FILM & LITERATURE THE JOY LUCK CLUB

Suyuan Woo is the only Joy Luck Club member who doesn’t have a voice in the story. Why is it important that her daughter is the narrator of her story? Clip 6 TODAY’S JOURNAL (13 Nov)

In your group, share the notes you took for the 3nd part of The Joy Luck Club (“Queen Mother of the Western Skies”) Listen to others’ contributions & feel free to add ideas of your own Add this task to your discussion: Discuss the relation of the parable “Queen Mother of the Western Skies” to the stories that follow LITERATURE CIRCLE

Parables in Joy Luck Club A parable is a simple story that gives a lesson. Each section of Joy Luck Club organized around a theme and beginning with a parable: “Feathers from a Thousand Miles (Li) Away” Mothers’ stories of their own respective past Ambition; intergenerational/intercultural conflict “The 26 Malignant Gates” & “American Translation” Daughters’ stories of their adult lives & childhood relationships with their mothers Spite towards parents; superstition; different perspectives of mothers & daughters “Queen Mother of the Western Skies” Mothers’ stories of their old age and how they’ve failed to impart lessons to their daughters Regret & acceptance of life’s outcomes Parables in Joy Luck Club

JOY LUCK CLUB CLIPS Watch the following clip from Joy Luck Club Discuss with a partner: What does the following scene show us about the difficulties in communication between characters in JLC? (Waverly-Lindo) What does the scene we watched earlier (Jingmei-Suyuan) show about how these difficulties can be overcome? Clip 7 JOY LUCK CLUB CLIPS

Mother-Daughter Communication in Joy Luck Club JLC shows people’s difficulty in communicating with one another – husbands & wives, esp. mothers & daughters Moms & daughters have a language barrier – native Chinese vs. native English speakers – and a generational barrier – old vs. young Mothers  speak in metaphors & stories (especially from their youth) to – in their minds – improve daughters’ lives Daughters  speak concretely of complaints against mothers – want to strengthen own identity Both reach common ground by story’s end – daughters mostly realize mothers have their best interests at heart Mother-Daughter Communication in Joy Luck Club

WRAP-UP Select a Lit Circle role from the following: Discussion Director Summarizer Word Master Connector Character curator Read chapters 1-3 of The Beach & journal according to your role First 3 chapters of full-length book: to the end of “Getting There” chapter