To sacrifice is to give up something valued for the sake of another individual, whether it is monetary, security, happiness or other likewise selfish assets. Altruism is a vital element in a relationship between a mother and her daughter, in which the tougher the sacrifice, the tougher the love. Chinese immigrant mothers, in particular, endure one of the hardest sacrifices when they leave all their family and cultural identity behind to provide new opportunities for their daughters in America. However, a realization hits that coming to America does not suddenly ease life but rather puts their daughters in more circumstances where sacrifice is also necessary. Amy Tan’s novel , The Joy Luck Club, provides thorough examples of personal sacrifice …show more content…
Immediately through a quick flip of pages, Amy Tan introduces Lindo Jong to speak further into the sacrifice of self happiness in the vignette, “The Red Candle”. Lindo Jong, mother of Waverly Jong, had a marriage arranged for her at the age of two years old. She was promised to Tyan-yu, the son of Huang Tai Tai, a spoiled young man who carried himself in a highly posh manner. Her mother had wanted to give her to a household with more financial value, to perhaps enhance her image. However, Lindo did not see this as a chance to redeem herself but rather decrease her confidence and worth. To demonstrate, Tan writes, “I began to cry and thought bitterly about my parent’s promise. I wondered why my destiny had been decided, why I should have an unhappy life so someone else could have a happy one” (58-59). Lindo had promised to sacrifice her own happiness, just to grant her parents happiness. A unique essence in Chinese culture is that daughters literally owed their parents their happiness, typically as a sign of respect. Although she has given up her joy, she keeps a promise to herself to never forget her self worth, “On the day of the …show more content…
Clair is introduced to explain her sacrifice of appetite in order to twist her fate. Superstitions were common in Chinese culture, and explained to Chinese kids growing up. Some had an accepted American translation, while others did not. Regardless, they made sense to the Chinese. Lena’s mother, Ying-Ying St. Clair, tells her from a young age to make sure she finishes all her food for every leftover grain of rice equals a pock mark on her future husband. Based on her environment, Lena notes that she knew a boy named Arnold with many marks, and he was not quite the loveliest fella. She believed she was destined to marry him, which she was not content about so she sacrifices one of life’s many basic needs: food. As evidence, Tan writes, “I did a terrible thing. I saw what I had to do so I would not have to marry Arnold. I began to leave more rice in my bowl. And then I extended my prodigal ways beyond Chinese food….it was some few years later, by which time I had become quite thin. I had stopped eating, not because of Arnold, whom I had long forgotten, but to be fashionably anorexic like all the other thirteen-year-old girls” (153). Lena obviously sacrifices her appetite but also her health. She stopped eating as a whole, believing it would affect Arnold more and perhaps kill him, thus her not marrying Arnold anymore. But what starts as a childish wish turns into something much more serious. Lena develops anorexia, a serious eating