Copy of Sem 2 - Final Exam Study Guide

Characters

Joy Luck Club Members

• Suyuan Woo
• Jing-Mei (June) Woo
• An-Mei Hsu
• Rose Hsu Jordan
• Lindo Jong
• Waverly Jong
• Ying-Ying St. Clair
• Lena St. Clair

Story Titles

• "Joy Luck Club"
• "Two Kinds"
• "Scar"
• "Half and Half"
• "Red Candle"
• "Rules of the Game"
• "Moon Lady"
• "Voices in the Wall"
• "A Pair of Tickets"
• "Best Quality"
• "Magpies"
• "Without Wood"
• "Double Face"
• "Four Directions"
• "Waiting Between the Trees"
• "Rice Husband"

Jing-Mei Woo

• Expectations vs. Reality:
  • Expectations of half-sisters vs. reality.
  • Wants to be a prodigy like Waverly, trying to find talent.
  • Burning out both mom and daughter, complicating the relationship.
• Generational Trauma:
  • Mom’s fears affect her.
• Fame/Pressure:
  • Pressured to be famous causes her to “be average” and have low self-esteem.
• Looking down on family:
  • Doesn’t think Mom = smart; outdated.
• American Dream:
  • Accomplish Mom’s American Dream by meeting half-sisters.
• Guilt:
  • Feels guilty about the relationship w/ Mom.
• Her Story:
  • Works at a small firm that makes advertisements.
  • Unmarried, dropped out of college.
  • Mom always forced her to do certain things for fame; good at piano, but played badly on purpose to spite Mom.
  • Afterward, Mom tried to double down on pressure, but Jing-Mei brought up twin daughters.
  • Mom leaves argument at that, and it’s never brought up again.
  • Name means the best quality of leftovers → pure essence.
  • Connects to her half-sisters, the pure essence of what Suyuan was forced to leave behind.
  • Always comes over to her parents’ house, then when they invited the Jongs over, she tried to gain the upper hand over Waverly (after Waverly was being a jerk).
  • Waverly makes fun of Jing-Mei’s job, and her mom tells her she is never able to tell the best quality of something → makes her human and not stuck up (Waverly…).

Suyuan Woo

• Grief/Loss:
  • Lost her daughters
• Miscommunication:
  • Didn’t communicate w/wanted Jing-mei
• Generational trauma:
  • Fears losing Jing-Mei like she did her daughters
• Sacrifice:
  • Sacrificed children
• Tough-Love:
  • Tough loved her daughter
• American Dream:
  • Wanted to reunite her family
• Secrecy:
  • Kept most of her life secret
• Her story:
  • Had a husband (Officer) and 2 twin daughters during the Japanese-Chinese Conflict
    • Created the JLC during the bad times to bring joy to her small group of friends
  • Fled when the Japanese started to come → forced to leave her children on the side of the road with photos and money
  • Adopted by Mei Ching, who didn’t speak the language that Suyuan did → couldn’t read the instructions left by Suyuan
    • Mei Ching determined to find the twin’s true-family
  • Went mad with disease and grief when she met her husband → never stopped looking for her daughters

Rose Hsu Jordan

• Backbone:
  • Lack Of
• Grief/Loss:
  • Lost Bing
• Looking down on family:
  • Thinks her mom is old-fashioned
• Independence:
  • Gaining of
• Lack of Decision/Indecisive
  • Obvious..
• Confidence:
  • Lack Of
• Identity:
  • Loss of individuality/identity
• Her story:
  • Lost her younger brother, Bing, at the beach → terrified of making the “wrong” decision
    • Mom attempted to find her brother, but didn’t blame Rose for her loss
    • Never found Bing despite the Mom’s attempt at using her faith to change fate
  • Married Ted, someone who constantly made Rose’s decisions for her → always listens to other people instead of herself/mother
  • Messed up a surgery → Scared of making all the decisions -> forced her to make them → she didn’t
  • They divorced, and Mom begs Rose to stand up for herself
    • At first, she understands this to mean salvage the marriage, but actually means just stand up to Rose
    • Tells Ted she’s keeping the house and knows about him cheating
  • She is like a weed, growing within the confines of the house; to pull her out, you would need to destroy the entire house

