DifferentRoleAwarenessbetweenChineseandWesternWomeninTheJoyLuckClub

【Abstract】The Joy Luck Club was the first novel written by Chinese American female writer---Amy Tan，in which separately depicted three generations of women.These eight heroines in the novel best reflect the ideology and sensation of Chinese women.In this paper，the co-authors discussed the similarity and differences of role awareness between Chinese and Western women，through analyzing all the heroines struggle and fate in The Joy Luck Club，from the perspectives of Feminism.By comparing the different role awareness between Chinese and western women，we drew a general conclusion which enables us better understand western society，culture，economy and ideology.

【Keywords】The Joy Luck Club； cultural conflicts； role awareness； Feminism

1 Introduction

1.1 The feminist study of role awareness

Feminism，stem from French Revolution and the Enlightenment in 18th century，which has three period waves of movements，and influenced the present and the future.Feminism emphasizes women have the same status and right as men do.Some Feminist discovered women lived in the way which is much different from men just because of their gender—female.And womens status and role identification are much lower that men have.In the perspectives of Feminism，gender stereotype is harmful for people developing their personal features，especially setting some obstruction for women in the path to their career.In order to change this situation，womens self-awareness must be raised.Women realize their own individual values not just the starchy role orientation which was given by the traditional family，society，or media.It is important for them to stick to their own personality and being independent.And they brave enough to against discrimination，sex inequality and male violence.This paper use Feminism as a source of reference，which is objecting gender stereotype，selecting some plots in The Joy Luck Club，and analyzing the role of women in western countries and China.

1.2 The Joy Luck Club

Chinese American writer Amy Tan published her first novel The Joy Luck Club in 1989，later it enjoyed great popularity among American readers and in the American literature.The book rose to No.1 on the bestseller list in New York Times for night months long and was translated into 25 kinds of languages including Chinese.It received National Book Award and Federal Club Best Novel Award.Soon after，she wrote The Kitchen Gods Wife，The Hundred Secret Sense，and The Bone—setter s Daughter and entered the literary mainstream becoming one of the most important Chinese-American writer.

In The Joy Luck Club，the heroines are originated from the real life among the author，especially her mother.In order to reveal the living conditions of Chinese American women，who struggle against patriarchy and hegemony，the novel presents the stories through the conflicts and relations between four Chinese-immigrant women and their American-born daughters.And this novel，which is a typical work of feminism，depicted ideology and perspectives of all Chinese women precisely.Amy Tan—the second Chinese immigrate，because of her dual identity and acquaintance of China，wrote the mysteriously oriental stories，which content with the curiosity and superior of her readers.

2 Womens struggle and fate in The Joy Luck Club

2.1 Wise dissolution of marriage

In thousands of years，women stood up and fought back with their feeble strength in different forms.After the betrothed marriage with Tyanyu，Lindo listened to her parents，did housework for her husband and mother-in-law，in order to not embarrassing her own family.But what she did were still not satisfied her mother-in-law，she was conscious of only escaping from this marriage，happiness would be appeared.In patriarchy China，she could not escape unless her husband repudiate to her.Hence，she found out the weakness of patriarchal system，that is，superstition，ingeniously putting an end of her ridiculous marriage.She told Huang Taitai that，the ancestor predicted if her marriage still goes on，Tyanyu would die.And then she used three “omen”-the red candles being blowed out，the mole on Tyanyu s back，and the dropped tooth in her month.If her marriage was not resolved，bad luck would happened in Tyanyu，and her mother-in-law.Huang Taitai，who sincerely believe in predestination，for the propose of protecting her son，gave Lindo a ticket to Shanghai and lots of money，in order to protect Tyanyu away from mishap.

