The B ridge of Cultural U nderstanding in the J oy Luck ClubΞ□　WANG Hua-rong1.2(1.The Dpartment of F oreign Languages,H onghe University,Mengzi Y unnan661100,China;2.The School of Fereign Languages,Y unnan University,K unming Y unnan650091,China)Abstract:　The Joy Luck Club written by Amy T an is cross-cultural.In the novel,the four Chinese m others and their American-born daughters have experienced cultural con flict,cultural understanding and blending.H owever,cultural understanding and blending do not occur overnight.I t is a long and pain ful process.In order to make their daughters know them and the Chinese culture,the Joy Luck Club m others have made pain-taking efforts.They seize every opportunity to talk to their daughters about their past experience,dem onstrating their courage to challenge the feudal s ociety and they never stop extending maternal love to their daughters.Thanks to their great efforts,their daughters gradually understand them and the Chinese culture.Therefore,cultural understanding and blending between the m others and daughters are achieved.K ey w ords:　The Joy Luck Club;cultural con flict;cultural understanding;cultural blending;experience relating; Chinese maternal loveC LC.number:　I106.4 Document code: A　Article I D:　1008-9128(2003)02-0040-04 Amy T an’s the Joy Luck Club is a masterpiece in Chinese -American literature.I t’s publication at the end of1980s aroused great public attention.The novel is cross-cultural.I t tells the stories of four Chinese m others and their American-born daughters.In the novel,con flicts between m others and daughters are vividly described.H owever,the significance of the novel does not sim ply lie in that it exposes m other-daugh2 ter con flicts,but in its theme of cultural understanding.The daughters,who have a strong prejudice against their m others and the Chinese culture,later change their attitude and show respect to their m others and identify themselves with the Chi2 nese culture.I t is abs olutely im possible for the daughters to change their attitude without the great efforts of the m others.In fact,the change does not take place overnight.I t takes a long process.During this process,it is the Joy Luck Club m others that have been making great efforts to present a true picture of themselves to their daughters.S pecifically speaking,experi2 ence-relating and maternal love extending are the tw o ways that the Joy Luck Club m others use to make their daughters know them and the Chinese culture.Although America is called a melting pot by many people, American s ociety at the same time is mainly com posed of Cau2 casians.The American mainstream culture,which is represent2 ed by the Caucasians,is still hostile to s ome minority groups and their cultures existing in the United S tates,including Chi2 nese-Americans and the Chinese culture.[1]As the Chinese who m ove to the United S tates,the Joy Luck Club m others are treated in disdain.Prejudice and discrimination against them begins as s oon as they step on the American s oil.In the immi2 gration office,Y ingying’s name and birth date are arbitrarily crossed out and changed into new ones by her Caucasian hus2 band.This foretells the fate of the Joy Luck Club m others when they live in the United S tates.Born in the United S tates and brought up in American mainstream culture,their daughters al2 s o inevitably hold a prejudice against them and the Chinese cul2 ture.They believe that American culture is superior to Chinese culture and American version is always better.In their eyes, their m others symbolize backwardness and ignorance.They are dissatis fied with their m others who use toothpick in public. They are ashamed of their m others who open jars to smell the　第2卷　第1期 红河学院学报 V ol.2　N o.1　2004年2月 Journal of H onghe University Feb.2004Ξ收稿日期:2003-04-15作者简介:王华荣(1971-),男,云南石屏人,讲师,现为云南大学外语学院2001级英语语言文学专业研究生。

insides in grocery stores and they are angry with their m others who like to use them to show off.Being ashamed of their m oth2 ers and the Chinese culture,the four daughters try to identify themselves with American mainstream culture.Both R ose and Lena marry Caucasians or what their m others call Waiguoren. They admire the Caucasians and their culture s o much that they are willing to make sacrifice for their Caucasian husband. Waverly thinks that her m other’s Chinese outlook w ould dis2 grace her when she attends her wedding.S o she conspires with her beauty parlor to dress up her m other in an American style.F or quite a long time,the Joy Luck Club m others,who live in the United S tates as a minority group are overwhelmed by American mainstream s ociety.They look like a tiny drop of wa2 ter in a big ocean.Their existence has been ignored by Ameri2 can s ociety and even their daughters.H owever,the Joy Luck Club m others never stop putting in fluence on their American-born daughters.They chat with their daughters about their past experience and extend maternal love to their daughters,pa2 tiently waiting for the m oment when their daughters can under2 stand and respect them.Their efforts are paid off.By telling their past experience and extending maternal love to their daughters,the Joy Luck Club m others are finally able to make their daughters know them and the Chinese culture.T o make their American-born daughters have a clear im2 age of themselves,first,the Joy Luck Club m others tell their daughters their past Chinese experience.The four m others all lived a tragic life before they came to the United S tates.They all lived in a feudal and war-torn China.The Second W orld War was still g oing on