The novel, Joy Luck Club, has had few criticism, but overall as a whole it is a good read, and would recommend it to people of all ages, as it teaches various topics that can be connected back to your own life experiences. With reading this book, I came to learn more about Chinese traditions, and how they come to vary with the ones here in America. Throughout the book Amy Tan has the characters, specifically the mothers, who originate from China, state that in their country they are more respectful, to their parents and their elders, and have moral codes and superstitions to follow that should never be broken or face devastating consequences in the futures. The daughters, which are open to American culture, decide that they have their own right to do as they please, and feel that they are free to do so, such as when Waverly Jong replies to her mother, "Don't be so old fashioned, Ma. I'm my own person" (Tan 254).
When reading this, I noticed that the author of this novel came to include the theme of maternal love within the stories of each mother and daughter, which caught my attention, as I was able to relate to it to some extent. In The Joy Luck Club, the mothers and daughters each appeared to have strained relationships with each other, as the daughters were adapting to the American cultures and traditions while their mothers dealt with them through Chinese customs and their superstitions. The mothers such as Ying-ying St. Clair would protect her daughter to having a better future, or a husband in this case, by putting fear in them with old superstitions, the idea that if she didn't finish all her food she would grow to have a bad husband.
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