In this post, I want you to analyze a simile or metaphor in The Joy Luck Club. Here are the details:
1.) Choose a simile or metaphor that appears somewhere in the text. Copy the figurative device word-for-word at the top of your post.
2.) Write a well-developed paragraph (at least 6-8 sentences) arguing the meaning of the simile or metaphor. Why that particular comparison? Why those particular words? What impact does this simile/metaphor have on our understanding of a character or the story in general? What does this simile/metaphor add to the story?
3.) Don't summarize.
4.) Then I would like for you to write your own simile or metaphor. Choose from the following topics: an aspect of nature (like a storm), a familiar emotion (like love or jealousy), or a description of a person (a friend or family member).
It should go without saying that all of your writing--ALWAYS--should be your OWN work. Do NOT steal ideas or content from another person or source.
"'She become so thin now you cannot see her,'" says my mother. "'She like a ghost, disappear.'" (163, Tan)
ReplyDeleteLena St. Clair's mother is telling Harold that he isn't paying any attention to her and that they aren't truly equals. Neither of them are happy with each other. I think that what Lena's mother said finally made her realize that she isn't his equal, since he is bringing in most of the money, so she finally tries to talk to him about how fair he is being when she really doesn't want that, but then she can't think of what to say. She doesn't want him to be fair when he is doing so much more about everything going on in their lives. The chapter ends with her mother asking her, "'Then why don't you fix it?'" She is talking about the vase here, but she is really referring to their entire marraige.
4) My dad's laugh is like a high pitched scream.
"It was as if I had said the magic words. Alakazam!--and her face went blank, her mouth closed, her arms went slack, and she backed out of the room, stunned, as if she were blowing away like a small brown leaf, thin, brittle, lifeless." (142)
ReplyDeleteI think Amy Tan uses this specific metaphor to show how Jing-Mei completely destroyed her mother's hopes and dreams with that statement, and how it shattered there fragile relationship. Thin, brittle, and lifeless are all adjectives that describe the mother-daughter relationship in this story. The mother pushes the daughter way to hard, causing stress, and for some reason it makes Jing-Mei feel good to disobey her mom and do the opposite of what her mother tells her to do. This quote also describes how Suyuan feels after Jing-Mei fails to live up to her standards.
She steamed with fury, and at last the hate-filled words spewed out of her mouth, like the frothy bubbles from a pot of boiling water.
"And after that, every time I saw it in my parents' living room, standing in front of the bay windows, it made me feel proud, as if it were a shiny trophy I had won back," (Tan 143).
ReplyDeleteThis is a very powerful quote because it shows Jing Mei's resentment and feeling of hopelessness towards her mother. When she references the "shiny trophy," she is comparing the piano, a symbol of her mother's forgiveness, to a victory. The fact that she has spent her entire life trying to prove her mother wrong and get back at her shows how angry and miserable June really was. I think there is a deeper meaning, however. There is a sense of false satisfaction emanating from this quote, and I think Jing-Mei didn't really feel victorious at all in the end. She says this out of anger, and when one is angry, she doesn't think correctly. I think she is trying to make herself feel like she "won" by making the idea of forgiving a competition. Otherwise, she would just feel even worse for failing to give her own forgiveness to her mother. I think Jing-Mei desires a close relationship with her mother, and since she realizes that this can never be, anger is her way of expressing herself.
4) The sadness within her suddenly exploded into anger, like a tidal wave screaming violently at the shore as it began its tear of destruction.
"I was like the Christ child lifted out of the straw manger, crying with holy indinity," (Tan, 133).
ReplyDeleteI feel as if this quote is important because it represents one of the many biblical allusions in the book. Not only that, but it also describes Jing Mei's mother's desire for her to be the perfect prodigy child like Jesus. I found it sad how hard her mother worked at making her child into something that she simply could not become. I think Amy Tan used this quote because in our eyes, if you are a follower of Christ, he is perfect and throughout life, you should strive to be a perfect Christian. Notice how I said "strive." You are not expected to be perfected, no one is perfect and I found it sad how JIng Mei's mother couldn't accept that about her daughter. I could feel Jing Mei's neglect in this quote because she knew that no matter how hard she tried, she would never fully satisfy her mother's desire for a "Shirley Temple" or "perfect pianst" as her child. I know that deep down, Jing Mei's mother loves her daughter for who she is, but she doesn't show that love and I find it so heart wrenching how neglected Jing Mei is from lack of love shown from her mother.
4) Her frustration and neglect finally took over her body and she could no longer listen to her mother's voice; she screamed at her mother with a booming tone that shook the entire house like an earthquake that would never end until she fell silent; it was as if the whole earth had froze in this one moment between Jing Mei and her mother.
"I would play after him, the simple scale, the simple chord, and then I just played some nonsense that sounded like a cat running up and down on top of garbage cans." (137)
ReplyDeleteThis shows what Jing Mei's music is turning into. Her performance is like trash in a garbage can. Her performance being a disaster then forshadows her relationship with her mother. Her relationship with her mother is awful like the trash music she is playing. Jing Mei realizes what she is doing wrong with her music and I think this relates to her life. She is beginning to understand her life is running in the wrong directions and she needs to make a change. I think Jing Mei is a stubborn girl and it is hard for her to admit fault. She learns to admit that she is not a prodigy and it does not come naturally and by this she is learning ways to improve her relationship with her mother.
She felt like her music was capsized like a ship in a storm.
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ReplyDelete"When my mother told me this I felt as though I had been sent to hell" (Tan, 136).
