English II Honors Joy Luck club
Ying-ying St. Clair
- A spoiled child of a wealthy family - Sees things before they happen - Married a playboy who was unfaithful to her, had a child with him - Aborted this child and is haunted by guilt - Remarried Clifford St. Clair - She is very passive but wants to bring out her "tiger spirit" and teach it to her daughter - Has a stillborn child with Clifford - Endures mental struggles
Waverly Jong
- Fiancé is Rich a tax attorney - She thinks her mom doesn't approve of Rich - She was a chess prodigy - She was compared to Jing-mei
Suyuan
- Founder of the Joy Luck Club - Her first husband left her in China - Had to leave her twin babies behind because she could not carry them and take care of them anymore
Lindo Jong
- Her families land is ruined in a flood so moves in with Tyan-yu. - His mother is cruel and overbearing. - Lindo Jong escapes and immigrates to San Fransisco. - She works in a fortune cookie factory and meets her husband, tin Jong.
Lena St. Clair
- Her husband is Harold Livotny the architect, - He is concerned with balance yet ignores her - Refrigerator list - She hates ice cream and Harold never knew - She encouraged Harold to start the architecture firm. - He doesn't appreciate her. - Unbalanced table - vase falls off - Was scared her family would fall apart - She allows herself to be bullied by her husband
An-mei Hsu
- Received scar from boiling soup during argument between grandmother and mother - Her mom was a concubine - Goes to live with her mother (the fourth wife) when she is young - Taught to swallow tears - Lost Bing in the ocean - Keeps Bible under a table leg
Rose Hsu Jordan
- She has a fear of letting things happen without being able to stop them. - Fear is from her brother Bing's death at the age of four. - Bing died on her watch (she wasn't blamed). - Marriage with Ted is failing because she didn't pay attention to the signs of bad marriage - was scared to make decisions - Her husband made all the decisions until he started trying to make her make the decisions in the marriage
Jing-mei Woo
- Works as an ad copy writer - Her mom wanted her to be a prodigy - Mr. Chong piano teacher - Crab dinner shows that she is kind hearted - Rivals with Waverly Jong - She never understood her mother - Takes her mother's place in the Joy Luck Club - Her mother was never satisfied with her - She visits her two half sisters in China (Mother's wish)
Her grandmother told her that her mother had left and would forget An-mei if she didn't get better fast.
After An-mei was burned, what did her grandmother tell her that made her get better fast?
Rose Hsu Jordon
An-mei Hsu's daughter
Popo
An-mei's grandmother
Wu Tsing
An-mei's mother was a concubine to him
Her mother is her imaginary chess opponent.
At the end of the story, who is Waverly's imaginary chess opponent?
She envisioned herself as a dainty ballerina, the Christ child, or Cinderella.
How did Jing-mei first envision herself as a prodigy?
A match was arranged through a matchmaker when Lindo was two and Tyna-yu was only one
How did Lindo Jong become engaged to her future husband, Tyan-yu?
She convinced them that the pregnant servant girl was really of imperial blood and was Tyan-yu's spiritual wife
How did Lindo escape from the marriage to Tyan-yu?
When she was twelve her family moved away and sent her to live with the Hsung family
How did Lindo first become a member of the Huang household?
In the beginning she taught herself and then she played with Lau Po.
How did Waverly learn to play expert chess?
She gave Waverly a gift of salted plums precisely because she kept quiet and didn't request them.
How did Waverly's mother demonstrate the art of invisible strength to Waverly?
Her mother treated her as though she didn't exist.
How did Waverly's mother treat her when she returned home after running away?
She fell off the boat when the fireworks went off
How did Ying-ying wind up in the water?
They categorized her as a "displaced person."
How did the American immigration authorities categorize Lena's mother?
In the beginning, her husband made all of the decisions but then he lost a malpractice lawsuit and wanted her to make all of the decisions for them.
How did the decision making start and then change in Rose's marriage?
She climbed out onto the fire escape and back into her own apartment.
How did the girl from next door get out of Lena's bedroom?
The members of the San Francisco Joy Luck Club eat as if they have been starving.
How do the people at the San Francisco Joy Luck Club eat?
She says that she and her daughter are both lost
How does Ying-ying's story reflect her life and that of her daughter?
