In Amy Tan’s bestseller “The Joy Luck Club”, it is key that Tan incorporates various in-depth elements of multiculturalism throughout the book to represent the difference between Chinese and American culture. The five elements of multiculturalism that Tan uses in the novel include respect, accuracy, expertise, purpose and quality. Between these five, the two most important and precise aspects of multiculturalism are respect and accuracy. Respect is a critical piece of multiculturalism in the novel because the elders of the Joy Luck Club want to instill respect for Chinese culture in the younger women, but it can be seen in earlier chapters that the elders didn’t always show respect to their own culture. Also, accuracy is important because Amy Tan was the daughter of two Chinese immigrants and understands the death of June’s mother due to her own experiences with the death of her father and brother as a child. With this experience, she is able to give an accurate representation of June’s experience because they’re both Chinese American.
Throughout “The Joy Luck Club”, Tan purposefully portrays characters that show signs of respect towards Chinese culture. One way that respect is shown is by the elders of the Joy Luck Club teaching the younger generation about Chinese culture. A particular tactic that the older generation of the Joy Luck Club teaches the the younger generation about Chinese culture is by telling stories of their ancestors and their own personal stories from China. By telling their very personal stories from China, the younger generation is able to form a great respect for their culture. A glaring example of this come from the beginning of the book in the chapter called The Joy Luck Club where June retells a story that her mother, Suyuan, told her about the origins of the Joy Luck Club and the reasons she had to leave China. Because of her mother’s death and her special story from China, June joined the Joy Luck Club to not only respect her mother’s legacy, but also to respect the legacy of the club and its deep Chinese origins.
While the elders of the group instill this respect in the younger generation by telling stories of their past, it is blatantly obvious that the elders didn’t always have respect for their culture when they were younger. A great example of this comes from a story told called “The Red Candle” by Lindo Jong. While trapped in an arranged marriage, Jong realized she was being treated with a minimal amount of respect and wanted out of the marriage. On the day of the wedding, a common visual ritual that was incorporated into many Chinese marriages was the lighting of two red candles to represent the couple and their lasting love for each other. After the wedding, a grief stricken Jong attempted to blow out her husband’s candle which would ultimately end their marriage. “But I was hoping - I was praying to Buddha, the goddess of mercy, and the full moon - to make that candle go out. It fluttered a little and the flame bent down low, but still both ends burned strong. My throat filled with so much hope that it finally burst and blew out my husband’s end of the candle” (Tan 60). Though Jong was in an unfair relationship, she still disrespected a popular Chinese cultural practice to attempted to sacrifice her marriage to have a sense of respect for her ownself.
Another aspect of multiculturalism that Tan represents effectively in “The Joy Luck Club” is accuracy. The reason Tan is able to portray such effective accuracy is because she shares two major similarities with one of the main characters, June. The first of the similarities that Tan shares with June is the feeling of the loss of a loved one. In the novel, the reader quickly discovers that June has recently lost her mother. What the reader may not know is that at the age of 15, both Tan’s father and brother both had tragic deaths. What makes this comparison even more chilling and authentic is that both of Tan’s close family members and June’s mother all died of brain related injuries. Due to such similar occurrences, Tan is able to give an exact portrayal of June’s thoughts and feelings. The second parallel between Tan and June is that both individuals are first generation Chinese Americans. Because of this connection, Tan is able to precisely represent June’s understanding of two totally different cultures. As a result of similar experiences of the loss of a loved ones and being first generation Chinese Americans, Tan is able to accurately symbolize June’s similar multicultural experience.
In “The Joy Luck Club”, Tan uses five elements of multiculturalism to give an in-depth representation of the difference between Chinese and American culture. The aspects of multiculturalism that Tan uses in the novel include respect, accuracy, expertise, purpose and quality. Respect is crucial because the elders of The Joy Luck Club work to have the younger generation respect Chinese culture, though the elders didn’t always respect Chinese culture themselves. Accuracy is also valuable because Tan was the daughter of two Chinese immigrants, has experienced loss similar to June’s and is also a first generation Chinese American. While these five are represented thoroughly, the two most important and precise aspects of multiculturalism are respect and accuracy, which Tan portrays brilliantly.
I decided this recipe would be appropriate to include in the cookbook because this is a common dish that is served on Chinese New Year to give good luck and bring family togetherness. Because the members of the Joy Luck Club prefer to eat foods that bring them good luck and family is a main theme, this seemed like a perfect choice.
A dish with rice noodles is another thing I wanted to incorporate because it is mentioned in the beginning of the book as being a food that brings good luck and long life to the consumer. The dish also incorporates very traditional ingredients such as chili sauce, garlic and soy sauce.
For the fish and marinade:
For the “secret” sauce:
Although this recipe is somewhat complex and the original Joy Luck Club may not have had the money to afford all of the ingredients, it contains two very lucky ingredients. Fish makes sure the consumer prospers and oranges bring fullness and wealth to the consumer.
Ingredients
Ingredients for dumpling dough
I decided to include dumplings in my cookbook because it is yet again a very lucky dish that was commonly eaten by the members of the Joy Luck Club. The dumpling itself originates from the Eastern Han Dynasty which was located mostly in China and the dumpling supposedly brings wealth to the consumer.
I was drawn to make dumplings because it was a food that I had yet to try and at the time, they seemed absolutely delicious. I got all of the ingredients and I was ready to prepare the meal, but I just had one small issue; I am admittedly a terrible cook. Because I was honest with my cooking ability, I decided to have my mom help me prepare the dish so my plan wouldn’t go awry.
To begin, my mom and I began to create the dumpling dough to have the most authentic product possible. We started by putting flour in the bowl of our food processor and constantly adding water as the food processor churned. We kept the process going until the product was a rough looking dough that was soft to the touch. After perfecting the consistency of the dough, my mom and I made 32 thin, flat circles of dough.
Next, my mom began slicing green onions, carrots and mushrooms as I began sauteing the thin slices in melted butter. After everything was cooked, I put the vegetables into a pot where my mom added chicken stock, vegetable stock and red pepper flakes. I then cooked ground pork and sliced cabbage until cooked. When done, my mom and I loaded each thin circle of dough with the pork and cabbage and folded each in half. My mom and I then began to press each piece of dough together with water in between to fuse the two pieces of dough together. We then dropped the delicious meaty pouches into the broth where they began to cook.
The product was a glorious asian dish that got better and better with every bite. After the teeth infiltrated the pasta exterior, the taste buds were greeted with a symphony of salty pork, a bite from the green onion and a spicy kick from the red pepper.
Overall, the dish wasn’t particularly hard to prepare, but it was very time consuming to make. As I ate, I thought back to the book and could see why Chinese culture believes that this is a lucky food that brings wealth to the consumer, because I felt like a million bucks!