ReplyDeleteI think this simile shows that Jing- Mei and her mother never had a good relationship. This quote comes after the point in the book where Jing- Mei’s mother tells her she is going to learn how to play the piano. Jing- Mei sees it as a punishment from her mother that came without cause; she sees it as a way for her mother to fit in with the other Joy Luck aunties and show off her child. Obviossly she feels like she is being sent to hell because she sees it as punishment and she is feeling the angst that that has become a theme throughout this book between mothers and their daughters.
4. As sneaky as a fox.
"He marched stiffly to show me how to make each finger dance up and down, staccato like an obedient little soldier."
ReplyDeleteThis shows how Old Chong, June's piano teacher, really wants June to learn the correct way of the playing the piano. He wants her to learn proper techniques, which will help June play longer pieces with less stress on her hands. He shows her physical demonstrations such as marching his legs up and down to show how June how her fingers should create a similar type of motion when playing. This shows that he cares for her and actually wants her to succeed as a piano player and her improve her skills. I really think the obedient little soldier part of the quote really helped bring out the message because it helps me form a mental picture of a soldier marching up and down. This helps me see how June's fingers should be moving in that same fluid version.
4) He slowly crept to the old house like a panther stalking its prey.
"I kept thinking my fingers would adjust themselves back, like a train switching to the right track."(Tan 139)
ReplyDeleteThis simile represented her life up to this point. I think her fingers represented her life, and that eventually her mother would give up on the piano lessons and Jing Mei would go back to her normal life. Just like a train that is on the wrong track, naturally it should go back to the right track. It also shows that Jing wasn’t going to take the initiative to go back to normal; she was just waiting for it to happen. Instead of learning how to play the piano she just expected to get the notes right. This simile described how her entire life she never took the initiative; she expected things just to happen. This is a lesson that Jing Mei can teach to everyone. Things don't just happen. It is all on you to make a change in your life.
His dreams were shattered into a million pieces, like a baseball crashing through a brand new window; every tiny piece of glass falling, never to return.
“I would swing my patent leather shoes back and forth like an impatient child running on a school bus.” Page 100
ReplyDeleteA simile is a comparison of two different things using like or as. In this simile Lena St. Clair is trying to show what her shoes are doing while getting on the school bus, running. I like this simile because the action that’s going on could be various depending on how you read it. A simile adds something unoriginal to the story other than just plan sentences. This simile adds a new feeling to the story that wasn’t known before.
“A comparison can clear up understanding as smiles are meant to do. The storm is coming down like leaves from a tree.”
"I made high-pitched noises like a crazed animal, trying to scratch out the face in the mirror." (Tan 144)
ReplyDeleteIn my mind this simile represented her high pitched noises as something that was more special. This was a very powerful simile to represent how mad she was. This was a simile that made it easy for people to see what was going on and to figure out what was going on in this chapter. I like this simile most importantly because it is a quote that I can relate to easily and it makesd it very easy for me to write about.
4) As smooth as ice
Sorry my last post cut off.
ReplyDeleteThis simie is not very good because it is kind of depressing and does not represent good times.
"Peter Pan"
ReplyDeleteI think the Peter Pan reference is of very high significance. Peter Pan is an american icon and that is what these Chinese girls were trying to be. At the beginning of page 132, Jing-Mei talks about what you can do in America. "You could become rich. You could become instantly famous." I think by getting an Peter Pan haircut, these girls are trying to be famous. They are trying to become American so that there dreams will come true.
Free as the winds of Hurricane Sandy
"'The peaks looked like giant fried fish heads trying to jump out of a vat of oil'" (Tan 21).
ReplyDeleteThis simile comes from the very first short story told by Jing-mei “June” Woo as she describes her mother, Suyuan Woo, and her journey to Kweilin. Jing-mei is re-telling her mother’s riveting, ever changing story about her journey to Kweilin with her husband and two babies, thinking this would be a place were they would be safe from war. It is so dramatic because when her mother told about her journey numerous times, the ending was always different. Suyan described to Jing-mei how beautiful everyone had said Kweilin was and just how magnificent of a place it was when she actually laid eyes on it herself. However in this simile Suyuan is describing Kweilin as she had dreamed about it and then in reality her dreams didn’t do it justice. It was much more magnificent in real life. I think the comparison of the peaks of the mountains looking like fried fish heads has to do with the fact that they were so rough and textured and the lighter color acted as snow on top of the mountains. I believe what she means about them jumping out of a vat of oil is that the “heads” of these fish break off into a dark color that is so beautiful and reveals the breathtaking sight she describes.
Her eyes were almost gold like a dry desert with birds flying high above, hopeless with nothing but curiosity.
"I was Cinderella stepping from her pumpkin carriage with sparkly cartoon music filling the air" (Tan, 133).
ReplyDeleteBy comparing herself to Cinderella, Jing Mei clearly shows that she was important. While Cinderella is stepping out of her carriage in the story, everyone is looking at her, and all the attention is turned towards her. Similarly, Jing Mei feels as though the same thing will happen to her and she will become "perfect": her parents will adore her, she will always be happy, and the world will revolve around her.
It not only shows that she is important, but also how excited she was when she first started to become this "prodigy" child. "I was just as excited as my mother, maybe even more so" (Tan, 133). This metaphor really describes and spotlights Jing Mei's youth and immaturity. Like a child, she got bored of being this prodigy daughter after awhile and learned that it would take a lot of hard work and criticism. But what amazed me was how quickly Jing Mei decided to give up and take the easy way out of things like most of us do; when something gets to hard, we tend to quit.
