Study Guide for Final on The Joy Luck Club.docx

Suyuan Woo

Long cherished wish

Auntie An-Mei

An-Mei Hsu's aunt and host of the Joy Luck Club

The First Chinese Baptist Church

Meeting place of Suyuan Woo with the Hsus, Jongs, and St. Clairs

Ghost

Forbidden to talk about that person

Too much fire

Indicates a bad temper

Too much water

Signifies lack of focus and direction

Fleeing Kweilin

Escaping imminent Japanese attack

Lindo Jong's relocation

Due to flooding of their home

Losing face

Like dropping a necklace down a well, according to Popo

An-Mei Hsu’s mother

Cuts away her skin to make soup for her dying mother

Servants at Lindo Jong's wedding

To create the appearance of a larger crowd

Foreshadowing

"My throat filled with so much hope that it finally burst and blew out my husband’s end of the candle"

Lindo Jong's travel funds

Part of a deal with the Huang family

Personification

"See how this narrow doorway has been strangled?"

Theme

The link between Chinese mothers and daughters

Moon Festival

Allows people to express selfish desires openly

Ying-ying and the Moon Lady

Seeking help after falling off a boat

Waverly Jong's brothers

Vincent and Winston

An-Mei's scar

Result of being burned by hot soup

Red candle prediction

Burning from both ends signifies a happy marriage

Ying-ying's Amah's teachings

Girls should only listen, not ask questions

Waverly's first chess set

Received from a church Christmas party

Voices from the wall

Argumentative Italian family next to Lena

"Rice Husband"

Architect named Harold

Ying-ying

Means clear reflection

Ying-ying's balance disruptions

Stranger approaching her, pregnancy, moving to a new apartment

Lena's bad man in the basement

Leads her to see terrible things everywhere

Moon Lady's theft

A peach

Clifford St

Lasted for 4 months

Rose and An-mei's beach visit

An-mei drives them in the family car

Lena's uneaten rice

Each grain symbolizes a pock mark on her future husband's face

Symbolic element lacking in Rose's character

Wood

Rose Jordan and Ted

Met in a college class

Pain and voodoo doll revenge

Experienced by Rose

Ying-ying's action to make Lena realize marriage issues

Breaking a vase

An-mei's table prop

A white Bible

Ying-ying St

Girls should stand still until dragonflies hide in their shadow

Lindo Jong

Strong "horse" who outwits her arranged marriage

Cloud and rain maker

Second wife of Wu Tsing

Chwun Yu and Chwun Hwa

Jing Mei's half sisters, meaning Spring Rain and Spring Flower

Black side of a tiger

Represents cunning

Waverly Jong

Inherits invisible strength and double-faced approach from her mother

"City of leftovers mixed together"

Metaphor

"Giant fish heads trying to jump out of a vat of oil"

Simile

"Tongue like hungry scissors eating silk cloth"

Simile

Non-major symbol in the novel

The color yellow

Mirror at the foot of the bed

Marital happiness will bounce back

Complete phrase

"Strongest wind cannot be seen"

Jing-mei's first meal in China

Hamburgers, French fries, and apple pie

Complete phrase

"When a husband stops paying attention to the garden, he’s thinking of pulling up roots"

Lena St little brother

Born with a defect due to an empty head

Lena and Harold's table

Metaphor for Harold's flawed perceptions

"Heart felt like crickets scratching to get out of a cage"

Simile

Twenty Six Malignant Gates

Represent the bad things that can happen

Ice cream

Not used as a metaphor between mother and daughter