy Luck Club “Rice Husband” Discussion Questions—Use evidence to support your answers. 1. How does this chapter further the motif of “manipulation? ” 2. How does the structure of this chapter allow the writer to communicate some key ideas about the characters? 3. Make a connection between this chapter and “Voice from the Wall. ” 4. What “red flags” did Lena miss in her relationship with Harold? Why did she miss them? What theme might the author communicate through this? 5. Does this chapter support the idea of a “self-fulfilling prophesy” in the marriage of Lena to Harold? Or, does it simply relate a series of coincidences? Explain.

Joy Luck Club “Four Directions” Discussion Questions—Use evidence to support your answers. 1. Describe how the section’s title--“American Translation”-somehow fits this chapter in theme or purpose. 2. What does the author mean by “Her look was one of painful denial” (describing Lindo Jong as she looks around Waverly’s apartment. 3. How is this a continuation of the story, “The Rules of the Game? ” How is Waverly the same? How is she different? 4. Why did Waverly struggle in playing chess after the argument with her mother? How did this relate to her fears about Rich? 5. How is a conflict resolved in this chapter?

Joy Luck Club “Without Wood” Discussion Questions—Use evidence to support your answers. 1. Explain how “American Translation” somehow fits this chapter in theme or purpose. 2. Explain the significance of Old Mr. Chou. What does he represent for Rose Hsu? 3. Why does Rose tell a different story to every person about her problems with Ted? How is this used for indirect characterization? 4. What is Rose’s weakness? What do you know about her from other stories that might explain this? 5. What does the garden symbolize? Explain your answer. 6. What is “hulhihudu? ” Describe the ways this idea is used in this chapter.

Joy Luck Club “Best Quality” Discussion Questions—Use evidence to support your answers. 1. Explain the significance of the title, “Best Quality. ” 2. What might the jade pendant symbolize? Explain with details from the story. 3. What is Jing-Mei’s internal conflict in this chapter? 4. Compare Jing-Mei and Waverly Jong. What is the greatest difference between the two? 5. When Suyuan Woo says, “"She is like this crab. . . always walking sideways, moving crooked. You can make your legs go the other way, ” what does she mean? 6. What evidence is in this story that Suyuan knows her daughter well. How does this affect us as readers?

Joy Luck Club “Magpies” part 1 Discussion Questions—Use evidence to support your answers. 1. What message is communicated in the chapter about fate? 2. How does the author use diction in this chapter to affect the reader? 3. What does the pearl necklace possibly symbolize? What other “ornament” does someone put around their neck in this chapter? What does the author reveal through this connection? 4. Analyze the character of 5 th wife. What kind of person does she seem to be? What kind of conflict(s) does she bring with her? 5. What do you think An-mei meant when she said, “And later, I found I had an ability: to not listen to something meaningless calling to me”? 6. Explain the story An-mei tells of the turtle and the magpies. What do you think this will mean for An-mei and her mother?

Joy Luck Club “Magpies” part 2 Discussion Questions—Use evidence to support your answers. 1. Find a quote in the second half of “Magpies” that characterizes An-mei’s mother. What does this quote reveal to the reader? 2. Look at these lines on page 231 “She told me to wear the necklace…so that I would remember how easy it is to lose myself to something false. ” How do people lose themselves to something false? How does the author show that An-me almost lost herself to something false (besides wearing the necklace)? 3. How is the motif of manipulation used in this chapter? 4. Is the lesson of the magpies applicable to everyday life? Explain. 5. How is the motif of “sacrifices people make for love” used in this chapter? Do you think its message transcends cultural boundaries?

Joy Luck Club “Waiting Between Trees” Discussion Questions—Use evidence to support your answers. 1. How is the idea of identity discussed in this chapter? 2. What is “chi” (page 251)? How is it important to this chapter? To the book? 3. Explain the “black” and “gold” parts of a Tiger’s nature, according to Ying. 4. How is the motif “sacrifices people make for love” used in this chapter? 5. How is the motif “control over one’s destiny” used in this chapter? 6. Did Ying ying love or hate her first husband? Explain.

Joy Luck Club “Double Face” Discussion Questions—Use evidence to support your answers. 1. For what does Lindo Jong blame herself? Find a passage that supports your answer. 2. How is the motif of “cultural obstacles” discussed in this chapter? 3. On page 265, Lindo says, “…I didn’t see we were poor. I only saw what we had. ” How does Lindo change after making that statement? Use evidence from the novel. 4. What does Lindo mean when she says, “Americans don’t really look at each other when they are talking” (page 255)? Do you agree? Why/not? 5. What conflict begins to be resolved in this chapter? Explain.

Joy Luck Club “A Pair of Tickets” Discussion Questions—Use evidence to support your answers. 1. What kind of transformation does Jing-mei experience in this chapter? What evidence is there of this transformation? 2. How does Amy Tan communicate the awkwardness that Jing -mei feels as she meets her Chinese family members? 3. How are the two meanings of Suyuan’s name symbolic to the story?