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American Author, Amy Tan’s works identify the obstacles of racial discrimination and cultural struggles, which come with pursuing the American Dream for Asian immigrants. Her work still encourages and inspires readers that the American Dream is beneficial and can ensure a brighter future.

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Born of a Stranger: Mother-Daughter Relationships and Storytelling in Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club

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Born of a Stranger: Mother-Daughter Relationships and Storytelling in Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club

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Amy Tan writes The Joy Luck Club to address the cultural differences between American and Chinese customs, conveying the appeal for Asian immigrants to pursue the American Dream. The novel centers around a group of Asian immigrant parents and their American-born children, following their journey of confronting and pursuing the American Dream. Tan identifies the benefits of the American Dream, which resonates with the characters. In an excerpt from her novel, Tan explains that “The Chinese way consists of not expressing one's desires, not speaking up, and not making choices. The American way consists of exercising choices and speaking up for oneself. She hoped that this would allow her daughter to lead a better life than the one she had in China. Indeed, in China people had no choice. Since they could not speak up, they were forced to accept whatever fate befell them” (Shen). This cultural difference creates an obstacle to the character's idea of the American Dream and family dynamics. More importantly, through The Joy Luck Club, Tan displays the benefits of the American values and focuses on how the American Dream could lead to a better life where one has the freedom of speech, inspiring the readers to pursue the American Dream to ensure a better future.
https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/EJ2111200076/SUIC?u=clar33415&sid=bookmark-SUIC&xid=974420bc

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The American Dream, from Life in the USA

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The American Dream, from Life in the USA

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Tan writes “Two Kinds,” a short story from her novel The Joy Luck Club which is based around a mother’s persistence on her child’s American Dream. "Two Kinds" focuses on a mother influencing her child on her idea of the American Dream through promises of prosperity and wealth. Even with the child resisting and the topic putting a strain on their relationship, the mother continues to be persistent and influence her decision. The influence is when Tan writes, “My mother believed you could be anything you wanted to be in America. You could open a restaurant. You could work for the government and get a good retirement. You could buy a house with almost no money down. You could become rich. You could instantly become famous” (Pitas). Through “Two Kinds,” Tan promotes the American Dream as a way to have a successful career and future, encouraging the readers who desire these values to pursue the American Dream in hopes of obtaining the values.

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The URL of this site is:
This material courtesy of Jeannine M. Pitas

My mother believed you could be anything you wanted to in America. You could open a restaurant. You could work for the government and get good retirement. You could buy a house with almost no money down. You could become rich. You could instantly become famous.

Thus begins Two Kinds, a short story by the acclaimed Chinese-American author Amy Tan. Telling the tale of two cultures, the story tells of Jing Mei, a young American girl whose mother, having lost everything in China, wants to realize her own dreams through her daughter, whom she hopes will become a child prodigy. While this story of parent-child conflict is universal, the mother's unfailing belief in her daughter's destiny is distinctly American. Pervasive throughout our entire culture, the idea of the American Dream can be seen in the songs of such musicians as Elvis and Bruce Springsteen, the literary works of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Tennessee Williams, and many of our Hollywood movies. Sometimes it is endorsed as something positive and worth striving for; at other times it is harshly criticized. Members of marginalized or minority groups in the US, such as African-American folk singer Tracy Chapman and Latino writer Junot Diaz, seek to show how it is not. But, no matter how people choose to view it, what exactly is this dream that looms so large in American consciousness?

The basic idea that most people have of the American Dream is the one which Tan expresses at the beginning of her story. It is the idea that a person can go from rags to riches, beginning with nothing and ending up with a big house, a stylish car, and enough wealth to ensure an even better future for one's children. However, the dream is actually more complex than this. In Arthur Miller's play Death of a Salesman, which is one of the most famous literary explorations of the American Dream, we meet Willy Loman, an aging salesman who has fallen into a depression and ultimately commits suicide due to his conflicts with his family members as well as his own feelings of inadequacy. He is a man who has sought the American Dream and failed to achieve it. However, while Willy is indeed preoccupied over financial matters (his family is in deep debt), we soon realize that money is not what he yearns for. We learn that as a young man he chose to become a salesman not for material gain, but for recognition and affection. He recalls seeing an old salesman who was loved by all his clients and, after his death, was honored with a splendid funeral attended by hundreds of salesmen and buyers. For Willy Loman the American Dream consists not in wealth or even fame, but in honor, respect and love. Instead, he ends up with only failure and pity from the tiny smattering of people who attend his meager funeral. However, while Arthur Miller criticizes the American Dream by revealing the havoc it wreaks on a man and his family, he also expresses some admiration for it and suggests that there is a degree of nobility in the way Willy has lived and died. A salesman has got to dream, says Willy's neighbor Charley at the funeral. It comes with the territory.

