Fictional Novel - Free Essay Example

The Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan, is a fictional novel that consists of sixteen-intertwined stories about the conflict between four Chinese immigrant mothers, and their four Chinese American-born daughters. Published in 1989, this book takes place in San Francisco, California, and parts of China. In Between An interesting note about the book is how it does not follow chronological order. It is broken into four different sections. The story starts off with Jing-mei June Woo, daughter of Suyuan Woo who has just recently passed away, and then tells the mothers stories. The second section jumps more to the present and talks about the daughters lives. It continues like that, until the fourth and final section where it goes back to the mothers narratives. The novel is based upon mostly the story of a mother named Suyuan Woo and her daughter Jing-mei June Woo, and how Jing-mei travels back to China to meet her half sisters, Chwun Yu and Chwun Hwa. The reason her half-sister are still in China was due to the Japanese invasion of Kweilin during World War II, and her mothers sacrifice of leaving them on a roadside to flee to safety. Years later, Jing-mei is born in America to a different father. However, she intended to return to China, but sadly dies before she gets the chance to find them. Jing-mei is now taking her mothers spot in mahjong at the weekly gathering her mother had created back in China, and was brought to San Francisco when she moved to the United States. The weekly gathering included Suyuans other friends and members-Lindo Jong, An-mei Hsu, and Ying Ying St. Clair. Just before Suyuan had died, she had been able to track down her other daughters. So the women give Jing-mei money to go and find them and tell them about their mothers life. The middle part of the book is about the daughters- Waverly Jong, Rose Hsu Jordan, Lena St. Clair, and of course Jing-mei Woo, making connections of their childhood relationships with their mothers, and talking about their relationship with their mothers, and the struggles they are going through. The last section of the book goes back to the Chinese mothers perspective, and their attempt to appease the divide between Chinese and American cultures by coming up with solutions that can solve both types of values and wants. Thesis Statement: This book does not just tell the stories of eight women, but rather the more complex relationship and misunderstandings that results in a division between Chinese born mothers and their American born daughters.

College Tour Questions

College Tour Questions March 15, 2013 There are some college tour questions that are totally inappropriate to ask. Theres a good post by Martha C. Merrill, the dean of admission and financial aid at Connecticut College, up on The Choice blog on the topic of appropriate college tour questions. In the post entitled, What (Not) to Ask on a Campus Tour, Merrill goes through some questions that prospective applicants and their parents sometimes rather astonishingly ask. Wondering what those questions are? Have you ever been on a campus tour when a parent in the group asked how much it would cost to buy a library? Oh, it happens. Ms. Merrill didnt mention this particular gem, but she did mention a few others that got us to giggle. For instance, students should not ask their tour guide to admit them. That tour guide has no power over your candidacy. He or she is just a student in all likelihood. Maybe at some schools its an admissions officer so there are indeed exceptions, but this is neither the time or the place to bring such a question up. In fact, there is never a time or place to outright ask an admissions officer to admit you. Thats absurd. Oy vey. Merrill also says that students and parents shouldnt ask the tour guide to predict how much financial aid you might receive. Yes, some folks really do this! How the heck would the tour guide know this information? Oy vey again. And certainly dont ask your tour guides grades or SAT scores, writes Merrill. Oh, weve heard people ask this. Are they kidding? How nosy can one be? What business is it of theirs? What an invasive question but, yes, there are people in the world on college tours who ask such questions. It happens. Have you been on a tour where an inappropriate question was asked? If so, how did your tour guide respond? Share with us your stories by posting below! While youre here, check out our video on What Not to Do on College Tours.