An-Mei Hsu

• Loss/Grief
  • Lost Bing & Mom & brother
• Revenge
  • Mom killed herself for revenge and so that An-mei wouldn’t live in shame
• Sacrifice
  • Mom sacrificed herself
• Generational trauma
  • Believes she should protect daughter like her mom did
• Unconditional Love/Familial love
  • best mom
• Facade
  • Mom’s “evilness” was fake
• Honor
  • Honor your Mom b/c she’s all what you are
• Her story:
  • Mom was forbidden to talk about(she was a concubine) → shamed for marrying someone while still being a widow to a scholar
    • Got a scar as a child from her Mom and her aunt/family arguing
    • Almost died, but thoughts of her mother brought her back
  • Mom comes back when Grandma gets sick→ cuts chunk of arm off to sacrifice for Grandma
  • Mom invites her to live with her and her new husband → they leave her brother behind
    • Husband (Wu Tsing) = wealthy, but manipulated by 2nd wife who abuses his fear of ghosts via fake suicides
    • Mom was SA-ed by Husband and forced into marriage and gave up her son to 2nd wife
  • Mom ends up killing herself to provide a better life for An-Mei, as the husband, Wu Tsing, is a pussy and promises to treat Mom and An-Mei as if they were his first family

Lena St. Clair

• Anxiety
  • Very anxious about everything
• Finding oneself
  • Needs to make herself stand out from Harold
• Generational Trauma
  • Fear from mother’s superstitions
• Assimilation
  • half white, half chinese
• Guilt
  • killing Arnold
• Regret
  • Killing Arnold, not standing up to Harold
• Her story:
  • As a young child → constantly thought of the worst possible outcome and situations
    • Half-white → constantly struggles with identity as a child
  • Mom lost her identity when immigrating and Father always interprets her words
    • Uses stories to save Lena from the dangers of the world
    • Constantly makes up stories about her neighbors
  • Mom suffers a miscarriage and isn’t the same afterward
  • Lena doesn’t want Arnold as a husband, so she eats a lot and leaves lots of leftovers → Arnold dies
  • Marries Harold, who constantly splits things down the middle
    • Paying the equal amount, but it’s not ACTUALLY equal (Ex. Lena doing the same amount of work as Harold, but not getting the same pay)
  • The table that Harold made collapses → Lena knew it would collapse, but did nothing to stop it

Ying-Ying St. Clair

• Finding yourself
  • Needs to embrace her old spirit
• Assimilation
  • Married a white man, lost her entire identity
• Losing oneself
  • Lost herself
• Miscommunication
  • Didn’t tell Lena about her past
• Generational trauma
  • Was absent/not herself for most of Lena’s childhood
• American Dream
  • Wanted to be true to herself
• Facade
  • Childhood was facade, lied to her family about her past → Ex. Clifford thought she was a poor village girl, when she was actually extremely wealthy as a child
• Self-Identity
  • Loss of this
• Her story:
  • All of the family visits the lake so the Moon Lady can fulfill one’s secret wish → is told not to chase her dreams
    • She watches others at the lake as they have fun, and do what they want, and ends up getting yelled at by Amah
    • Falls into a lake, and almost killed, before being rescued
  • Lost herself and her identity as her clothing was strripped of her
  • Eventually wandered into the Moon Lady play → just like Moon Lady, in the sense that she was separated from everyone else due to her own “selfishness” (ruining outfit)
    • Moon Lady = played by dude, so just like Ying-Ying, her story = disingenuous
  • Forced to marry an old man & give Kaigwa (Virginity)
    • Soon fell in love with him and her entire life revolved around pleasing him → got pregnant and he dipped
    • Killed the baby and blamed herself → lied to Lena about her miscarriage
  • Fell into a trance, not really living life, woke up from the trance and somehow caught the eyes of Clifford St. Clair
    • At first he was poor and timid → goes on to twist the story
    • Finally married him → kept her rich past and her “tiger-spirit” secret from husband and daughter
  • Mom is regaining her tiger spirit for her daughter
  • Clifford would misrepresent what Ying-Ying is saying bc Ying-Ying’s english is bad → Loses her voice