In order to better understand the origins of this dream and its role in our history, we need only look at on object we use everyday: our money. Examining the US dollar bill, we see three mottos written on the seal. One of these is E pluribus unum, which means Out of many, one. This is the classic idea of democracy handed down to us from ancient Greece, the idea of uniting a diversity of people into the single entity of a nation. This idea is common to all democratic nations and is not unique to the United States. However, the next motto, Novus Ordo Seclorum (A new order of the ages) brings us closer to the idea of the American Dream. The United States was founded not merely because of colonists' disputes with Britain over taxes, but on ideas of justice and liberty. In declaring independence from Britain and later drafting the world's first written constitution, the founding fathers were essentially creating a new nation from scratch, a new order. This required a great deal of optimism, imagination, determination, and indeed a great deal of dreaming. However, it is the last motto - Annuit Coeptis- that most clearly reveals the American Dream at its essence. Translated into English, it means, He has favored our endeavors, and this He is implied to mean God. Needless to say, this motto is perplexing and indeed more than a little disturbing, for it implies that there is something exceptional about the United States, that our actions have some sort of divine sanction. However, looking at our country's history of expansion from coast to coast and intervention in world affairs, we definitely see that this is the exact attitude behind many of our actions and decisions. And while the US is by no means the only nation in the history of the world to have held this belief, it has perhaps taken it to heart more than most others.

Far from being a simple desire for riches or advancement, the American Dream is a complex phenomenon that has produced many reactions and counter-reactions in people. In the last century it led some people to support and give their lives in a very controversial warthe Vietnam Warand inspired others to march in protest of that same war. It has led some to ignore questions of ethics in their pursuit of wealth and fame, while it has led others to devote their lives to the task of making a difference in their country and the world. It is the dream of Jay Gatsby in F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel and also the dream of Martin Luther King. It may be interpreted in hundreds of ways, criticized, rejected or pursued. But, no one can question that it is an integral part of our culture's foundation and invariably is here to stay.

http://www.lifeintheusa.com/culture/amdream.htm
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The American Dream, from Life in the USA: The Complete Guide for Immigrants and Americans

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The URL of this site is: This material courtesy of Jeannine M. Pitas My mother believed you could be anything you wanted to in America. You could open a restaurant. You could work for the government and get good retirement. You could buy a house with almost no money down.

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The American Dream, from Life in the USA

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The American Dream, from Life in the USA

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Once again, in her short story "Two Kinds," Tan continues to show the advantages the American Dream can offer through the immigrant mother and American daughter relationship. Though the story of a parent-child conflict is universal, in this specific story, the mother's unchanging belief in her daughter's destiny is distinctly American. The destiny the mother believes the daughter to have is the American Dream. At the beginning of her story, Tan expresses the basic idea of the American Dream as "the idea that a person can go from rags to riches, beginning with nothing and ending up with a big house, a stylish car, and enough wealth to ensure an even better future for one's children” (Pitas). This description of the American Dream pertains to those with materialistic values, appealing to people who value wealth and material possessions. The author's perception of the American Dream encourages those who are materialistic that the dream is a way to obtain personal desires and interests.

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The URL of this site is:
This material courtesy of Jeannine M. Pitas

My mother believed you could be anything you wanted to in America. You could open a restaurant. You could work for the government and get good retirement. You could buy a house with almost no money down. You could become rich. You could instantly become famous.

Thus begins Two Kinds, a short story by the acclaimed Chinese-American author Amy Tan. Telling the tale of two cultures, the story tells of Jing Mei, a young American girl whose mother, having lost everything in China, wants to realize her own dreams through her daughter, whom she hopes will become a child prodigy. While this story of parent-child conflict is universal, the mother's unfailing belief in her daughter's destiny is distinctly American. Pervasive throughout our entire culture, the idea of the American Dream can be seen in the songs of such musicians as Elvis and Bruce Springsteen, the literary works of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Tennessee Williams, and many of our Hollywood movies. Sometimes it is endorsed as something positive and worth striving for; at other times it is harshly criticized. Members of marginalized or minority groups in the US, such as African-American folk singer Tracy Chapman and Latino writer Junot Diaz, seek to show how it is not. But, no matter how people choose to view it, what exactly is this dream that looms so large in American consciousness?

