The Joy Luck Club "ÃÂ Essay #4 Conflicts play a crucial role in novels and are seen in many different forms. Two of which are internal and external. An internal conflict is when a character must deal with private problems. An external conflict is when a character must deal with problems originating from another person or the public in general. These types of conflicts are visible within the novel entitled The Joy Luck Club written by Amy Tan. There are many prominent conflicts seen in The Joy Luck Club. Two of which I've chosen are between Waverly and Lindo, and between June and Waverly.
The first prominent conflict within this novel deals with Waverly and her mother Lindo. Waverly feels as though her mother is attempting to ruin her life by causing her to "see black where there once was white" (186). Waverly believes Lindo is attempting to influence her daughter for the worse.
The Joy Luck Club (film)
The Joy Luck Club
Waverly, PennsylvaniaShe doesn't want to be influenced by her mother's opinions, her criticisms of everything that she loves, yet Waverly fears that even if she "recognized her sneak attack, she was afraid that some unseen speck of truth would fly into her eye, blur what she was seeing and transform it" (181) into the thing that her mother saw, into something full of faults, something that is not good enough for her. Waverly resents this, yet Lindo believes that it is for Waverly's own good. She does not want Waverly to accept something just because it was a gift, like the fur jacket that Rich gave Waverly. Lindo believes that she has taught Waverly to grow up with values, with goals that everyone and everything must meet. As Waverly shows Lindo the jacket, Lindo inspects it, finally reporting, "This is not so good" (186). Waverly protests,