Anxiety bit me like a snake.
Note: I was unable to attend class today.
ReplyDelete“And her friends at the Joy Luck Club said she died just like a rabbit: quickly and with unfinished business left behind.” (19,Tan)
A simile is a figure of speech when two unlike things are compared using as, or like. This simile is comparing how Jing-Mei Woo’s mother died to a rabbit in its prime. It is saying that Mrs. Woo died quickly, like how fast a rabbit it is; and with unfinished business like how rabbits often leave whatever they are doing because they get nervous, and just run away. This simile tells me that Mrs. Woo was a major part of the Joy Luck Club because she left “unfinished business” behind. I think that Amy Tan chose to make this comparison because it showed that Mrs. Woo was important in the Joy Luck Club.
4.) I loved him like the tide loved washing up onto the sand.
"I met Old Lady Chong once and that was enough. She had this peculiar smell like a baby that had done something in its pants. And her fingers felt like a dead person's, like an old peach I once found in the back of the refrigerator; the skin just slid off the meat when i picked it up" (Tan 137).
ReplyDeleteI underlined this simile immediately when reading "Two Kinds" written in the perspective of Jing-Mei Woo (the daughter). Digging deeper into the meaning of this quote I realized many symbols were intertwined in the words. By relating Old Lady Chong to an old peach I feel like she wanted to make it seem like she was forgotten. This could mean she was once desirable, but now is no longer wanted and praised. I also concluded that by comparing the old lady who smelled like a baby that had done something in its pants she obviously smelled bad. Then it occurred to me she could be ill or dirty. I believe all of this relates back to Jing's life because she wants to be desirable to everyone in her family and make them proud, but theres a point in time where your hard work just wont be good enough. Like the old lady, Jing is forgotten, and her family looses their hopes of her being a child prodigy.
She wasn't the best, therefore was forgotten like a dream; her family now lifeless and exhausted.
"She sees spiders in high corners and even fleas jumping up in the air-pah! pah! pah!- like little spatters of hot oil" (151).
ReplyDeleteThis simile makes me think of danger that's spontaneous and uncertain because spatters of hot oil can hit anywhere at anytime and it will always burn. I think that the spiders and fleas are being compared to Lena and Harold's marriage. Spiders and fleas are unpleasant, and their marriage isn't exactly rainbows and butterflies. Also, their marriage is like the dangerous and uncertain spatters of hot oil because it's unsteady and could fall apart any time. Even though Lena's mom, Ying-ying, is critiquing the house, under that, she's critiquing their marriage. She sees through their act that everything is OK, like she sees that "underneath all the fancy details that cost so much, this house is still a barn" (151).
Her jealousy made her scream across the room like the wind howling as it tears through the trees, ripping down their leaves.
"I kept thinking my fingers would adjust themselves back, like a train switching to the right track."
ReplyDeleteAs I was looking through the book for similes and metaphors, this simile caught my eyes, and I would like to expand on what Billy said. When I read this, what came to my mind was not how the train is a symbol of her life, but more specifically her behavior. I had this sense that she knew her actions and how she is trying to rebel is wrong, and yet she felt that at some point it would end. Sh would eventually end up in the satisfactory pathway and live up to her mother's expectations. But as Billy alluded, she did not work hard for it to happen, and I feel that this simile explained it all. The simile that Amy Tan has crafted cleverly was worded wisely and thought of well. She could have used a person going on a different road, but she specifically chose the train, because it CAN adjust itself on the right pathway. But humans, at times, do not work that way.
"She is tall as a giant. Her inferiors cower spinelessly. Her deep blue eyes suck you into the dark ocean. You are lost and out of control. Covered by her sun-kissed brown hair, she frowns and releases a volatile bomb so powerful, it shakes the whole ground. Her scream is like a large nail slowly scraping the garbage can on the street. She ponders her next move.
(139) I forgot to write the page number.
DeleteNote: I missed school today and don't have my book but, I was able to remember part of one and look it up.
ReplyDelete"The worry surrounded me like, like the wall of the cove, and it made me feel everything had been considered and was now safe" (Tan 123).
Rose uses this simile to relate her emotions to the environment. She compares them because both relate to her duty of guarding her brothers and sisters. It shows us that Rose cares for her relatives but, she fears the task of looking over them. She used words like worried and surrounded to show us the amount of pressure she is under. This Simile also for-shadowed coming events because of that worry. Rose believed the cove and her worry would make the job easier. It did the opposite and because of the cove and the worry for her bickering siblings, Bing fell in.
Surgery is like a broken heart; both get mended eventually
i pretty sure when you get surgery something is getting mended so????
Delete"After the baby died, my mother fell apart, not all at once, but piece by piece, like plates falling off a shelf one by one."
ReplyDeleteSimiles are used to add description, power, symbolism, the list goes on. The simile above is so simple, yet exerts so much power that the reader can picture it in her mind. This was right after the mother started to frantically talk about her baby. Tan could have easily said, "My mother fell apart." Then she could have listed reasons one after another and just give meaningless examples. But this simile, paints the picture. I describes what that her situation was like. It shows us that her mom was a wreck. The plates, to me, symbolize her values in life, falling off the shelf one by one. One of the things that I also love about this simile is that it leaves thinking for the reader to do. The simile shows, not tells, and that is why it is so powerful.
My blue ball point pen glided over the blank sheet of paper, like a leaf floating down a river.