and feudalism was still flourishing and tightly controlled people’s mind.W omen’s s ocial position was lower than that of men.They did not have freedom to choose their own husband and their marriage was arranged by their parents.Suyuan,one of the m others,lived a wandering life because of the war.She had to separate from her husband and lived alone in G uilin.In order to av oid the Japanese,she fled G uilin to Chongqing to join her husband.On the way to Chongqing,she had to abandon everything she brought with her,including her twin daughters.Bitterness and su ffering s wallowed Anmei when she was y oung.Anmei and her m other were driven out by her uncle because Anmei’s m other was be2 lieved to have disgraced the family when she married Wuqing as his concubine.As a married w oman,Anmei’s m other was sup2 posed to be loyal to her dead husband.This is one of the three obediences in the Chinese feminine ideal.Besides this,a Chi2 nese w oman should als o obey to her parents and even her s on.[2]An even bigger shadow was cast upon Anmei when she lived with her m other in Wuqing’s house,where she witnessed the su ffering and death of her m other.Lindo and Y ingying als o lived a miserable life because their marriage was arranged by their parents.Experience-relating enables the four m others to tell their daughters that to live in such a chaotic and feudal s o2 ciety is not easy for the Chinese w omen and that it is even m ore difficult for them to challenge the feudal and chaotic age.As a matter of fact,the Joy Luck Club m others als o tell their daugh2 ters that they are the ones who have the courage to meet the dif2 ficulties and change their fate.Suyuan did not give up hope to live in the chaotic age.She learned how to survive in the diffi2 cult situation.She believes that“to despair was to wish back for s omething already lost and to prolong what was already un2 bearable.”[3]She is the one who initiated the Majong game.F or Suyuan,to play the game was m ore than to enjoy entertain2 ment.I t brought her hope to live as well as g ood luck.I t was her spiritual weapon to conquer difficulties.The tragic life of Anmei als o changed this once silent and weak girl.She became brave and rev olting after her m other committed suicide on the eve of New Y ear.She dem onstrated her courage to crash the fake pearl necklace in front of the Second Wife of Wuqing.She learned to shout her angry protest instead of keeping silent.As for Lindo and Y ingying,they fought bravely to escape from their marriage and both of them succeeded.T o do that needs skill as well as courage.T o speak out their tragic past experi2 ence,to fight against difficulties and finally to wave g ood-bye to their m otherland and settle in a new country all need courage and skill.N ot every w oman could do that.Only the special ones could do it.By relating their past experience,the Joy Luck Club m others all prove to their daughters that they were the special ones and they do have the courage and skill.M ost im portant,they prove to their daughters through their experi2 ence that they actually symbolize bravery,courage,and clever2 ness instead of backwardness and ignorance.Experience-relating along can not make their daughters know them and the Chinese culture com pletely.S ometimes mis2 understanding between m others and daughters still exists.Jing2 mei never thinks the K uilin story is anything but a Chinese fairy tale.She even imagines Joy Luck was a shameful Chinese cus2 tom,like the secret gathering of the K ukluxklan or the tom tom14○W ANG Hua-rong　Experience-relating and Maternal Love Extendingdances of T V Indians preparing for war.S imilarly,Waverly mistakes T aiyuan for T aiwan,tw o entirely different places,be2 cause she believes that T aiyuan s ounds like T aiwan.Waverly’s lack of knowledge of her m other’s hometown is obvious.In or2 der to make their daughters know them and the Chinese culture better,the Joy Luck Club m others try to show their daughters maternal love.The maternal love they extend to their daughters is a typi2 cal Chinese one.The maternal love of Chinese m others is not as direct as that of American m others.Chinese m others do not kiss and hug their daughters and say“I love y ou”to them like their American counterparts.[4]The Joy Luck Club m others all love their daughters in their own Chinese way.Both Suyuan and Lindo attach great hope to their adolescent daughters. Suyuan hopes that one day her daughter will become fam ous like Shirley T em ple.In order to turn her dream into reality, she is very strict with her daughter.Suyuan gives Jingmei s ome training,which is very boring to Jingmei.She even trades housecleaning service for weekly less ons for Jingmei to practice playing piano.Lindo wants her daughter Waverly to win as many cham pions as possible in chess playing.The tw o m others als o criticize their daughters much instead of praising them. This arouses dissatis faction and even anger of the tw o daugh2 ters,who strongly embrace the ideal of American individual2 ism.They can no longer bear their m others’arbitrariness and criticism.They openly oppose their m others.Jingmei v oices her strong protest:“I w on’t let her change me,I w on’t be what I’m not.”[5]She even takes radical measures against her m other.In order to deliberately disappoint her m other,she drops out college.Waverly als o speaks out her anger at her m other:“Why do y ou have to use me to show off?I f y ou want to show off,why don’t y ou learn to play chess?”