Joy Luck Club Essay

Lindo Jong tries to teach Waverly about many values, beliefs and traditions of the Chinese culture. In the first story, “The Red Candle,” Lindo first explains to Waverly the old Chinese tradition of the husband being chosen for the child when they were very young, “…the village matchmaker came to my family when I was just two years old” (43). Even Lindo does not believe in this anymore but it is still important for Waverly to understand how her ancestors lived. Lindo isn’t trying to get Waverly to believe in this custom but she is trying to get Waverly to understand what she went through and how it affected her life. This helps Waverly unde

Waverly learns a lot about Lindo’s country throughout the book. Waverly learns how much the Chinese followed the traditions of their ancestors even if they weren’t always the most agreeable traditions. Waverly also learns how devoted everyone is to their family in China. Everyone in China works as hard as they can and follows every rule so not to disgrace their family names, “That day I started to think about how I would escape this marriage without breaking my promise to my family” (59). This shows how devoted she is to her family and how much she values them.

rstand why Lindo acts the way she acts and does the things she does. Lindo also tries to teach Waverly that Chinese people only buy 24 karat gold; it has to be pure inside and out, “To Chinese people, fourteen carats isn’t real gold. Feel my bracelets. They must be twenty-four carats, pure inside and out” (42). This shows Waverly how Chinese value pure items such as the 24 karat gold. Waverly doesn’t understand this at first; she doesn’t understand why it would matter. Later she finds out that it’s not only the gold that the purity refers too, the Chinese want everything to pure, inside and out; this includes your personal self.

When Waverly realizes what being Chinese is all about, she is finally able to find herself. Waverly has a big realization after the conversation she has with her mother about Taiwan, Taiyuan, New York, and San Francisco. Waverly realizes that she has been a scared child all her life, hiding from her mother, “I saw what I had been fighting for: It was me, a scared child who

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