The basic idea that most people have of the American Dream is the one which Tan expresses at the beginning of her story. It is the idea that a person can go from rags to riches, beginning with nothing and ending up with a big house, a stylish car, and enough wealth to ensure an even better future for one's children. However, the dream is actually more complex than this. In Arthur Miller's play Death of a Salesman, which is one of the most famous literary explorations of the American Dream, we meet Willy Loman, an aging salesman who has fallen into a depression and ultimately commits suicide due to his conflicts with his family members as well as his own feelings of inadequacy. He is a man who has sought the American Dream and failed to achieve it. However, while Willy is indeed preoccupied over financial matters (his family is in deep debt), we soon realize that money is not what he yearns for. We learn that as a young man he chose to become a salesman not for material gain, but for recognition and affection. He recalls seeing an old salesman who was loved by all his clients and, after his death, was honored with a splendid funeral attended by hundreds of salesmen and buyers. For Willy Loman the American Dream consists not in wealth or even fame, but in honor, respect and love. Instead, he ends up with only failure and pity from the tiny smattering of people who attend his meager funeral. However, while Arthur Miller criticizes the American Dream by revealing the havoc it wreaks on a man and his family, he also expresses some admiration for it and suggests that there is a degree of nobility in the way Willy has lived and died. A salesman has got to dream, says Willy's neighbor Charley at the funeral. It comes with the territory.

In order to better understand the origins of this dream and its role in our history, we need only look at on object we use everyday: our money. Examining the US dollar bill, we see three mottos written on the seal. One of these is E pluribus unum, which means Out of many, one. This is the classic idea of democracy handed down to us from ancient Greece, the idea of uniting a diversity of people into the single entity of a nation. This idea is common to all democratic nations and is not unique to the United States. However, the next motto, Novus Ordo Seclorum (A new order of the ages) brings us closer to the idea of the American Dream. The United States was founded not merely because of colonists' disputes with Britain over taxes, but on ideas of justice and liberty. In declaring independence from Britain and later drafting the world's first written constitution, the founding fathers were essentially creating a new nation from scratch, a new order. This required a great deal of optimism, imagination, determination, and indeed a great deal of dreaming. However, it is the last motto - Annuit Coeptis- that most clearly reveals the American Dream at its essence. Translated into English, it means, He has favored our endeavors, and this He is implied to mean God. Needless to say, this motto is perplexing and indeed more than a little disturbing, for it implies that there is something exceptional about the United States, that our actions have some sort of divine sanction. However, looking at our country's history of expansion from coast to coast and intervention in world affairs, we definitely see that this is the exact attitude behind many of our actions and decisions. And while the US is by no means the only nation in the history of the world to have held this belief, it has perhaps taken it to heart more than most others.

Far from being a simple desire for riches or advancement, the American Dream is a complex phenomenon that has produced many reactions and counter-reactions in people. In the last century it led some people to support and give their lives in a very controversial warthe Vietnam Warand inspired others to march in protest of that same war. It has led some to ignore questions of ethics in their pursuit of wealth and fame, while it has led others to devote their lives to the task of making a difference in their country and the world. It is the dream of Jay Gatsby in F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel and also the dream of Martin Luther King. It may be interpreted in hundreds of ways, criticized, rejected or pursued. But, no one can question that it is an integral part of our culture's foundation and invariably is here to stay.

http://www.lifeintheusa.com/culture/amdream.htm
Top of this Page

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The American Dream, from Life in the USA: The Complete Guide for Immigrants and Americans

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The URL of this site is: This material courtesy of Jeannine M. Pitas My mother believed you could be anything you wanted to in America. You could open a restaurant. You could work for the government and get good retirement. You could buy a house with almost no money down.

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At last, using The Joy Luck Club, Tan identifies the positive perspectives on American customs and life. In the novel, one of many conflicts consists of a mother convincing her daughter to pursue her idea of the American Dream. One way the book shows the persuasive nature is through the appeal of personal interest; seen when the author writes, "'It's like those ladies you see on American TV these days, the ones who are so happy they have washed out a stain so, the clothes look better than new.’ For their American daughters, the mothers want nothing less than perfection. They believe that anything is possible for a daughter. In a free society, the daughters are not free to fall short of their mothers' expectations" (Willard). The novel includes the positive benefits of American customs and life. Being that people in America are content, perfect, and free. Furthermore, Tan accentuates the idea that those pursuing or have achieved the American Dream live a perfect and carefree lifestyle. By displaying a hopeful depiction of the American Dream, the writer encourages and inspires readers with similar goals to go after the dream.
https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/EJ2101207837/SUIC?u=clar33415&sid=bookmark-SUIC&xid=63b58ab4