"I felt the same way, and it seemed as if everybody were now coming up, like gawkers at the scene of an accident, to see what parts were actually missing." (140-141)
ReplyDeleteJune's mother wants her daughter to find her passion, and she thinks that she has found it in playing the piano. June learns to play, but in her first recidal she froze up and barely could play. Amy Tan uses this metaphor to show the magnitude of this situation in June's mind. She comparing this failure to a deadly accident that dismembered her, and all of those people are just watching her crash and burn. This metaphor also really solidifies what June thinks about her mother's feelings toward her. It says on the same page that her mother had a look on her face like she had lost everything; she thinks that in her mother's eyes she has failed her.
He ran so quickly through the defenders it was like trying to tackle the wind.
"This was such a big leap in logic, between what I said and what he said, that I thought we were like two people standing apart on separate mountain peaks recklessly leaning forward to throw stones at one another, unaware of the dangerous chasm that separated us"(Tan 120).
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, this simile is fantastic; it paints a picture about Rose's marriage in our heads. It shows how Rose and Ted were constantly arguing over silly little decisions and didn't even notice the giant chasm they were about to fall into, divorce. I also think that the dangers in the chasm refer to what her new life is going to be. She was so scared about making decisions that she thought they would send her off a cliff when actually her lack of decision-making got her divorced. I also think Amy Tan could show Rose's mother pushing her towards the edge because she was the one that made all the decisions for her in the first place. This simile shows off Tan's writing skill by painting a clear picture in the reader's mind.
The ball rimmed out, and the player sunk to his knees like a wounded warrior falling to his death.
"It wrapped around me and squeezed my body like a sponge, then tossed me into the choking air--and I fell headlong into a rope net filled with writhing fish." (78)
ReplyDelete"It" is referring to the swimming snake that is one of the five evils.
Ying Ying always depended on Amah to be there for her. Ying Ying was not living in the real world. She was living in this sheltered world that her family had created. This perfect world never had any danger, and it was always filled with sweet cakes under a shade tree. When Ying Ying ventured out of the safe place, she met reality. I think that the snake trying to suffocate her was the perfect world she was living in. Then in the choking air, it was hard for her to breath because she did not know how to live and fend for herself. The net of writhing fish is reality, and of corse she was thrown headlonged into the net of fish. It is life and she would never be ready for it if she continued to live in her own perfect world.
My mom is so hyper, she is like a tornado.
"Her hair, her clothes, they were all heavy with cold water, but she stood quietly, calm and regal as a mermaid queen who had just arrived out of the sea" (Tan 126).
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure we can all agree that most mothers who lose their children are not typically calm shortly thereafter. But An-mei Hsu was exactly that. I think the way Amy Tan used this simile was an excellent addition to the book. From previous entries in the book, its known that An-mei was a very religious woman, and that thought is supported by the quote above. An-mei still believed that although her son drowned in the ocean, she would be able to find him with her own nengkan or by the power of God. I believe she remained calm to show God and everyone else that she truly believed her son would come back to her, and she would stay calm and wait as long as she had to to get him back. I also think by using the phrase "mermaid queen" it shows how much Rose thinks of her mother. Even in one of the worst times of her mother's life, she was still calm and regal. I think that this simile shows the mental strength of An-mei and how strong her beliefs really were before they were destroyed by the loss of Bing.
The anger coursed through her veins like boiling water.
"He marched stiffly to show me how to make each finger dance up and down, staccato like an obedient little soldier." (Woo 137)
ReplyDeleteThis simile has a double meaning. There is the simple one where June is just talking about how the deaf teacher is trying to show her how to play. She is describing in a very detailed way how she has to form her fingers above the keys. She supposedly has to keep them really straight and stiff so she can play accurately. The second meaning is everyone is making June have to be obedient. This is another immature statement by June about how the teacher, like her mother, is forcing her to do things that she does not want to do.
The wind is like my mind, never settling.
"And after that, every time I saw it in my parents' living room, standing in front of the bay windows, it made me feel proud, as if it were a shiny trophy I had won back." (Tan 143).
ReplyDeleteThis simile conveys a sense of achievement that Amy Tan wanted June to feel. She uses the word 'trophy' to show how June won her independence from her mother, and she uses the word 'proud' to tell readers that June felt content after seeing her mother give up her hope of June becoming a child prodigy. To me, this makes me think of June as kind of a jerk to her mother, especially after reading about her bringing up her mom's dead children earlier in the chapter.
The boy was happy as a fat tick on a lazy dog.
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ReplyDelete“But later that day, the streets of Kweilin were strewn with newspapers reporting great Kuomintang victories, and on top of these papers, like fresh fish from a butcher, lay rows of people—men, women, and children who had never lost hope, but had lost their lives instead” (26).
ReplyDeleteThis is a very strong part of the story, and this metaphor is the perfect place for it. Using the words, fresh fish from a butcher, implies that no one cared about their deaths. That the people were just put in rows and killed, then left strewn across the land, no burial, no words of remorse, nothing. I also found symbolic that the papers were underneath the people, which says that people are glad that they won the victory but at the cost of many lives. I believe that this is doubly saddening due to the fact that the people never lost hope, but lost their lives. These people entrusted their lives with their government and in return they treat them like a bunch of fish. This simile impacts the rest of the story by setting the intense of this section of the story and all the travesties that come from that journey.
Hurricane Sandy is like a tornado on steroids.
"'Why does she look scared?'...(she)was struggling to keep her eyes open until the flash went off 10 seconds later. My mother often looked this way, waiting for something to happen, wearing this scared look. Only later she lost the struggle to keep her eyes open."