There have been two clubs, one in Kweilin and one in San Francisco.
How many Joy Luck Clubs have there been?
By complaining that the soup was not hot enough, spilling the bowl as if it were an accident, waiting until she sat down before demanding more rice, and asking why she had such an unpleasant face when looking at him
How specifically did Tyan-yu make Lindo cry the first night she lived in his house?
The stubborn girl shook her head so vigorously to refuse her auntie's simple request that a little white ball fell from her ear and all her brains poured out.
In An-mei's grandmother's story, what happened to the little girl who refused to listen to her elders?
A daughter's love for her mother is always there no matter how deep
In Scar, what does An-mei learn from her own mother?
Shou is the respect for ancestors and family.
In Scar, what is the definition of shou?
Channing
Jing-mei Woo's father Suyuan's second husband
Suyuan
Jing-mei Woo's mother
Clifford
Lena St. Clair's father
Harold
Lena St. Clair's husband
Ying-ying St. Clair
Lena St. Clair's mother
Waverly Jong
Lindo Jong's daughter
Ted
Rose Hsu Jordon's husband
An-mei Hsu
Rose Hsu Jordon's mother
It is the day on which Lindo carried out her plan and a day she still celebrates by taking off all her bracelets and remembering the day when she finally knew a genuine thought and could follow where it went
Specifically what is the significance in the story of the Festival of Pure Brightness?
Jing-mei Woo
Suyuan's daughter
Lindo Jong
Waverly Jong's mother
Rich
Waverly's husband
An-mei's mother committed such a heinous act in the past that her own mother refuses to acknowledge her existence.
What did An-mei's mother do to become a ghost?
She lost her mother and father, her family home, her first husband, and her twin baby daughters.
What did Jing-mei's mother lose in China?
She heard the mother and daughter next door arguing violently.
What did Lena hear through the wall of the new apartment?
She instructed them to teach her to perform a variety of household duties so that she would be a good, obedient wife
What did Lindo's mother-in-law instruct the servants to teach Lindo?
They went back to the beach to try to find him.
What did Rose and her mother do early on the morning after Rose's brother drowned?
Rose found that "faith" was an illusion that somehow one is in control. Her mother's belief in god
What did Rose find out "faith" was?
A small white leather bible
What did Rose's mother used to carry to church services at the First Chinese Baptist Church?
A ghost meant anything they "were forbidden to talk about," not that her mother was dead.
What did it mean in An-mei's family to become a ghost?
The aunties want Jing-Mei to inform them of their mother's death and to tell them about their mother's life as well.
What do "the aunties" want Jing-mei to tell her sisters in China?
She remembers that her mother returned to the family and was chased away the same night after the hot soup burned An-mei.
What does An-mei remember about her mother from when An-mei was four?
She learns that one's love and respect for one's mother is deep within one's bones.
What does An-mei's mother do to show her love and respect for her own mother?
Jing-mei promises "the aunties" that she will tell her half-sisters in China everything about their mother.
What does Jing-mei promise "the aunties" at the end of The Joy Luck Club?
Her earliest recollection is telling the moon lady her secret wish
What does Ying-ying say her earliest recollection is?
The moon lady created an illusion, a wish could not be trusted
What does the Moon Lady represent for Ying-ying?
She gave her a necklace made out of a tablet of red jade
What gift did Lindo's mother give to Lindo as the family moved away?
The girl and her mother cried and laughed and shouted with love.
What happened later that night after the girl and her mother had argued?
They failed totally.
What happened to all of Jing-mei's mother's early efforts to find out what kind of prodigy Jing-mei should be?
The greedy girl poisoned herself after refusing to say whose child she carried and was cut open by monks only to find a white winter melon.
What happened to the greedy girl in An-mei's grandmother's story?
That things could be better than they appeared.
What hope did Lena have after watching the girl next door with her mother?
An-mei used her "know-nothing" face to conceal her true emotions.
What is An-mei's "know-nothing face"?
He says that the worst is on the other side.
What is the final thing the dead beggar says when he returns?
To live on the moon while her husband lives on the sun; to forever seek her own selfish wishes
What is the ultimate fate of the Moon Lady?
She said that the red candle had burned at both ends all night long
What lie did the matchmaker's servant tell?
