She married a Chinese-American and had several sons and a daughter. Of the four women, she had lived the longest time in America. As a result, she was the most assimilated of the four women. She also had the help of her husband, who had been struggling with assimilation for quite some time. Lindo is on a quest to reconnect with her lost Chinese identity. On a visit to mainland China, she is treated like a tourist by the locals. She struggles to connect with her native Chinese identity and to pass on these traits to her daughter. She realizes that her daughter is more American, than Chinese and fears that she will not remember her Chinese heritage in a positive way. Lindo's struggle serves the purpose of presenting the struggle that Chinese face with issues such as loss of identity. Not surprisingly, Lindo's daughter shows even more independence and American attitude than her mother.

Ying-ying is the most traditional of the Chinese women. She is meek and gentile, to the point of repressing her own feelings. Ying-Ying makes many decisions in her life because she believes it is her fate, but not necessarily what she wants. Ying-ying's marriage in China brings to light the amount of abuse towards women that it tolerated by the Chinese culture. Ying-ying meets an American, but she quickly falls into the weaker role, once again. She is the epitome of the fair and gentle Chinese wife, who knows that her place is beneath that of her husband.

This portrayal of the weak Chinese woman appears to be exaggerated at times, but it does get the point across about this stereotype and its prevalence in Chinese society. Ying-ying acts exactly as one would expect the perfect Chinese wife to act. Ying-ying also portrays the struggle to break free of this stereotypical role, as she is horrified to find that her daughter has taken on this role for herself. She wants her daughter to break free and to live a more independent life than the traditional...

Ying-ying demonstrates the psychological damage caused by the traditional Chinese role for women. Lena St. Clair, practically abandons her mother's traditional attitude and demands "equality" in the marriage.
The movie weaves many elements of Chinese culture, traditions and attitudes into the narrative of the four women. One can learn a lot about Chinese culture by watching the film and observing the attitudes of the women. When the movie discusses the lives of the women and the situations that they were in while in China, the audience gets a bird's-eye view of various aspects of Chinese culture and traditional women's roles the educational aspects of these flashbacks provides the audience a more in-depth view of the traditions in Chinese culture than the typical stereotypical imagery portrays.

The Joy Luck Club uses comparison and contrast to demonstrate various levels of assimilation among the women and their daughters. All of the women had bad experiences in mainland China. America represented a fresh start for all of them. The daughters did not choose to adhere to their mother's traditional roles. The film gives the message that the struggle for assimilation is more difficult for the immigrant than for the 1st generation.

The images of Chinese women in the film are accurate, but also bring out the point that they are all individuals. It is a realistic portrayal of the diversity that exists within Chinese culture and in women's roles. Through the struggle of assimilation, the film portrayed many aspects of traditional Chinese culture, women's roles and attitudes of mainland Chinese for those that have "abandoned" their traditional culture. This movie teaches many things about Chinese culture that one may not realize. It is entertaining and educational for the audience.

Bibliography

The Joy Luck Club. Director: Wayne Wang. Hollywood Pictures. 1993.