ReplyDeleteYing Ying St. Clair had been through a lot of turmoil and change, especially in her marriage. Coming to America was literally a new life for her, with a new name and birth date. The photograph in this metaphor is a symbol for this new life. In it are trials she has never faced before. She comes to realize that things may take longer than she expected them to, but never exactly how long they will be, giving her time to rest a minute (blink). The last part is saying that even though she tried her hardest to adjust to American life, after a while it finally got to her and she gave up. She became the submissive wife and crazy mother she is in the story.
Our love was like water, filling us up and pouring from us.
(Also, my favorite metaphor ever. It's from The Fault In Our Stars "If people were rain, then I was drizzle and she was a hurricane" -John Green)
"And I want to tell her this: We are lost, she and I, unseen, and not seeing, unheard and not hearing, unknown by others." 67
ReplyDeleteThe quote here is discussing about how Ying-ying is always so quiet, that even her own daughter won't notice her. In the story, she is told that the Moon Lady will grant each person their secret wish, a wish that would make someone sound selfish if they say it out loud. When Ying-ying was about to tell the Moon Lady her secret wish, she found out the "Moon Lady" was really an actor, and she stopped speaking. I think that she didn't say her wish was because if she said it out loud to someone other than the Moon Lady, it would become a selfish desire. Ying-ying says that the moment has still changed her, and that's why she is so quiet these days. It can still be seen how silent she is in "The Voice from the Wall", which is the story of Ying-ying's daughter, Lena. She still hasn't been able to make her wish to be found, and she keeps quiet to avoid having that wish become a selfish desire.
Her eyes were glinting emeralds mingled with dark shades of turquoise and dull gold.
"I would play after him, the simple scale,the simple chord, and then I just played some nonsense that sounded like a cat running up and down on top of garbage cans" (Tan 137).
ReplyDeleteThis similie represents June's ability to give up and not try. It shows that she doesn't care about playing the piano or being who her mom wants her to be. Her playing is compared to a cat running on garbage cans. I think this means it was sloppy, dirty, and noisy. She wasn't trying because she didn't want to be the child prodigy her mother wanted her to be. She thought she would be perfect at it right away. She gave up too easily on herself and her mother. I think this similie also represents how June rebels to her mother. She is doing this on purpose because of their relationship. Her mother wants to her to be something that June doesn't want to be. This is June's way of getting the message across to her mother, and show she isn't the perfect child prodigy.
My similie: The air was as cold as ice.
Delete"It was as if I had said the magic words. Alakazam!--and her face went blank, her mouth closed, her arms went slack, and she backed out of the room, stunned, as if she were blowing away like a small brown leaf, thin, brittle, lifeless." (142)
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with Matt.
Jing-Mei was a doll that made it realize her mother’s dream of being a great pianist. And her mother thought Jing-Mei deserved to be the one because she is a prodigy and her mother’s daughter.
Those words deprive her mother of her dream and living hope, so that she lost the power of life. By throwing those words, Jing-Mei break off her mother’s egoistic wish. “A small leaf, thin, brittle, lifeless” represents fragile mind of her mother. Her mother’s mind was break, because no word was shouted back to Jing-Mei.
News reporters gathered to the politician as if ants swarming to honey.
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ReplyDelete"The chessmen were more powerful than Old Li's magic herbs that cured ancestral curses" (Tan 93).
ReplyDeleteI believe that this metaphor is very good. It not only shows how literally the chess pieces were more important to Waverley than her old tradition. The quote says 'cured' like when she was feeling down she could go to her chess pieces and feel at home. Everyone needs something that they can go to. This also gives the perspective of the whole story how Waverley is trying to let go of her mother's old Chinese traditions and move to something she fees passionate about: chess.
After playing the old and rusted strings on the guitar, Karsten's new strings felt as smooth as a soft linen blanket
"The alley was quiet and I could see the yellow lights shining from our flat like two tiger's eyes in the night" (Tan 100).
ReplyDeleteThis simile occurs in the story "Rules of the Game" right after Waverly runs away from her over-proud mother. After she runs she can see her apartment from where she landed. She looks up to see the "tiger's eyes" in her apartment. The glow from the window can stand for a number of things. The strongest representation, in my opinion, is this: The windows glow represent the glare and anger Waverly thinks she is going to receive when she gets home. Specifically, she sees those "eyes" as her mother's, who she was quite frightened of at that moment.
The ballerina glided across the stage like a swan on the rivers surface.
"All these years I have kept my true nature hidden. running along like a small shadow so nobody could catch me" (Tan 62).
ReplyDeleteThis passage is describing how Ying-Ying St. Clair's daughter can not see her because she has remained hidden for so long. I think that this simile shows that Ying-Ying is afraid of doing something that will change her daughter's views. At the same time, she is afraid of her daughter not seeing or hearing the world. In a way, I feel that this simile is showing how the mother is making the same mistakes she made in the past. In the mother's story she wishes to be be found, but by hiding, she has given her daughter the same wish. Ying-Ying describes her and her daughter as being "unknown by others"(Tan 62). By blending in, she is making the same mistake as a parent that she made as a child. By comparing her to a shadow, it shows how hidden she intentionally chooses to be.
She was bright and happy like a daffodil during spring.
"The alley was quiet and I could see the yellow lights shining from our flats like two tigers eyes in the night" (Tan 100)
ReplyDeleteI believe that on a literal level, she is scared of her house because she is a little kid and we all think things are scary in the dark, especially when we're by ourselves. Like when I was little and I would go into my grandparents basement and the furnace turned on I would think it was a monster coming at out of the closet after me. I honestly think that Amy Tan was trying to tell the reader that the mother will be like a tiger, ready to attack Waverly. She will go at Waverly because she ran away from her,and disobeyed her by not coming back when she was told to earlier.