2.2 Anti-Chauvinism

Yingying was born in a wealthy family，being taught that girls should be gentle，considerable and quiet，instead of active and over-curious.There was one song：The Moon Lady，“For women is yin，the darkness within，where an unhampered passion lies.And man is yang，bright truth lighting our mind.” These lyrics reveals women were in the pathetic situation，pertained to men and conducted plenty of misguides of women‘s personality in Patriarchy，which is called stereotype.As the main stream of media，the role of boys and girls are categorized.Boys are seem as full of vigor，initiative，intelligent and mischievous，which are regarded as positive in modern society，while girls are described as quiet，virtuous and passive，in some cases，women are often appeared as marginal role，like victims or victimizer.After the marriage with the satanic husband，Yingying found out this man just treat her as generational machine，and discovered her husband unfaithful，Yingying resented to her husband，for taking youth，amour and the fantasy of life.Then she took the baby from her womb before it could bear.Faced to the endless oppression from her husband，she could not fight with him using bare hands，or run away from him with no money，though her family was rich，but her husband control most of the property.The only thing she could do is killing his infant，which he still cared about.This gesture is symbolic，which is standing for the confrontation and overturn of Chauvinism and patriarchy.

2.3 Sacrificing oneself for keeping her daughters felicity

Among all these characters in the novel，one of the most tragic characters was An meis mother.She was raped by a concupiscent merchant with the help of his wife，but she cannot be forgiven by her family，even her own mother repulsed her returning home and could not see her own daughter again.An meis mother Sacrificed herself for her daughter could live with dignity.She kept telling An mei that she was just a forth wives of other man，but An mei was still the first wife of a respectful scholar.She made her daughter to recognize the hypocrisy of the second wife from breaking down the fake pearl necklace.In order to keep her daughter could still live felicitous in Wu Tsing s house，she took her own life by taking too much opium in the lunar new year.Wu Tsing was afraid of her vengeful spirit，wore the coarsest of white cotton mourning clothes.He promised her visiting ghost that he would raise Syaudi and me as his honored children，after all these wicked and shameless things over all these years.

3 The comparison on role awareness between Chinese and western women

3.1 The differences

In the whole novel，there is comprehensive reflection about Chinese women of their situation in their family.China is a society which is made up of groups of families linking by blood and relations.Unlike China，western countries are advocating the development of each individual and independence.

In contrast，many single ladies would not be seemed as monster，and their family would respect their decision.In the marriage，wife is the good assistant of their husband，not entirely dependent on him.In The Joy Luck Club，there is segment showing what the ideal wife for most of western husband.After marriage，Rose let her husband decided everything，lost her own opinion，dedicated everything to her husband.But her marriage still has crises.With her mother told the tragedy of her grandmother，she realized her own fault，and treated her husband differently.And the crises resolved at last.This tremendous contrast reflected that it is crucial for self-realization of women and lived independently.In china，most good women should be the good wife behind her men silently support him，regardless of women‘s self-value.

3.2 The similarity

In the traditional gender role in survival mode，women are taking care of all the family members，doing the housework，In mass media The female role orientation is “object” and “sex”，with the following four types：childish female，sexy female，coquettish female and female as virtuous wife and good mother.The image of women is following the same pattern：beautiful but shallow，irrational，morally weak，positive image seldom appeared.Sexual discrimination and racial discrimination are the most common situation happened in womens lives.Lena end the fake equal marriage with Harold，because of her realizing that her husband was taking advantages of her in disguise of love.From these，Lena was encouraged that it should be end the marriage，in which she cannot realize the expectation.Hence，Lena left the hypocritical husband，being confident and strong-minded again.At last，she got the happiness by having a new relationship with a gentle white man.

4 Conclusion

In the unique perspectives of Chinese-American，Amy Tan shaped those female characters who suffered from thousands years of traditional patriarchy rules，and those who represented the new modern society women.In the Joy Luck Club，a female world was created by Tan，which subvert the anthropocentric writing tradition.In the end，every daughter under the help of their mothers realized their own individual values.And revelation can be found，that is，though Patriarchy is elusive and long-range，women can change their own density though their intelligence and endeavor.No matter in China or other foreign countries，cognition and courageous are essential to smash the gender and racial discrimination.Only to possess these two things，women can live in their own way confidently and respectfully.

References：

[1]A S Hornby，Sally Wehmeier.Oxford Advanced Learners English-Chinese Dictionary[M].Oxford University Press，The Commercial Press，2004.

[2]Amy Tan.The Joy Luck Club[M].Galantine Books.

[3]Simone de Beauvoir.The Second Sex[M].Everymans Library.

作者簡介：

王綺麗，女（1990.1-），廣東廣州人，漢族，華南理工大學(xué)研究生在讀，研究方向：英文文學(xué)與翻譯研究。