Amy Tans Short Story Analysis - 986 Words

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Underline examples where the author’s life relates to the first 50 pages of the book so far. A great deal of information is available about Amy Tan’s personal and professional lives. Perhaps this is because her writing is clearly so overlaid with biography and autobiography. It might also be because her stories have so touched the hearts of her readers. And it might be because her enormous literary popularity coincides with the tremendous growth of the internet as a means of instant communication. Information about her seems to have popped up daily on many different web sites. A quick search of the internet, the local bookstore, or the neighborhood library should turn up much solid information about this most interesting†¦show more content†¦It received the 1990 Bay Area Reviewers Award for Fiction. For months, The Joy Luck Club was on The New York Times bestseller list, and the rights to the paperback edition were sold for over one million dollars. The book has also been made into a film for which Amy Tan helped to write the screenplay. Amy Tan was born on February 19, 1952, in Oakland, California. She grew up in the San Francisco Bay area, moving frequently from one place to another as her father, a Baptist minister, accepted new ministries. After graduating from high school in Montreux, Switzerland, Tan attended a few different colleges. Ultimately she received a bachelor’s degree from San Jose State University in 1973 and was awarded a master’s degree in linguistics from the same university in 1974. Amy Tan’s father was John Yueh-han, who worked for the U.S. Information Service prior to coming to the United States in the late 1940’s. Educated as an electrical engineer and a minister, Tan’s father was born in Wuhan, China. Tan’s mother, Daisy Ching (born Tu Ching) was married once before, in China, for twelve years, to a man who abused her. Daisy Ching had three other daughters and lost track of them after the Communists took over in China. Because it was then illegal for a woman to leave her husband, Daisy Ching spent some months in prison in China when her former marriage and circumstances were revealed. Daisy Ching metShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of Two Kinds By Amy Tan1567 Words   |  7 Pages One of the most complex relationships is that of a mother and daughter. Amy Tan is an author who writes about her life growing up as an Asian-American in Chinatown. Her novel The Joy Luck Club is a series of short stories about Chinese mothers and their assimilated daughters. One of these stories is â€Å"Two Kinds,† which looks into the life of Jing-Mei Woo and her struggle to gain a sense of self. Some key themes in The Joy Luck Club are the generational and intercultural differences among Chinese-AmericanRead MoreMother Tongue1199 Words   |  5 PagesRhetorical Analysis of â€Å"Mother Tongue† written by Amy Tan â€Å"So easy to read†(p.4). Amy Tan ends her essay, â€Å"Mother Tongue† with this short and even grammatically wrong sentence. She tells us this mother’s brief review is a proof of success of her writing. Why does she think that easiness is an essence of her writing? She suggests answers to this question by her essay. In her essay, Amy Tan effectively convinces her readers that â€Å"broken English† is not an inferior language, but justRead MoreAnalysis Of Mother Tongue By Amy Tan913 Words   |  4 Pages Analysis of Mother Tongue by Amy Tan In the narrative essay, â€Å"Mother Tongue† by Amy Tan, the author sets out the story between her mother, whose English is her second language, and Tan herself can speak native English very well. The essay covers the tonal shift of Amy Tan s psychological change, from grudge to understanding. Although she begins the essay saying, I am not a scholar of English or literature. I cannot give you much more than personal opinions on theRead MoreHuman Oppressiveness in Two Kinds and AP Essay2357 Words   |  10 PagesIt was Emerson who said it best, â€Å"For nonconformity, the world whips you with its displeasure† (Porter 1155). With a detailed look of Amy Tan’s â€Å"Two Kinds† and John Updike’s â€Å"AP,† you will find that this quote is entirely applicable in the context of oppressiveness and in the likeness of â€Å"coming of age.† These two stories document the different perspectives of two characters’ growing up and how the r ole of the invisible hand of oppression guides developing adolescents into mature adults; withoutRead MoreAmy Tan s Two Kinds Essay1372 Words   |  6 PagesJing-Mei Woo and her mother are the major characters in Amy Tan’s â€Å"Two Kinds.† The two have a complicated mother-daughter relationship at the beginning of the story, but later, as an adult, Jing-Mei realizes the intentions of her mother. â€Å"Two Kinds† is told from Jing-Mei’s point of view as a mature adult who is reflecting on her childhood. Jing-Mei’s thoughts and feelings are revealed, but she and her mother, the antagonist, have conflictingly opposite desires. Jing-Mei’s mother desires for herRead MoreThe Theory of Alienation Proven Wrong : People are more Alienated in their Community. 1795 Words   |  8 Pagesindependent, because they are told what to do by their employer. Alienation is broadly defined by Encyclopedia Britannica as : The state of feeling estranged or separated from one’s milieu, work, products of work, or self. Despite its popularity in the analysis of contemporary life, the idea of alienation remains an ambiguous concept with elusive meanings, the following variants being most common: (1) powerlessness, the feeling that one’s destiny is not under one’s own control but is determined by externalRead MoreEssay on College Writing in the College Classroom1871 Words   |  8 Pagesamount of work was a different story.The majority of the class consisted of reading short stories from a huge English book, and answering the exercise questions.And almost every Friday you would hear the whining voice of one of the cheerleaders say, â€Å"Mr. Toma, can we have a free-day?† and the answer would be, â€Å"OK.†He never graded with a biased opinion either.The cheerleaders got A’s, no matter how late or how short their written papers were.The rest of the class, with th e exception of the super-geniusRead Moreevery day use3221 Words   |  13 PagesDate Paper draft (for example, Paper #1 Draft A or In-class Essay #2) On subsequent pages, in the upper right corner write: The paper s title Your name Page number Character analysis of the story â€Å"Everyday Use† by Alice Walker 1) Pay attention to the character’s ethics. Does the character make just or unjust choices? Consider Atticus Finch in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. Atticus does not make morally correct choicesRead MoreGp Essay Mainpoints24643 Words   |  99 Pagesget in the way of a good story† is an instruction often heard in the newsroom †¢ Concept of media ethics is conceived to be an oxymoron. Sadly, many aspects of the modern media are stripped of almost all ethical concerns. In a reality of competition, ratings and economic considerations, ethics becomes a secondary, sometimes irritating, issue †¢ E.g. But consider 2003, New York Times writer Jayson Blair caught for plagiarising and falsifying elements of his stories †¦ clear to public that newspapers