The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, depicts the lives of four mothers who were born in China but eventually immigrated to America. They hoped to live a better life for themselves and their daughters. Much of the novel focuses on the relationship between a mother, Suyuan Woo, and her daughter Jing-mei. At the beginning of the book, Suyuan Woo's journey through China, from Kweilin to Chungking and finally to America, contains a lot of symbolism in its search for meaning. Amy Tan uses a tragic journey with symbolism, irony, and concrete structure to convey the message that one can discover one's own identity by accepting one's origins. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay The novel opens with Suyuan's physical journey to China. During the Japanese invasion, Suyuan escaped on the road from Kweilin to Chungking. However, she weakens and abandons her twins by the side of a road. Additionally, upon returning to Chungking, she soon discovers that her husband died in the war. However, her tragic journey takes an ironic turn when she decides to create the Joy Luck Club: "Which was worse, we asked ourselves, to sit and wait for our own death... Or to choose our own happiness? (Tan 35). Suyuan's journey might be expected to bring him suffering and despair; However, Amy Tan uses irony to cause the opposite effect, showing how accepting one's suffering can lead to hope. Suyuan's physical journey from Kweilin to Chungking further extends when she immigrated from China to America. In the novel, America and China become two different symbols. China represents the East and America the West. The novel, divided into four sections, reflects the cardinal symbolic direction. It is no coincidence that the mahjong table is also divided into north, south, east and west, each occupied by a different character. Amy Tan's structural creation of the novel helps bring deeper symbolic meaning to its theme. For Suyuan Woo, Jing-mei's mother, her place was in "the East...where everything begins" (Tan 50). Suyuan had initially founded the Joy Luck Club in China (East), where she began her life and fitness journey. Amy Tan uses symbolism from the Orient to represent her origins. The quote shows how Suyuan recognized his origins, which stem from his culture and beginnings in China. While Suyuan and the three other mothers have found their true identities in China, their daughters in America are confused and frustrated. Jing-mei, Suyuan's daughter, throughout most of the novel feels like she never knew her mother or herself. But eventually, Suyuan's journey extends to Jing-mei. The other three mothers reveal that Suyuan has been looking for her twins her whole life. She finds them, but she dies before she can meet them. Thus, her journey is relayed to Jing-mei, who is told to be “loyal to her [mother]” (Tan 39) and to go find her sisters. Jing-mei, who was never faithful to her mother in America, is now doing the opposite. Here, Amy Tan uses the symbolism of America (the West) to represent adventure and restlessness – the American dream, where individuality, but also ambiguity, persists. Yet by bringing Jing-mei back to China, Tan shows that origins are the key to self-understanding and identity. In the end, Jing-mei understands herself and her mother perfectly when she returns to China herself. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a personalized article from our expert writers now. Get a custom essay Amy Tan, through the use of a tragic the.