Abstract：Amy Tan, one of distinguished Chinese American female writers, has published a lot of excellent works so far, among which The Joy Luck Club published in 1989 receives the greatest success and wins affirm from professionals and many readers. This work reflects the author’s own experiences. The novel describes stories about four immigrant mothers as well as their daughters .

The paper mainly analyses the daughters’ living conditions in The Joy Luck Club, and they suffer sexism and racial discrimination in American society. The daughters are unfairly treated whether in work or in marriage in a patriarchal society. However, the daughters chose to be silent at first. They have lost themselves to a certain extent. What’s more, the daughters are not familiar with Chinese traditional culture. Conflicts and misunderstandings are filled up with lives between daughters and mothers in their growth. Later, the daughters began to identify with their mothers and accept Chinese culture, and gradually they are aware of their poor situations in the patriarchal society. They break the silence and fight their fate. The daughters reconstruct their own identity through their own resistance as well as mothers’ help and encouragement. From exclusion to taking the initiative to understand Chinese culture, from silence to awakening, the daughters go back to arms of mothers and bravely struggle against injustice and discrimination.

Keywords:  Amy Tan  The Joy Luck Club  Daughters  Living conditions

Contents

Abstract

中文摘要

Chapter One Introduction-1

1.1 An Introduction to Amy Tan-1

1.2 An Introduction to The Joy Luck Club-1

1.3 Literature Review-2

1.4 Composition of the Paper-4

Chapter Two Chinese American Daughters’ Poor Situations in America-5

2.1 Discriminated by the Dominant Culture-5

2.1.1 The Daughters Subject to Racial Discrimination-5

2.1.2 Sexism against Female in America-6

2.2 Daughters’ Silence in Modern Society-6

2.2.1 Unfair Treatment in the Daughters’ Lives-7

2.2.2 Daughters’ Unhappy Marriage Experiences-7

Chapter Three Contradictions between Daughters and Mothers-9

3.1 Conflicts Accompanying the Daughters’ Growth-9

3.2 Daughters’ Unfamiliar with and Excluding Chinese Culture-10

Chapter Four The Awakening and Resistance of the Daughters-12

4.1 Silence-breaking of the Daughters-12

4.2 Reunification of Mothers and Daughters-12

4.3 The Reconstruction of the Daughters’ Identity-13

Chapter Five Conclusion-14

References-15