Sunday, May 5, 2013
Joy Luck Club Post Part 1
While reading this part of The Joy Luck Club, I noticed some similarities between this book and The Great Gatsby. When Lindo Jong opens up her chapter saying, "The American soldier promises to come back and marry the girl. She is crying with a genuine feeling and he says, 'Promise! Promise! Honey-sweetheart, my promise is as good as gold.' Then he pushes her into bed. But he doesn't come back." (42). While reading that, I couldn't help but notice the similarities to the scene of The Great Gatsby when Daisy and Gatsby separate as he goes off to war.Although he does not come out and say that he promises to come back and marry her, it is an unspoken agreement between the two that they are meant to be together. And although Gatsby does return for her, the two of them never end up together, so in a way he never really came back. Another similarity that the two books share are when Lindo Jong speaks about how she is not happy in her marriage and never really has been; "But I know what really happened, because I stayed up all night crying about my marriage." (55). This reminded me of Daisy and her not wanting to marry Tom. This is apparent in the scene of the night before her marriage when she is hysterically crying and telling everyone to tell Tom that she has changed her mind. Neither of the two characters want to be married to the people that they are, but the two women both continue to stay with their husbands. The similarities between the two books are uncanny.
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I, too, found many similarities between this novel and The Great Gatsby. In my response, I mentioned how Lindo Jong felt weighted down by all her gold bracelets and elegant clothing and related that to how Tom, Daisy, and Jordan feel about their lives. Because they are so wealthy, they don't know what to do with their lives, sitting around idly and full of boredom. In the "Red Candle" chapter, it stated how an abundance of the metal element causes one to become less independent and less of an individual. I identified this as a reference to how enormous wealth causes a person to become weighted down. As I am writing this, I am reminded of the quote about Daisy and Jordan's white dresses being crushed under their weight like silver idols, and how this is symbolic of the wealthy that has crushed their individuality and made them into slaves of image and class customs. I did not include this in my actual response because I just thought of it now! So I completely agree with you that this book holds parallels to the Great Gatsby!
ReplyDeleteThere is a very strong resemblance of The Great Gatsby in Tan's novel. It almost came as a shock to me to see that this plot was very similar. It is clear that Lindo is not happy in her marriage, just like Daisy, but continues on with the marriage anyway. If it were me, I would not want to be apart of such a marriage that only provided me with unhappiness. I would seek a life full of laughter and love from a person who truly loved me. I don't know what possesses these women to remain married to these men...The money? The image? Whatever it may be, it was striking to see the similarities between The Joy Luck Club and The Great Gatsby.
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