Waverly Jong

• Expectations
  • expected to play chess, be smart
• Assimilation
  • Wants to be chinese/american when trendy
• Looking down on family
  • Thinks her mom is stupid, speaks for her
• Generational Trauma
  • Pressure forces her to constantly strive for perfection
• Emotional Walls
  • Put them up to shelter herself from Mom’s critique
• Her story:
  • Named after where she was born → the chess set was originally her brother’s, but she soon learned chess from an old man at a park
  • Eventually started winning tournaments, but is getting increasingly angry at her mom’s attempted involvement
    • Keeps giving Waverly wrong advice about chess
  • She blows up at her mom, saying the Mom should stop using her to brag, but the language barrier makes Lindo think Waverly is ashamed of her
  • Waverly eventually stops playing to get back at her Mom, but she starts losing → blames her Mom for messing her up
  • Mom constantly criticizes Waverly → thinks Mom poisoned her previous marriage and might poison Soshana(Daughter)
  • Waverly worried that Mom will not like Rich → dinner goes horri bly and Waverly thinks it’s her mom’s plan all over again
    • Revealed that Mom didn’t think she was attacking Waverly, just telling the truth and protecting her (In her own way)

Lindo Jong

• Assimilation
  • pays someone to teach her how to be American → impact: daughter = American, Lindo loses part of her culture
• Expectations
  • expects a lot from Waverly → pushes her away
• Miscommunication
  • Actions got misinterpreted
• Emotional Walls
  • couldn’t break through Waverly’s
• Honor
  • was a able to escape a bad marriage without breaking her promise to her family → impact: taught Waverly to always get what she wants and be clever, wanted promises to mean more to her daughter, and showed her daughter off (impact: Waverly closes herself off to Lindo)
• American Dream
  • Left to America for better life→impact: two faces, assimilates, loses parts of her culture (treated like a tourist after returning to China years later)
• Being Disingenuous
  • Attempted to be more “american”
• Tough Love
  • never outwardly expressed love
• Self-Identity
  • (double face) Split between American and Chinese, feel the need to stick to one can’t be half half (identity crisis) Lindo not sure which to choose; daughter sees her as chinese, chinese natives see her as American
• Her story:
  • Had an arranged marriage with Tyan-yu, moved to live with Huang family
  • Determined to honor family, even with an unhappy marriage
    • Tyan-yu didn’t treat Lindo with much respect, etc (as well as Huang Tai-Tai)
  • Lindo strategically planned to leave her marriage, and made up a story to tell Huang Tai-Tai -- kept honor (for her family) even when she left marriage!!
  • Left to America, worked at a fortune cookie factory→ attempted to be “more american” by paying someone who was born there
    • Ended up ignoring most of the advice (SLAYYY)
  • Met An-mei there, who linked her to Tin Jong (her husband) → both bonded over learning English
  • Feels like Waverly is not proud of her, even though Lindo is proud of Waverly

