Letters For Joy Luck Club

(An assignment in CAE class for the book "Joy Luck Club")

What if I could write a letter to one mother And daughter from the book?  This is how it would go:

Dear An-mei Sue,

        Who is the ghost that you are not allowed to speak of , to ask about  or even to encounter in your dreams?  You have been forced to live on stories, stories which you thought were frightening ,your popo’s stories.but later you found out through these stories that you were very precious to her, for she didn’t want you to be taken away by the ghost. Yet you think of her, the ghost, for you knew her in your heart.  They said she was your mother but no more for she shamed the family and became a concubine. But why can’t you hate her?

Why do you have that scar on your neck?  The scar that tells of a time when your mother came for you and you wanted to be with her.  But the boiling water, the pain and the choking stopped you.  Did you die that night?  Popo made you will yourself to live because if you died you will be forgotten.  The ghost will no longer come for you, no longer remember you.  Popo was smart you came back from the other world because you loved her, the ghost and popo.

You never knew what true love was but then one day you saw it.  The day of popo’s  dying time. You saw your mother.   She cut a piece of her flesh to save popo, to save her mother.  It was then that you  knew that your mother is in your bones.  The worth of the pain is the same as the worth of the love.  It was then that you knew how your mother  committed suicide so you will not live a life of second rate, to stand up for yourself and be strong.

What are these scars on your neck?  They are scars that bind your body to your mothers pain and you become one.  “Even though I was young, I could see the pain of the flesh and the WORTH of the pain.” 

Dear Waverly Jong,

What was the gift of strength your mother taught you?  The power of the wind.  It made you invincible and you became a good chess player.  Your mother displays all the trophies you won from each tournament after she cleans them one by one. But why do you resent her hovering over you as you practiced each game like a protective ally.  And on days  that she brings you to the market to tell everyone that you are her daughter.  On that day you defied your mother and refused to be controlled.  You  stopped playing chess and in your anger you did not see the your mother’s  pride was your mother’s support and love for you.

Divorced and now living with a man whose love is pure and who knows nothing about Chinese culture.  Now an adult why is it that your mother can make you see black when there was once white?  Why is she always able to find your weakness?  Why did she always find wrong  in all that you do?  Will she ever accept Rich your new partner?  Then you saw it, your  mother’s severity is her love and concern for you.

AT last  you see yourself going to china together with your mother and rich.  And finally it makes perfect sense…”The three of us, leaving our differences behind stepping on the plane together, sitting side by side, lifting off, moving west to reach the east.”

"JOY LUCK CLUB"