Joy Luck CLub

There are numerous conditions in human life that mold people into who they presently are. A person's identity and way of thinking are influenced greatly due to their family's surroundings, and relationships they are involved in. In the novel, The Joy Luck Club, the characters are generic, in the sense that, although they are from different families, the problems and emotions experienced are similar. The daughters are in an on-going search to discover themselves, who …

…personality--a determination that is outside Confucian parameters--and this allows her to "think as an independent person" (Tan, 59). Because she is able to think in an alternative system, she can value her self-identity above the communal identity. The pendant her mother gives her directly opposes her mother's words: the pendant is the point of transference of the mother-tradition, and with its "luck" comes the key to unlocking or adapting the Confucian women's role without losing face.