Joy Luck Club ~ two halves of eight stories
I reread the Joy Luck Club in November. I hosted a book club about it, so I paid careful attention to the stories. I love this book for so many reasons. There are 8 stories told from four mother-daughter pairs. It was really interesting to see the ways the mothers pasts shaped the way they raised their daughters and how they tried to impart that knowledge. All of the mothers lives were shaped by tragedy and all of their daughters didn't know tragedy in their childhoods but were facing difficulties in their later lives as thirty year old women. I think it's a testament to my "old soul" that I loved this book when I read it as an eighteen year old.
Anyway, one of the stories stuck out to me - there's a lot to it about fate and expectation and attention.
One of the daughters is speaking about an unfortunate event that she feels is going to inevitably happen. And in wondering about if she'd have done anything differently would her life have changed paths. Of this she says,
"I've been thinking, Even if I had expected it, even if I had known what I was going to do with my life, it still would have knocked the wind out of me. When something that violent hits you, you can't help but lose your balance and fall. And after you pick yourself up, you realize you can't trust anybody to save you... So what can you do to stop yourself from tilting and falling all over again?"
She then relates the story of her mother's desperate attempts to find her little boy that has drowned. She ends the story by saying "And it made me angry - so blindingly angry - that everything had failed us."
Coming back to her present situation she says the following:
My mother tells me, though, that I should still try.
"What's the point?" I say. "There's no hope. There's no reason to keep trying."
"Because you must," she says. "This is not hope. Not reason. This is your fate. This is your life, what you must do."
"So what can I do?"
And my mother says, "You must think for yourself, what you must do. If someone tells you, then you are not trying."
[snip]
"And I think now that fate is shaped half by expectation, half by inattention. But somehow, when you lose something you love, faith takes over. You have to pay attention to what you lost. You have to undo the expectation."
I'm sure this is one of those paragraphs that will have many different meanings as it's looked at by my life. This excerpt doesn't describe my life in terms of fate, or if I even believe that definition of fate. But I think it speaks to my desire to keep struggling against the odds despite the often dreary painted outlook. I also love the idea that if you aren't thinking for yourself and only taking the answers from everyone else that you aren't trying. And I think that this idea from her mom, answers her question in the beginning about what do you do to keep from tilting and falling in again. The answer is that you think, pay attention, and be careful of your expectations.
Anyway, one of the stories stuck out to me - there's a lot to it about fate and expectation and attention.
One of the daughters is speaking about an unfortunate event that she feels is going to inevitably happen. And in wondering about if she'd have done anything differently would her life have changed paths. Of this she says,
"I've been thinking, Even if I had expected it, even if I had known what I was going to do with my life, it still would have knocked the wind out of me. When something that violent hits you, you can't help but lose your balance and fall. And after you pick yourself up, you realize you can't trust anybody to save you... So what can you do to stop yourself from tilting and falling all over again?"
She then relates the story of her mother's desperate attempts to find her little boy that has drowned. She ends the story by saying "And it made me angry - so blindingly angry - that everything had failed us."
Coming back to her present situation she says the following:
My mother tells me, though, that I should still try.
"What's the point?" I say. "There's no hope. There's no reason to keep trying."
"Because you must," she says. "This is not hope. Not reason. This is your fate. This is your life, what you must do."
"So what can I do?"
And my mother says, "You must think for yourself, what you must do. If someone tells you, then you are not trying."
[snip]
"And I think now that fate is shaped half by expectation, half by inattention. But somehow, when you lose something you love, faith takes over. You have to pay attention to what you lost. You have to undo the expectation."
I'm sure this is one of those paragraphs that will have many different meanings as it's looked at by my life. This excerpt doesn't describe my life in terms of fate, or if I even believe that definition of fate. But I think it speaks to my desire to keep struggling against the odds despite the often dreary painted outlook. I also love the idea that if you aren't thinking for yourself and only taking the answers from everyone else that you aren't trying. And I think that this idea from her mom, answers her question in the beginning about what do you do to keep from tilting and falling in again. The answer is that you think, pay attention, and be careful of your expectations.
Comments