Heidi Bub

• Assimilation
  • taken from Vietnam at young age, forced to learn English & forgets her native language, completely Americanized and southern
    • impact: can’t connect with her birth family in Vietnam, can’t communicate well, uncomfortable
• Expectations VS. Reality
  • Just wanted to be reunited with family in Vietnam and get to know them VS they treat her like their savior, very upfront about asking for money, ask her to take care of mother and bring her to America
    • Impact: Heidi cuts them off almost entirely, loses hope in finding her dad’s side of the family
• Selfishness
  • Rejecting family, cutting off all communication with family
    • (in a way) Expecting everything to be perfect and exactly how she imagined the reunion to play out
• Family
  • Similar to Suyuan Woo, mothers were put into situations where they had to give up their child
    • Family reunion seen as a good thing, expectations, family has a dreamt up relationships from the interactions of the reunion
• Miscommunication
  • because she lived in the South, many people in her town wanted her to assimilate in their culture, and as she got older she lost her identity
    • difference of culture when her family started asking her for money
    • Language barrier causes miscommunication to occur in the meaning behind what the family was asking
• Regret
  • Regrets her decision to come to vietnam; wants to forget all of which has happened due to the negative connotations she has with the experience
    • Has not replied to any of the family’s letters as a result

Relationships

• Jing-Mei Woo:
  • Tutor: Mr. Chong
• Suyuan Woo:
  • Husband: Canning Woo
  • Ex Husband: No name
  • Woman who raised her daughters: Mei Ching
• Rose Hsu Jordan:
  • Ex Husband: Ted
  • Dead Brother: Bing → drowned
• An-Mei Hsu:
  • Husband: George Hsu
  • Step-Father: Wu Tsing
• Lena St. Clair:
  • Husband: Harold
  • Boy she “killed”: Arnold
• Ying-Ying St. Clair:
  • (Dead) Husband: Clifford St. Clair → Heart attack/stroke?
  • Ex Husband: No name
• Waverly Jong:
  • Fiancé: Rich
  • Daughter: Shoshana
  • Ex Husband: Marvin
• Lindo Jong
  • Husband: Tin Jong (KING)
  • Ex Husband: Tyan-Yu
  • Son: Vincent
  • (Dead) Son: Winston → Car Crash

Quotes

Section 1: Feathers From a Thousand Li Away

• “Everybody looked down on someone else. It didn’t matter that everybody shared the same sidewalk to spit on and suffered the same fast-moving diarrhea,” (22) -Suyuan Woo, “Joy Luck Club”
  • In Kweilin during war with Japan, even in war, people divided
  • Division is what inspired Suyuan to make JLC, needed unity
• “And once it is closed, you no longer see what is underneath. what started the pain,”(47) -An-Mei, “Scar”
  • An-mei got her scar bc her Mom came back when she was young to get An-Mei to go with her (An-Mei was living w/ grandma), boiling soup spilled on her neck, burn became scar
  • Represents how An-Mei suppressed this memory and didn’t think of it until Mom came back again when Popo was dying
• “After a while, I hurt so much I didn’t feel any difference,”(56) -Lindo Jong, “The Red Candle”
  • Represents the suffering Lindo went through when married to Tyan-Yu
  • Even though she could have fought back, she decided to be an obedient wife and plot an intricate scheme to escape her marriage and keep her honor
• “‘A boy can run and chase dragonflies, because that is his nature,’ she said. ‘But a girl should stand still,”’ (72) -Mom to Ying-Ying, “The Moon Lady”
  • Ying-Ying faces gender stereotypes because she is a girl → leads her to smear turtle blood over her clothes because they got stained (she felt need to be obedient and unseen)

Section 2: The Twenty-Six Malignant Gates

• “Why do you have to use me to show off?” Waverly to her Mom, “Rules of the Game”
  • Waverly chess prodigy, Lindo uses her to show off/gain clout w aunties
  • Waverly feels like her mother doesn’t support/understand her
  • leads to conflict when Waverly yells at her mother in street, after argument Waverly’s playing is never the same
• “could sense the unspoken terrors that surrounded our house, the ones that chased my mother until she hid in a secret dark corner of her mind,” (103) Lena about Ying-Ying, “The Voice From the Wall”
  • Mom never really spoke about her life in China (prob bc what happened in “The Moon Lady” traumatized Ying-Ying)
  • barrier between Ying-Ying and Lena, Lena could understand the words her mom was saying in Mandarin, never rlly understood what they meant
  • leads to conflict in their relationship bc of the barrier
• “I was the victim to his hero…It was exhilarating and draining,”(118-119) Rose about Ted, “Half and Half”
  • Rose let Ted choose everything because she is guilty about Bing (she made choice to look away for a sec and he drowned)
  • leads to tension and resentment in marriage → divorce
• “so foolish as to think she could use faith to change fate,” (130) Rose about her Mom searching for her dead brother Bing, “Half and Half”
  • An-Mei was adamant that she could find Bing, even after the Coast Guard couldn’t and the rest of the fam gave up
  • Later, Rose sees that her mom wrote Bing’s name under deceased fam members
• “after seeing my mother’s disappointed face once again, something inside of me began to die,” (134) “Two Kinds”
  • Jing-Mei after her mom keeps trying to make her into a prodigy, frustrated because she doesn’t really excel at anything