She thought anyone could be anything they wanted to be in America.
What made Jing-mei's mother think that Jing-mei could be a prodigy?
Because her mother is not the greatest housekeeper and yet the Bible is still clean white after twenty years
What makes Rose sure that her mother knows the Bible is still under a table leg in her kitchen?
She used a small black mole on his back
What mark on Tyan-yu did Lindo use to "prove" her marriage was rotting?
Pleading Child
What piece did Jing-mei select for the talent show in the church hall?
She promised herself that she would always remember her parents' wished but would never forget herself
What promise did Lindo make to herself on her wedding day?
Jing-Mei discovers that she has twin sisters that she has never met before.
What surprising information did Jing-mei finally learn from her mother's story about leaving Kweilin?
Jing-Mei tells her aunties that she feels like she doesn't really know her mother that well.
What surprising thing does Jing-mei tell her "aunties" about her own mother?
What was "the art of invisible strength" that Waverly's mother taught her? Click card to see definition 👆
What was "the art of invisible strength" that Waverly's mother taught her?
That she might be able to leave all the old fears behind
What was Lena's great hope when the family moved out of Oakland?
She believed that people from foreign countries must learn the American "rules."
What was Waverly's mother's view of "rules"?
The story make Ying-ying cry and shake with despair
What was the effect on Ying-ying of listening to the Moon Lady's story?
The Twenty-six Malignant Gates showed how children are predisposed to certain dangers on certain days based on their Chinese birthdates.
What was the name of Rose's mother's little Chinese book and what was in it?
The red candle symbolized Lindo's marriage to Tyan-yu, and it was supposed to be lit at both ends and kept burning all night long
What was the red candle's significance and what was supposed to happen to it?
He was deaf and therefore could not tell whether Jing-mei was playing well or not
What was wrong with Jing-mei's piano teacher and how did his defect affect her playing?
She asked to be found
What wish did Ying-ying aks for the Moon Lady?
Waverly's mother would say, "Is luck."
What would Waverly's mother say when she attended Waverly's chess exhibition games outdoors?
That her parents would adore her, she would be beyond reproach, and she would never feel the need to sulk for anything
What would perfection have meant for Jing-mei while she was waiting to become a prodigy?
She found her brother's name written in it in erasable pencil under "Deaths."
When Rose took the Bible out from under the table leg, what did she find written in it?
She felt blinding anger.
When her mother gave up finding Bing, what emotion did Rose feel?
The aunties gave Jing-Mei $1200 so she could go to meet her sisters in China and inform them of their mother's death.
Why did "the aunties" give Jing-mei $1200 in an envelope?
She said this so that the ghosts would not steal them away.
Why did An-mei's grandmother say bad things about her own grandchildren?
Jing-Mei's mother joined the Joy Luck Club to lift the spirits of her and the other women during the times of despair in their country.
Why did Jing-mei's mother form the Joy Luck Club in Kweilin?
To find stories of remarkable children
Why did Jing-mei's mother read so many magazines?
She started telling lies to prevent bad things from happening in the future.
Why did Lena start telling lies?
She believed that it would locate her lost son.
Why did Rose's mother throw an inner tube attached to a fishing pole into the water?
She thought that it would divert the Coiling Dragon so that he would release her son from the water.
Why did Rose's mother throw her blue sapphire ring into the water?
Because her mother was embarrassing her and showing off
Why did Waverly run away?
She left because her mother kicked her out of her apartment.
Why did the girl from next door leave her own apartment?
They called it "Joy Luck" because each week at their meetings, they hoped to be lucky and that hope was their only joy.
Why did the women in the club cal it Joy Luck?
She felt that if she knew the worst possible thing, then she could avoid it.
Why does Lena want to know "the worst possible thing that can happen" to her?
Because if she tells her secret wishes, it will no longer be a wish but a selfish desire
Why does the Amah tell Ying-ying that she must keep her wishes a secret?
Popo warns An-mei to never say her mother's name out loud, or she'd be spitting on An-mei's deceased father's grave.
Why was An-mei told never to say her mother's name?
Her father had asked her to take her mother's place.
Why was Jing-mei taking part in the Joy Luck Club?
Because she could see what was inside herself
Why was Lindo unafraid while she was led down a path on her wedding day?
