An-Mei learned to shout, to take charge of her life. As does Rose, when her marriage is about to end and she learns her worth, she too learns to shout. Lindo marries to keep a promise to her mother but gets out of it and marries a man (who, we presume) makes her truly happy. Waverly marries a Chinese to make her mother happy, divorces, and now wants her mother's approval to marry a man that will do the same for her.
Realist .
Now, there are several ways to look at realism. What is real is not always factual and conversely what is factual is not always real. Reality is perception. What is real to me may not be real to someone with Chinese heritage, as The Sugar Sisterhood states, there are many dubious phrases in The Joy Luck Club. Lindo's mother in law says "shemma bende ren!" translates as "What kind of fool are you!" This apparently is an unpardonable offense to a Chinese speaking reader, much like calling someone a "stupid dummy," something only the completely uninitiated to the English language would do. So, as a white American male I am going to deal with the realism in The Joy Luck Club. The relationship between June and Waverly is believable. I have five aunts on my mother's side. Sometimes you cannot let them be in the same room, so I know a couple of things about sisters or, in this case people raised close enough to be sisters. They remember things, things they only bring up in the middle of dinner so they can fight. Waverly asks June if she ever played the piano, knowing full well she did. The memory hurts and that everyone else would remember hurts as well. June tries to come back with a money issue, but Waverly is ready. She tries to make it sound like she really cares about the copywriting and there is nothing she can do but you know she secretly enjoys "kicking" June while she is down. The memory scenes in China are very important for knowing where the mothers come from, both physically and emotionally.