Section 3: American Translation

• “‘It doesn’t matter,’ I say, and I start to pick up the broken glass shards. ‘I knew it would happen.’ ‘Then why you don’t stop it?’ asks my mother. And it’s such a simple question,” (165) Lena after the table breaks, “Rice Husband”
  • the table is something that Harold made in his college days, it isn’t very sturdy (metaphor for their marriage)
  • Lena knows the end table isn’t sturdy, keeps it around anyways (stays w Harold even tho they aren’t really happy), so when it breaks after they get into a fight, not surprising to her
• “I’d never known love so pure, and I was afraid that it would become sullied by my mother,” (176) Waverly talking about Rich, “Four Directions”
  • waverly is terrified bc she sees her mom as this terrifying and controlling force in her life → cause of conflict btwn them
• “There were no choices. I had an empty feeling—and I felt free, wild,”(194) “Without Wood”
  • Rose breaking free from letting Ted choose everything for her
• “You can’t just pull me out of your life and throw me away,” (196) “Without Wood”
  • Rose to Ted when he comes over and wants her to sign divorce papers
  • Ted used to be meticulous with garden, always pulled out all the weeds, Rose lets the garden grow wild, she likes it that way
  • Rose = weeds, growing wild (finding identity), metaphor for their marriage, once Ted gone she can be free
• “Only you pick that crab. Nobody else take it. I already know this. Everybody else want best quality. You thinking different,” (208) “Best Quality”
  • Suyuan to Jing-Mei
  • showcases Jing-Mei’s different perspective/approach to life
  • literally what does the crab mean

Section 4: Queen Mother of the Western Skies

• “Your tears do not wash away your sorrows. They feed someone else’s joy. And that is why you must learn to swallow your own tears,” (217) “Magpies”
  • An-Mei’s mom to her
• “I let myself become a wounded animal,” (251) “Waiting Between the Trees”
  • Ying-Ying born a Tiger, black = cunning, gold = fierce heart
  • Let Clifford speak for her → losing the tiger in her, but hopes Lena will unlock her inner tiger
• “She is my daughter and I am proud of her, and I am her mother but she is not proud of me,” (255) “Double Face”
  • Lindo after Waverly takes her to hair salon but Waverly does all talking for her
  • Gives other side to Waverly’s frustration with her mom + shows how tables have turned (as kid, Waverly felt like mom was trying to shape her future, as adult, Waverly is speaking for Lindo)

Lena St. Clair (Continued)

Themes in "The Voice from the Wall"

• Superstition
  • Unspoken terrors chased mother until she became a ghost
  • Ying-ying could always “see a thing before it happened” — had bad feeling about baby “could hear him screaming from the womb” and ended up being a miscarriage
  • Ying-ying moved items around the house to maintain “balance”
• Regret
  • Ying-ying scared of having baby b/c aborted baby in past, new baby doesn’t have brain (has bad luck with babies)
  • Fear of babies -> postpartum
• Culture
  • Lena insecure abt her looks (thinks eyes too small)
  • Tried making eyes look bigger
  • Ying-ying renamed to Betty St. Clair by husband
  • Went from Tiger to Dragon (year of)
  • Contrast between Lena’s family and the family next door, Ying-ying pushed her thinking of danger onto Lena, Lena assumed house next door was abusive
  • Lena is cultural bridge between American culture (husband) and Chinese culture (mother)
  • Served as mediator
  • Similar to translator in Daughter from Danang
• Trauma
  • Ying-ying terrified of stranger who thinks she is the girl of her dreams
  • Relives feelings abt first husband -> unwanted intimate approaches
  • Ying-ying projects trauma onto Lena
  • Lena thinks neighbors constantly fighting + killing each other, but when listens carefully, just tough love