[6](P101)When they grow up,however,Jingmei and Waverly realize the great2 ness of the love their m others show them when they are still kids.Jingmei realizes that it is a mistake not to listen to her m other.She has to w ork as a copy writer and enjoys a low s ocial position because she did not w ork hard in school and dropped out college when she was y oung.Waverly realizes that her m other helps her a lot.She learns from her m other the art of invisible strength,which is a strategy of winning arguments and respects from others.The art of invisible strength proves to be a very power ful weapon for Waverly.She always has the advan2 tage when she argues thanks to the art her m other teaches her when she was a kid.A Chinese m other wants her daughter to have power and skill s o that she can survive in the fiercely com petitive s ociety.In order to make sure that her daughter is power ful enough in the future,she has to be strict with her and criticizes her much instead of praising her.When they grow up,Jingmei and Waverly do feel the greatness of the Chinese maternal love.They find out that their m others are the ones that really care for them.The maternal love of the Joy Luck Club m others is als o re2 flected in the assistance they provide their daughters to s olve their marriage problems.They never hesitate a m oment to help their daughters when the latter face marriage problem.They try their best to pull their daughters out of trouble.Both R ose and Lena marry Caucasians.In front of their Caucasian husband, they have a sense of in feriority.R ose does not make any deci2 sion on anything.Instead,she lets her husband decide because she believes that her husband’s decision is always better.G radually,R ose begins to lose attraction to her husband who believes that she is escaping from responsibility.He even prop2 oses a div orce.Crisis als o exists in Lena’s marriage.R ose and Lena are baffled by their marriage problems.They desperately fight to s olve the problems.But they are too weak to w ork out a s olution.At this critical m oment,their m others do not walk away from them and they try their best to help their daughters. Anmei encourages R ose to speak up.“Why do y ou not speak up for y ourself?Why can y ou not talk to y our hus2 band?”[6](P216)When R ose takes her m other’s advice and does speak up for herself,she not only astounds her arrogant hus2 band,but als o saves her marriage.Y ingying shows her daugh2 ter what disastrous consequence w ould occur if she continues to ignore the imbalance between her and her husband.In this way,she is encouraging her daughter to take immediate action to eliminate the imbalance in her marriage.From the assistance that their m others provide them,the tw o daughters feel the deep love as well as the big strength of their Chinese m others.R ose finally realizes that her m other is m ore enthusiastic and helpful than an American psychiatrist in pulling her out of trouble.The American psychiatrist only makes her feel“hulihutu”.Lena finds out that her m other loves her better even than her Cauca2 sian husband because her m other still clearly remembers that she never eats ice ream while her husband knows nothing about it even though he is married to Lena for many years.As a matter of fact,the maternal love of the Joy Luck24红河学院学报 2004.1Π文学・艺术Club m others can exist alm ost every where.The four daughters come to realize that their m others are always loving them in ev 2ery possible situation.They find out that their m others w ould express maternal love in a dinner or through a gift.F or exam 2ple ,at the crab dinner ,Suyuan w ould not let Jingmei pick the crab with a broken leg after every guest has taken away the g ood ones.In Suyuan ’eyes ,a crab with a broken leg means bad luck.She does not want her daughter to su ffer from bad luck.In order to protect her daughter from bad luck ,when there are only tw o crabs in the plate ,Suyuan picks the one with a broken leg herself ,giving her daughter the better one.Again ,the maternal love of a Chinese m other is vividly shown here.A Chinese m other w ould protect her daughter and make any sacrifice for her at any m oment.The maternal love that the Joy Luck Club m others extend to their daughters gradually makes their daughters know them and the Chinese culture bet 2ter.They know their m others are the ones that are responsible and selfless.They are always ready to protect them and pull them out of trouble.T o sum up ,by experience -relating and maternal love extending ,the four m others present their daughters a vivid and accurate picture of themselves.Experience -relating and ma 2ternal love extending therefore serve as a bridge to connect theJoy Luck Club m others and their daughters.Through this bridge ,the American -born daughters come to know the great 2ness of their Chinese m others and the Chinese culture.They gradually change their prejudice against their m others and show respect to them and the Chinese culture.They even identify themselves with the Chinese culture.Cultural understanding and blending are finally achieved.R eferences :[1]　Luther S.Luedtke.M AKI NG AMERIC A The S ocietyand Culture of the United S tates.Ed.United S tates In 2formation Agency ,1988.p287.[2]　G uohongming.The S pirit of the Chinese People.Ed.F oreign Language T eaching and Research Press ,1998.p68.[3]　Amy T an.The Joy Luck Club.Ed.Ballantine Books ,1989.p12.[4]　Y ulongyu.The Differences between Chinese and WesternCultures.Sanlian Publishing H ouse ,1989.p173.[5]　Amy T an.The Joy Luck Club.Bllantine Books ,1989.p144.[6]　Ibid.[责任编辑　雷明珍]中美文化沟通的桥梁———浅析《喜福会》中的母女思想交流和中国式母爱王华荣1.2(1.云南红河学院外语系,云南蒙自661100;2.云南大学外语学院,云南昆明650091)摘　要:　美籍华裔作家谭恩美的小说《喜福会》展现的是一幅中美文化交流的画卷。