Feathers from a
Thousand Li Away
What image does a
swan suggest? What might the swan feather represent in the story?
What hopes does the
mother have for the swan in the new country?
How is the mother
affected by the immigration process?
What emotions is
the mother feeling at the end of the story?
What tone does this
vignette set for the opening of the novel?
What is the Joy Luck Club that June is invited to
join?
Why does Suyuan organize the club in the first
place?
Briefly describe a typical Club meeting.
Why does Suyuan choose the words "joy" and "luck"
for the name of her group?
Why does the San Francisco Joy Luck Club play the
stock market?
What might be June's reaction to hearing her mother
say, "Your father is not my first husband. You are not those babies"?
What does June's mother mean why she says that
Auntie An-mei "isn't stupid, but she has no spine"?
June's mother says, "Each person is made of five
elements." What three elements does she describe and what does each represent?
How does June know which seat at the mah jong table
was her mother's place?
What does the story of Auntie An-mei's trip to
China reveal about Communist China?
What is the meaning of the word "refugee"?
What are An-mei's earliest perceptions of her
mother and father?
Why is she taught that her mother is a ghost?
How did An-mei's neck become scarred?
What is her reaction when her mother returns?
Why does An-mei's mother cut her arm and put her flesh
in the soup?
What kinds of emotional scars does An-mei carry
from her earlier years?
What are the advantages and disadvantages to
arranged marriages?
Why does Huang Taitai treat her future
daughter-in-law so poorly?
What is the significance of the red marriage
candle?
Why does Huang Taitai remove all of Lindo's gold
bracelets and how does it make her feel?
List the three parts of Lindo's "dream" that
convince Huang Taitai to end Lindo's marriage to her son.
Lindo says, "I sacrificed my life." What sacrifices
does she make?
What does Ying-ying St. Clair think of the way her
daughter has turned out?
The Moon Lady is a mythological figure that sees
that secret wishes are fulfilled. What parallels to her do we have in American
culture?
Why doesn't Ying-ying's mother come to get her on
the dock after she smears her clothes with turtle blood?
When Ying-ying finally sees the Moon Lady up close,
what is her reaction?
The Twenty-Six
Malignant Gates
What is the
mother's attitude toward the girl?
What is the
daughter's attitude toward her mother and her mother's warning?
Why does the girl
fall off the bicycle?
What does Waverly learn from playing chess?
Explain the significance of the wind references.
What move is she planning at the end of the
chapter?
How is Lena controlled by her fears?
How is she affected by her mother's gruesome
stories about the basement and the baby?
Lena is half-Chinese, half English-Irish. How is
her life different from that of her friends whose parents are both Chinese?
What realization does Lena come to about her
neighbors?
At the end of the story, how is Lena pulling her mother
back to life?
The
three oldest boys are called Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Why is the last son
called "Bing" and not "John"?
In
what ways are all the chapters in this section about children who are
predisposed to danger?
Why
does An-mei Hsu return to the ocean the next morning to try to find Bing?
Why
does she write Bing's name in erasable pencil in the Bible?
Is
there a parallel between An-mei's losing faith in the Bible (at least on the
surface) and the child's losing faith in the Moon Lady earlier in the book?
Why
is the Bible kept so clean?
Why does June's
mother pressure her so strongly to excel at the piano?
How does June react
to the unspoken competition between her and Waverly?
Why does June tell
her mother she wished she were dead, even though she knows how much it will
hurt her mother's feelings?
American
Translation
What is
peach-blossom luck?
Why will the
marriage happiness turn the opposite way?
Mirrors show us
reflections of ourselves. Why, then, is the daughter surprised to see "her own
reflection looking back at her"?
What is Lena afraid that her mother will see during
her visit?
What is Lena's response to her mother's
superstition about not eating all of her rice?
Why does Lena feel responsible for Arnold's death?
In what ways does money play an important role in
Lena's and Harold's marriage?
Why doesn't Lena resent Harold's taking credit for
her "theme eating" idea?
Why does Lena cross out the words "ice cream" on the
refrigerator door?
In what ways does Waverly's mother wear her down by
"the strength of her will"?
Waverly again describes the time when she lost her edge in chess. How are her memories different this time? Or are they?
What does Waverly find appealing about Rich?
Why does Waverly's trick (introducing him to Auntie
Suyuan) work with her mother?
Describe three important Chinese customs Rich
violates at dinner which Waverly
believes are insults to her mother?
Do you think Lindo will actually join Rich and Waverly on their honeymoon? Why/Why not?
What is the significance of Rose's dream about Old
Mr. Chou at the beginning of this chapter?
Why does Rose let the garden become so overgrown?
Why does she like it that way?
Why does Rose decide not to sign the divorce
papers?
What is the role of Old Mr. Chou in the second
dream, and why does he resurface this way?
Why are weeds spilling out at the end?
Suyuan gives June
her jade pendant. How does June react at first?
What does June
think of Waverly in this chapter?
Why does June's
mother say, "Only you pick that crab. Nobody else take it. I already know this.
Everybody else want best quality. You thinking different."?
The grandmother says, "But later I threw away my
foolish innocence to protect myself. And then I taught my daughter, your
mother, to shed her innocence so she would not be hurt as well." Why did she do this?
How can a person lose innocence but not hope?
What is the moral of the turtle story?
How does An-mei view life in her uncle's house?
Compare her first impressions of her new home with
her impressions several months later.
Why is Second Wife so powerful in the household?
What is the significance of the pearl necklace?
Why does An-mei's mother plan her death to occur
just before the lunar new year?
What side of Ying-ying's personality do we see at
the beginning of this chapter?
In what ways is Ying-ying's name (Clear
Reflection) appropriate?
Why is Ying-ying called the "tiger lady"?
Why doesn't Waverly like it when Mr. Rory says she
and her mother look alike?
Why did her mother think she couldn't marry a
Cantonese boy?
What is the mother's attitude toward her daughter
and Mr. Rory at the end of the story?
"A Pair of
Tickets," Jing-mei "June" Woo
How does June regard her
father as they travel to China?
Why does Canning Woo have
what is called a "milk name"?
What are the translation
of the names of the three daughters of Suyuan?
What is June's reaction to
the story her father tells about Suyuan leaving the babies by the side of the
road?
Did Suyuan get her
"long-cherished wish"?
Tan's original title for the novel was "WIND AND WATER". Which do you prefer and why?
Study Guide Questions adapted from the Prestwick House Inc. teaching
materials. Please alert Mrs K if you find typos in this format. Thanks!