Themes in "Rice Husband"

• Love/Relationship
  • Relationship was almost all financial, Harold did not know that Lena did not like Ice cream but still made her pay for it, shows he doesnt truly love and care for her
  • IDENTITY: afraid that Harold would stop loving her b/c she thinks shes ordinary
• Superstition
  • Mother sees things before they happen
  • Every rice not eating led to pock mark on husband
  • Arnold had freckles, was “cruel”
  • Hated Arnold so much became nauseous thinking abt him as husband
  • Attempted to kill Arnold by leaving food in plate
  • Poor eating habit developed into anorexia
  • Arnold died to measles at age 17
  • RELIEF: eating to make up for past, finally got rid of Arnold
• Finances
  • Split everything MOSTLY evenly
  • Cat has fleas, Lena must pay for treatment
  • Harold makes 7x Lena’s salary
  • Not fair!
• Communication
  • Harold didn't know Lena doesn't like ice cream
  • Shows how the relationship is surface level and doesn’t go beyond finances
  • Harold’s response of “I love you. Did you lock the door?” -> Lena realized this wasn’t enough
  • Ying-ying teaches Lena to be open by making stool fall over

Ying-Ying St. Clair (Continued)

Specifics from "The Moon Lady"

• Has 2 half sisters, looks down on them (tricks them with mooncake)
• Sisters make fun of her after blood incident
• Kept mouth quiet to avoid selfish desire from coming out
• Moon festival celebration on lake, everyone would get granted a wish from the moonlady if they kept it to themselves

Themes from "The Moon Lady"

• Disillusionment
  • Moonlady turns out to be a man on the stage after the play, was excited to tell the moonlady her wish but then saw it was a man
  • Ying-ying was always taught to “stay quiet” and keep to herself so the moonlady was the only way to grant her wishes and not be seen as selfish desires but since it turned out to be a bust, it led to disappointment.
• Incense is burned to keep away the “5 evils” away: a swimming snake, a jumping scorpion, a flying centipede, a dropping-down spider, and a springing lizard, turns out to be just to keep away mosquitoes
• Neglect
  • Amah: “do not shame me” — Ying-Ying wasnt truly loved, just a tool for family honor
  • “I wish to be found” symbolizes both how she literally wanted to be found and returned to her family, but also be seen/notices by her family since she was neglected—this was a moment of realiztion for her, sparking her new self and loss of innocence
  • Family not noticing shes gone for a while
• Innocence
  • Chasing a dragonfly before going to lake and getting clothes in a tangle
  • Watching chained bird catch fish for servant children on boat
  • Servant woman cut chicken, fish, turtle
• Blood got all over Ying-ying’s clothes
  • Panicked b/c scared of getting mother disappointed
  • Smeared blood everywhere, embraced loss of innocence
  • Blood used as cloak, hiding from shame
  • Falling into lake: rebirth into life w/lost innocence
• Superstition
  • Burning 5 Evils as incense
• Gender
  • Always told to stay still and behave lady-like
  • Learned to stay quiet after mother told her that a girl should stay still, shadow attracts others
• Relative parenting style

Themes in "Waiting Between the Trees"

