高英汇总--沉默

 In the traditional Chinese society’s stereotypical view, men are destined to dominate over

women, who are destined to serve them. The first generation of these Chinese American

women in Tan’s The JOY LUCK CLUB receive, accept and obey the doctrine of their elders

without resistance or any comment. They are raised and taught to be silent and obedient in

their patriarchal society. Such unfair treatment of women in patriarchal society occurs

everywhere in Tan’ novel.

 Her mother had been a widow before she remarried. In traditional Chinese patriarchal society,

widows who did not remarry were usually honored; one the other hand, widows who did

remarry were often looked down upon. Although there was no law to forbid a widow to

remarry, the dictates of honer and shame would be enough to forbid her to do so.

 However,ANMEI’s mother was forced to remarry because of unspeakable shame, she was

raped by Wu Tsing

 She could not defend herself. No one believes her,even her family members.

 There also had no such place to let female prove her innocence

 All she could do was to keep silent and bear this shame or die to prove her innocence

 She choose to keep silent and bear the shame. Furthermore, she doubled her shame by

accepting Wu’s proposal to become his fourth concubine.

 Her husband is portrayed as a philanderer. As a husband, he was irresponsible and unfaithful.

When yingying delivered boy, he ignored her and philander with an opera singer

 Yingying always silently wait her husband at home, but he always disappoint her. Even when

he come back, he just insult her.

 When yingying break a plate and use the fragment to hurt her husband, she still has no

courage to do so because she was taught to be docile and obedient.

 It seems that husbands can easily finds reasons for abandoning their wives in patriarchal

society. Nobody blames these husbands’ behavior even their wives.

 Lindo was promised to the Huang’s son for marriage, her own family began treating her as if

she belonged to someone else.

 Lindo konws she cannot blame her mother’s attitudes because it was the traditional way in

families then.

 Lindo does not want to marry Tyan-yu with all her heart. Yet ,under patriarchal society, she

cannot change her fate, she can only do her best to be an obedient daughter-in-law.

 So she keep silent, never says no or reject her mother , even when her mother send her to

Huang’s home. And then the whole family leave their hometown forever

In a world, under this patriarchal society, women have been oppressed and suppressed so

completely as to serve without complaint. Although finally the female in JOY LUCK CLUB

break out to fight against the fate, they keep silent for a long time .

The four mothers in "Joy Luck Club" all have their own outlooks on life, which

are based on their previous experiences in China. These women have already

immigrated to America for several decades, but they still insist on the tradition they've

been taught when they were young. They wish that their children would live happy

and successful lives in America while still upholding the old tradition of Chinese

people. While in America, these women expect their daughters to behave like Chinese

children, respectful, obedient and have a clear boundary between parents and children.

However, like all children, these girls strive hard to earn the attention and love of their

parents, which, in perspective of their mothers, is a little inappropriate and is not to be

expected of Chinese children. These rather high expectations of the mothers led their

teenage daughters to struggle through anxieties, feelings of inadequacy and failures.

Holding their children to extremely high standards and neglecting to understand

their daughters feelings and insecurities growing up, the mothers have unconsciously

drove their daughters to the point of rebellion. Although love is what they want to

share with their mothers, the rebellious spirit of children against their parents' strict

upbringing paved the way for a lack of communication between the two parties,

leading to a series of misunderstandings and quarrels.

Su Yuan, made her daughter, June to play the piano in hopes that she will become

an amazing concert pianist. However, June didn't share her mother's dream, she

wanted to become her own woman, follow her own interests and dreams, live her own

life rather than living her mom's dreams. But not wanting to disappoint her mother,

she tries her best to master the keys. But after a bad performance at a recital, her

mother pushes her even further until she can no longer bear the ridiculously high hope

of her mother and quits playing the piano. As an adult, June did admit to her mother

that she could never live up to her expectations because she doesnt have a successful

career. However, Su Yuan comforts her daughter by saying she has a far kinder heart

than most people, which can never be taught.

An Mei mother chose death after she was betrayed by her own family, but her

death rose a spark of bravery into her daughter's heart and decided that she should

stand up for herself in order to gain respect. Her mother's sacrifice and An Mei's

bravery ultimately restored order and kindness in their family.

Lindo expects her daughter, Waverly, to be a great chess player. As a child,

Waverly is extremely annoyed by the fact that her mother treats her like a gold medal

that can just be paraded off to anyone found along the street, this prompted her

retirement from chess.

Silence—as A Catalyst for clashes

We believe that Under the cover of silence, there is a hidden shout and stronger eager for love

and respect in each daughter. And silence can be a catalyst for clashes. Take the daughter Lena and

Rose’s marriage life as examples.

Lena, Yingying’s daughter, she chose a wrong and unhappy marriage.