The storm was as loud as loud as train tracks on top of a house.
“The lid to the piano was closed, shutting out the dust, my misery, and her dreams” (Tan 143).
ReplyDeleteThis metaphor is literally talking about the piano’s lid shutting out dust from getting inside of the piano, but not only is it talking about this. This metaphor is talking about how Jing-Mei’s mom had stopped talking about piano lessons, so her mom’s dreams for her daughter had diminished since the piano lid was shut. It means that Jing-Mei will no longer play piano, which will end her misery she went through. The lid had closed because Jing-Mei didn’t want to do what her mother had wanted. She didn’t want to turn into someone different by learning how to play the piano, so that is why she always didn’t try her best and made the worst possible music. Jing-Mei didn’t want to endure anymore misery, which was caused by her mom always forcing her to play piano, and the disappointed look that always resulted from her mom. Since the piano was not played anymore, the dust accumulated only on top of it, and it ended Jing-Mei’s nightmares and her mom’s hopes for her.
His love for her is like a rose; it is tightly wrapped deep inside and not shown.
"I would swing my patent leather shoes back and forth like an impatient child riding on a school bus" (Tan 98).
ReplyDeleteI think that when Amy Tan used this simile to give show how confident Waverly was during her chess competitions. When she says this I get a sense of boredom. The word "impatient" is what makes me think she is better than her competition. She knows she is going to win and feels that its only a matter of time before she does. This simile makes me believe Waverly is arrogant, and I dislike that about her. This is where I began to feel less sorry for her because of how hard her mom pushed her.
I am as happy as a clown.
"I kept thinking my fingers would adjust themselves back, like a train switching to the right track" (Tay 139).
ReplyDeleteThis simile is from the history "Two Kinds", that is told by Jing-Mei Woo. I love this simile. I love because actually We've all had a moment of having to return to the right path of the train. I think most people can be positively identified with this simile. But back directly on my quotation I think that she is telling that her live was a undefined direction. I can say that because of the world those in "adjust themselves back", I think that what Jing-Mei is trying to pass is that her is gonna will "adjust itself".
Your smile penetrates in the soul like the harmony in an orchestra
"I imagined Joy Luck was a shameful Chinese custom, like the secret gathering of the Ku Klux Klan" (28).
ReplyDeleteThis simile shows how little June's mother shared about her life. June had no idea of what her mother was doing when she gathered her close friends,so she assumed the worst of The Joy Luck Club.This comparission highlights the distant relationship June and her mother had. It was June and her mothers fault for the lack of communication; June's mother for not telling June what they were doing and June for not asking. This also shows what June thinks of her mother. She knew so little of her mother that she assumed she was the leader of terrorist group.
She left her abusive home, like a gazelle escaping the hungry jaws of a cheetah.
"My mother was lying in bed. My mother was now always 'resting' and it was as if she had died and become a living ghost" (112).
ReplyDeleteLena St. Clair is describing her mother’s physical body and her lack of spirit or energy. She says her mother is just laying there, not relaxing after a tiring day, but she is appearing to be a lifeless body, a corpse. Mentally, she is dead; she is not “there.” It feels like her mother is just hovering over everything, without any feelings, like a ghost. Her mother and her aunts were always scared of ghosts. Now Lena St. Clair is afraid of her mother. She is afraid of what her mother might do and how that would affect her whole family. Lena wonders if her mother will be able to escape from her depression this time.
Hurricane Sandy is like the Big Bad Wolf knocking down the Three Little Pigs’s houses.
"That's when I saw the matchmaker's servant running from the room, scared as a chicken about to lose its head."(Tan 56)
ReplyDeleteThis simile is from earlier in "The Red Candle". This simile is relevant because during the time period that this story is happening, the Chinese were scared of being bombed by the Japanese. This simile is used to emphasize the servant's fear of the bombs, even though it is just thunder. The words, "chicken about to lose its head," help explain the fear of that time, and from a specific person. This simile helps to set the undertones of the story, which are fear and confusion. These come out during the main character's, or Lindo Jong's, marriage to Tyan-yu. There is confusion between the two of them because Lindo starts to question the marriage, and it starts to fall apart.
The text book was as worn and beaten as mashed potatoes.
"I thought we were like two people standing apart on seperate mountain peaks, recklessly leaning forward to throw stones at one another, unaware of the dangerous chasm that seperated us"(Tan 120).
ReplyDeleteAmy Tan used this simile to perfection. This simile describes the stupidity of predivorced couples. They try to hit one another more and more not knowing of the dangers they put themselves. I also believe that Ted fell into this chasm at the end of it all. He kept trying to get Rose to mess up without knowing that he got himself in the situation. He was being a rebellious teen and married without a second thought. He messed up and now he doesn't want to deal with all his failures coming back on him. Ted must now either climb out of the chasm a better man or stay down there like a wimp. I pity Rose because I feel she could do so much better. I also believe Rose didn't fall into the chasm because she kept it moving and learned her lesson; however, she needs to make up her own mind.
This girl is as stubborn as a mule.
"I would play after him, the simple scale, the simple chord, and then I just played some nonsense that sounded like a cat running up and down on top of garbage cans" (Jing-Mei Woo 137).
