The Theme of Girl Power in Joy Luck Club and Taste of Honey :: Joy Luck Club Taste of Honey Amy Tan Essays

The Theme of Girl Power in Joy Luck Club and Taste of Honey Joy Luck Club and Taste of Honey Women’s rights is an issue of serious interest in much of today’s literature. As more women take the pen in hand more and more female characters take center stage in the stories they write. The newest term for this focus on the powerful heroine is called â€Å"Girl Power† and this strength of persona can be seen in two pieces of literature in particular. The Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan, and A Taste of Honey, by Shelagh Delaney. In the Joy Luck Club Amy Tan write about the lives of four mother’s from China who pass their lives’ wisdom down to their daughters who are growing up on the foreign shores of California, USA. Each of these women have a story to tell about growing up in the patriarchal society of china, how they overcame the stifling environment they grew up in and how they survived and escaped to the â€Å"new world† as it were. The story of An Mei, Waverly Jong’s mother, is an excellent example of how women can take control of the situations that are forced upon them and make their lives better. In the novel An Mei is sold into a marriage at the age of four. At fifteen, on her wedding day she discovers she has been married to 13 year old boy, who no more wants to be a husband than he does a father. An Mei is forced to sleep on the floor and treated to the derisive comments and punishments of her mother in law when she fails to produce a child. However, over hearing a house servant who found herself pregnant, she devises a plan to escape her ill-fated life and out-trick her lying child-groom. She uses the superstitions of the traditional Chinese and her clever wit to win a ticket out of the loveless marriage and back to Shanghai with her family. This tale, re-told by An Mei, shows how woman, even in dire situations, can take charge of their lives and make the most of what they have. Rose Hsu Jordan is another one of Tan’s Characters that really takes charge of her life just when it seems she would be swallowed whole by a man’s world. In this present day tale, a young woman find herself married to man whose opinions she has grown to value above her own. She has forgotten how to value herself and fallen prey to the pitfall of pleasing her husband before taking care of her own needs.