• Supersitition
  • Thinks that Lena shouldn’t put baby in room with sloped roof
  • Believes house is weak, will fall into pieces
• Wisdom
  • Lena has no wisdom: “like bottomless pond”
• Powerlessness
  • Watches daughter, Lena, get pulled away by american cuture
• Regret/Guilt
  • Aborted baby b/c filled with rage and vengeance
  • Wanted to remove every memory of first husband, including baby
  • Vengeance led to her feeling nothing, lost sense of self (tigerness)
  • Married Clifford St. Clair so she could become ghost, let go of her past
• Culture
  • Disconnect in culture, Ying-ying moves in with Lena and Harold but is given guest bedroom, in chinese culture the guest always has the nicest room
• Identity
  • Didn’t understand sexual joke made by first husband, embarrassed
  • Married him b/c realized can make anyone fall in love with her
  • Did her best to please husband, but was betrayed
  • Married Clifford St. Clair and let go of “waiting” part of tiger personality
• Relative parenting style

An-mei Hsu (Continued)

Themes in "Scar"

• Betrayal
  • An-mei’s mother leaves to be a concubine
• Sacrifice
  • Sacrificied An-mei
• Family channeled anger into steaming hot soup and directed anger toward An-mei; soup physically in between An-mei and mom, serving as barrier between their connection
  • Led to soup burn and scar
  • An-mei’s flesh sacrifice to save Popo shows she still cares about the family despite betraying them
• Family/love
  • Raises by Popo, her grandmother, mother left to be concubine and the father was just a memory in a painting
  • An-mei’s flesh sacrifice to save Popo shows she still cares about the family despite betraying them
  • Popo instilled the hatred for her mother; so did her Auntie
• Used stories like brain fluid spilling out of little girl’s ear to teach submission
  • Despite mother always being criticized by Popo, her short return and talk to An-mei was enough to give her hope that her mother actually cares
• Culture
  • Main idea: pain is forgettable, but tradition and culture are in everyone’s bones
• Memories
  • Scar symbolizes the mother’s memory/presence in An-mei’s life, When the Scar was fresh an-mei was there, as the wound heales her memory faded form An-mei

Themes in "Magpies"

• Disillusionment
• Betrayal
  • 2nd Wife tricked An-mei’s mom
  • Mom raped by Wu Tsing
  • 2nd Wife forced mom to be with Wu Tsing by claiming she seduced W-T
• Guilt
  • An-mei feels guilty of leaving her little brother behind at uncle’s house while she moves to such a nice house
• Hieracrchy
  • 1st wife: Wu Tsing’s original wife married since childhood because of matchmaker, is rarley there and has her own house in hills, given birth to child with one leg too short which brought misfortune
  • 2nd wife: Had the most power socially, manipulated Wu Tsing into giving her more money by faking death with opium, can’t bear children so she brought other concubines to have Wu Tsing’s children that 2nd wife would raise
  • 3rd wife: Used to bear Wu Tsing’s sons
  • 4th wife: An-mei’s mother deceived into staying overnight at Wu Tsing’s mansion, Wu Tsing forced
• himself onto her and she had no choice but to become his concubine
  • 5th wife: poor girl from poor village in country
• Facade
  • “Pearl” necklace given by Second Wife to An-mei
  • Attempted to establish good relations, but pearl was actually glass
  • Mother made wear An-mei wear necklace to teach her lesson on fraudulent ppl
  • 2nd Wife would fake suicides to obtain her desires from Wu Tsing (ex more pay)
  • Makeup mom puts on during boat ride: attempt to cover up her reluctance to be with Wu Tsing -> puts on fake smile
  • An-mei’s life is extremely shameful/depressing despite living with many riches
• Sacrifice
  • Mother killed herself by overdosing on opium 2 days b4 Lunar New Year
  • Would kill her own weak spirit to give An-mei a stronger one
  • 2 ways is significant
  • 1: Keeps An-mei protected b/c of superstition, thought of mother’s soul coming back to settle scores scared Wu-Tsing
  • 2: Taught An-mei to have a stronger character, reinforcing the mother’s values on being stoic (turtle story -> sadness pointless since other ppl feed off it)