ReplyDeleteThis was a quote that really started to change my view on Jing-Mei. I really had no problems with Jing-Mei because, at first, she didn't strike me as the lazy type. I never thought she'd be so unappreciative of what her mother did for her. After I read this quote I began to realize why her mother pushed her so hard. She pushed her obsessively because she knew Jing-Mei wouldn't try herself; She knew Jing-Mei wouldn’t try hard at anything she did to better her life. I realized that Jing-Mei's mother only wanted to give her some hope of a better life. This quote really shows Jing-Mei's lack of appreciation because she took advantage of the great opportunities her mother set up for her. Her mother exchanged her own labor for those piano lessons, and Jing-Mei didn't show that she appreciated that at all. This caused me to stop feeling sympathy for Jing-Mei; I no longer sympathized because of her whining. It annoyed me that she acted like a burden to her hard-working mother. While reading this quote is when I lost respect for Jing-Mei, and she hasn’t earned that respect back from me.
"My mother was now always "resting" and it was as if she had died and become a living ghost." (113)
ReplyDeleteThis metaphor relates back to all of the chinese mothers of each chinese daughter in the joy luck club I feel. Each mother so far in the book has reached a breaking point in there adult life in which they completly turn off. Whether it be because of a new baby for instance and having a miscarrage possibly, a disobidient child whom talks back, or a death of another child. Each of these scenerio's have taken place so far in the book. I feel as though this quote forshadows each coming story of the mothers as we read along. The dissapointent and greef that has lined the pages of this book has shown a breaking point for each character. This quote non the less gives a great sense of the lifeless grasp each mother eventually lets go of and in this case it would be letting go of her child.
4) She no longer wept when she shed her tears it was like her silent mourning never even happened.
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ReplyDelete“And my eyes, my mother gave me my eyes, no eyelids, as if they were carved on a jack-o’-lantern with two swift cuts of a short knife” (Tan 104).
ReplyDeleteThe comparison between Lena’s eyes and those of a jack-o’-lantern was especially interesting to me because it represents Lena’s presence in both the Chinese and American cultures. Born from a Chinese mother, Ying-ying, and an English-Irish father, Ted, Lena is present in both worlds, but she is torn between her mother’s acceptance of the rigid Chinese culture and her father’s laid back attitude. To me, the comparison to a jack-o’-lantern symbolizes a blank canvas from which Ying-ying and Ted sculpted Lena’s appearance. They wanted her to have a connection to Ying-ying’s Chinese heritage, which is an important characteristic that manifests itself in the story, and yet have Ted’s roots in the American culture so assimilation into society would be less difficult. As I read this simile, I felt a sense of conflict in Lena’s life, for she can see her mother troubled and by the imbalance of her marriage with Ted, but like Ted, she cannot do anything about it. She resides between two very different realms, an observer of American culture through Chinese eyes.
A good idea is like the spark that ignites a fire of knowledge.
"I didn't have his straw-yellow hair or his white skin, yet my coloring looked pale, like something that was once darker and had faded in the sun" (Tan 104).
ReplyDeleteThis simile exhibits Lena's quick and rapid maturity as a child. The "coloring" represents her childhood and how she would see things that "Caucasian girls at school did not" (103). Her childhood was dark and filled with these ,in my opinion, disturbing thoughts and visions in her head. I think that her "visons" are influenced by the fact that her mother sheltered and scared Lena of the outside world. Those thoughts slowly began to fade away and become new ones as she grew up and being more exposed to the outside world having to fix translations to her parents as a way of protecting them. "But I also made up lies to prevent from bad things from happening in the future" (Tan 106). Having being exposed to these things, it has made her even more fearful like her mother. Being exposed in the sun, your skin should get darker, not lighter. The simile is a representation of how Lena's exposure had an opposite affect on her life, making her more fearful, then less fearful.
Love is a pearl, rusted; but in times of enduring pressure, truly shines or fades.
"At first my mother thought I could be a Chinese Shirley Temple. We'd watch Shirley's old movies on TV as though they were training videos.(Tan,132)
ReplyDeleteThis simile is saying that Jing-Mei Woo's mother is basically saying that I want you to be this. I want you to be Shirley Temple, but Chinese.How this impacted through the reading of Two Kinds is that she is trying to be two people at once. For one, her mother is telling her prodigies for her daughter. Two, she is listening to her mother, thinking that she is going the be like Shirley Temple and other prodigies. Also she is getting her hopes up and is going to break when it doesn't happen. It's a good addition to the story because if this prodigy comparison of Jing Woo and Shirley Temple wasn't in the beginning of the story, it wouldn't start with a good introduction into being a prodigy of a famous character. It wouldn't start with watching the shows into being training videos for her. The story really and this is what I think is it really wouldn't start.
The five girls are so excited for The Justin Bieber Concert, they started screaming, shrieking, and jumping up and down in excitement.
"And after that, every time I saw it in my parents' living room, standing in front of the bay windows, it made me feel proud, as if it were a shiny trophy I had won back" (Tan 143).
ReplyDeleteThe piano is a powerful symbol in this story. When she is first given the piano, it is an imposition of her parents' dreams on June. After the reference to her children, June had the power. Her parents shut down the piano and the lessons. The piano became a symbol of closed dreams. Twenty years later, when June's mother offered the piano as a gift to her, the piano became June's symbol of winning against her parents demands of her. She won the war over who would have control of her life. That is the symbol of the piano.
I ran and jumped into the neatly raked pile of leaves like a small child leaping off the diving board for the first time.
“Instead of having cheeks like my father's sharp-edged points, mine were smooth as beach pebbles” (Tan 106).
