Abstract: The Joy Luck Club is Chinese American writer Amy Tan’s masterpiece in 1980s. This novel illustrates the various contradictions of mothers and daughters’ daily life in four immigrant families, and shows these family contradictions caused by cultural conflicts, self-identity and self-value of children. This paper mainly studies causes of immigrant family contradictions. It focuses on analyzing the contradictions between parents and children, and children’s own contradictions as well. Both of them are caused by cultural conflicts. The pervious studies suggest that family contradictions in four immigrant families are closely linked with cultural differences. There are three causes of contradictions. Namely, they are the different education of Chinese-American, the relationship among family members and the different experiences of parents and children. 

Key words: The Joy Club; immigrant families; cultural differences; family contradictions; cultural conflicts

Contents

Abstract

中文摘要

1. Introduction-1

1.1 Introduction to Amy Tan and The Joy Luck Club-1

1.2 Previous Studies on The Joy Luck Club-2

2. Embodiment of Contradictions between Immigrant Family and Local Family-4

2.1 Family Features of Immigrant Chinese and American-4

2.2 Cultural Differences between Immigrant Chinese and Local Residents-7

3. Embodiment of Contradictions within Immigrant Family-9

3.1 Complex Family Relationships-10

3.1.1 Identity Differences between Parents and Children in Immigrant Family-11

3.1.2 Different Experiences between Immigrant Parents and American Children-12

3.2 Complex Childhood Situations-14

3.2.1 Self-belonging of American Children in A Crevice State-15

3.2.2 Young Generation’s Self-contradictions and Confusion in Their Lives-16

4. Conclusion-18

References-19