My section is called the "Queen Mother of the Western Skies". Which is the last section opener of the book, Joy Luck Club.
As we saw in our little skit the main point or purpose of this opener was to show us how the mothers tried to teach their daughters to never lose hope and always keep their innocence's. The mothers in this book have been thru many struggles and pain so all they can see is the wrongs and negatives of the world. So basically they are trying to protect their daughters from the same thing. They try to teach them that no matter what comes in live make sure you be strong while dealing with them, and always protect yourself and always hope for a better future in which you will laugh thru it forever.
The first example would be in the Chapter "Magpies", when Rose speaks to her mother about her failing marriage.
Sunset of the Forbidden City, Beijing (northwest c...
The Joy Luck Club (film)
The Joy Luck ClubDue to An-mei's (mom) personal experiences and stories her mother had told her she wants to help her daughter by telling her that "it is useless to cry, for tears only feed someone else's joy." From her mothers words Rose demanded for what she wanted from her husband before signing any divorce papers.
Another example would be in the Chapter "Waiting between the trees", when Ying ying learned to move on and not let her past get to her. She fell in love with her first husband during their marriage but before they even knew they were going to get married, her first husband had insulted her virginity by stabbing a watermelon with a knife, hence the abortion when her husband left her. She moved on by getting married to St.Clair and giving birth to a daughter who ended up being her free spirit.
The next example is in the Chapter called "Double Face" where both mother and daughter are getting ready in a hair salon for Waverly's wedding. The hairdresser notices they both have "broken" noses, and Waverly mentions that their noses make them seem "devious" or in other words "two faced". Though it has a strange or bad meaning in English, in the Chinese culture they think that this means you are determined to get what you want. Which leads back to not losing hope and staying strong from the opener.
Finally the last example would be from the Chapter called "A Pair of Tickets". This was when Jing-mei was going to aboard a train to China. Where she learns the true story about her Half-sisters and her mothers hope in finding them. Which once again leads to the hope factor and points in our opener.
With the examples provided we can prove that the openers do help us learn and understand what the following chapters in the section will talk and explain to us all about.
Tan, Amy. The Joy Luck Club: Queen Mother of the Western Skies. New York: Pocket, 1993.
English: Bamberg High School students and German s...
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Mother & The Commonweal
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