ReplyDeleteThis metaphor was used to describe the difference in facial characteristics between Lena and her father. I think this metaphor played an important role with showing more description. By displaying the details, the point of this passage was more interesting than simply stating, something along the lines of "People noticed my face was different than my dad's face". With the metaphor describing the specific characteristics, the difference of their faces is much more meaningful as showing where they came from instead of just showing the physical characteristics.
The tornado sounded like a train wreck as it rolled through the town.
"I kept thinking my fingers would adjust themselves back, like a train switching to the right track." (139)
ReplyDeleteIn class today, there was a lot of talk of what the train meant. At first I heard that it was her life going out of control. It showed how much she needed help getting her grip back of her own life. But after a while thinking, I had realized that the train not only symbolizes her life, but it also symbolizes her behavior. She was rebelling against her mother, and she didn't see that when she brought up her mom's other children it was putting her mom in a head lock. She wanted her mom to apologize, when really she should have been the one on her knees. Everyone makes mistakes, its the way of life. We learn from them, then make it better the next time. But it takes some longer than others to realize what they have done.
The anger built up in me slowly, over time, like lava in a volcano about to erupt.
From Daniel Rolen...
ReplyDelete“’For Woman is yin,’ she cried sadly, ‘the darkness within, where untempered passions lie. And man is yang, bright truth lighting our minds.’”(Tan, 81)
This metaphor is summarizing the basic mindset of the Chinese culture back in that period. It is comparing woman to the darkness and evil that causes us to do terrible things, and it is referring to man as the being who shall not only create peace and prosperity, but also restore it. This metaphor stood out to me because of the fact that it would be perceived in our culture as a blatantly sexist remark; however, with the Chinese this is simply accepted as a fact of nature. Similar to the idea that the sun will go down and the moon will go up, they are not trying to be malevolent; they are simply stating what they believe to be a fact. And because of this metaphor and Ying-Ying seeming to accept it, it makes me view her as a much weaker character than before.
The man had the ferocity of a wolverine on steroids.
“I would swing my patent leather shoes back and forth like an impatient child riding on a school bus.” (Tan, 98)
ReplyDeleteI like this simile because it has several different meanings, and can be interpreted in several ways. First off she used a common image, “an impatient child on a school bus” to make the reader relate to Waverly and also allow us to easily picture her. The simile also represents Waverly’s attitude, she is confident, proud, and just waiting. Like a kid on the school bus, Waverly knows where she is going and that she is going to get there. The simile also reminds us about how young Waverly is; Waverly is just over nine, so she is a little girl. School also represents the chess board. She learns on the chess field both about chess and about life; so in a way it is her school, and Lau Po is her teacher.
He waited in the background, like a fox tracking its prey.
From Amy Cory
ReplyDelete"My mother was now always "resting" and it was as if she had died and become a living ghost." (113)
I agree what Amy said. She said that this quote relates to each of the Chinese mother because of the things they faced in their new life in America or their old life in China. This quote means to me that the, mother have felt so much pain that they are not living their lives to the fullest. In the first part of this quote “My mother was always resting”, means that are literally siting down and thinking about what is going to happen in the future or what happened in the past. “It was as if she had died and become a living ghost”, means that she is sad and nervous about something bad is going to happen.
The cold breeze cut me like a knife cutting a piece of cake
I truly apologize for the earlier comments. Absolutely no offense was intended in the above comments. I expected to be able to delete them, but do to the anonymity, the blog prevented me from doing so. Again, me and some other people are sorry.
ReplyDeleteIf you expected to be able to delete them, then why did you post them in the first place?
DeletePlease stop visiting our blog.
"So, with the sweep of a pen, my mother lost her name and became a Dragon instead of a Tiger." (Tan 104)
ReplyDeleteThis metaphor is referring to when Lena's mother first came to America. When she came to America, she had to change her name in order to have a better chance for a green card. A lot of times emigrates from different countries change their names and convert to a different religion in order to have a better case for citizenship. When Lena's father accidentally changes her mother's date of birth it switches her birth animal on the Chinese calendar from a tiger to a dragon. This metaphor symbolizes the complete external and sometimes internal change or transformation. It completely changes her identity.
Anxiety hit me at the worst of times, like a tornado hitting a town at the end of a beautiful sunset.
"I kept thinking my fingers would adjust themselves back, like a train switching to the right track."(Tan 139)
ReplyDeleteI would like to build upon Billy's post referring to this simile about Jing Mei. In my mind, this simile was describing the way Jing Mei played the piano. She just expected everything to workout. She expected to be the greatest, without even practicing. Jing Ming expected her fingers would magically go back on track like a train. This was not the case, as Jing Ming failed horrifically in her piano recital. Billy made another point in his blog, suggesting that her life was on the wrong path (tracks)and her mother would stop her obsession with her/piano and everything would go back to normal. Her life will be on track. I had never thought about this comparison and thought it summed it up even better than my previous idea.
Simile: He was as cool as the other side of the pillow.
Delete"So Bing wandered down the beach, walking stiffly like an ousted emperor, picking up shards of rock and chunks of driftwood and flinging them with all his might into the surf." (Tan 123)
ReplyDeleteIn the previous passages, Tam says that Bing did not want to play with his brothers because they treated him like a child and ignored him. The fact that Amy Tan chose the word "emperor" indicates Bing was very much alone and used to having to entertain himself. His walking "stiffly" indicates that his pride may have been hurt, and instead of begging his brothers to let him play with them, he preferred to maintain his facade of indifference and made the rocks and driftwood his subjects instead, since they could not refuse.
My simile: Her smile shriveled up like a lone balloon left to wither away amongst a pile of wrapping paper.