China Roses

I have almost not written about The Joy Luck Club because this book is too beautiful to write about. There are lots of references to Chinese culture, various legends, proverbs, superstitions, and I liked them a lot, so it would be hard to choose a single one of them.

First of all, if you don't already know the story (which you cannot help knowing if you have had the same major at the same place as me), let me summarize it. There are four first generation Chinese-American immigrants living in San Francisco. Actually, the story is set a few months after the death of one of them, Suyuan, whose idea it was to start the joy luck club. The joy luck club is something similar to what you see on Desperate Housewives when they gather and play poker and gossip. Only here the ladies play mah jong and serve wonderful Chinese food and tell stories of a higher rank. The book itself is also a collection of such stories, memories intertwined with cultural and historical elements.
The book is also about the mother-daughter relationship, which here is also influenced by a cultural clash, as the daughters of these women are Americanized, and consequently don't speak the language of their mothers (meaning both literally and figuratively). The book is divided into four parts, each of which are further divided into four smaller parts. These smaller parts are told by one of the mothers or daughters, so after a section of four daughter stories comes a section of four mother stories, although Suyuan, the one who has formerly passed, doesn't speak to us but is interpreted through the thoughts of her daughter, Jing-mei. My favorite character, and probably the toughest of the mothers, was Lindo Jong. She reminded me of my late grandmother "Jolán mama." (As I child I always thought that even her name was so strict.)
As I said, the book is full of peculiarly Chinese elements, some of which seem to be old wives' tales from the daughter's point of view. Actually the mothers of the book are about the generation of my grandparents, so even the daughters are some decades away from me. But the book has something eternal in it, and it's told in beautiful English. Although it was a bit funny that the mothers' stories are also told in perfect English, whereas in their daughters' accounts the mothers always speak some broken English.
Okay, finally, let me tell you my very favorite story of them all, which is called "The Moon Lady."  As I understand the Moon Lady is some kind of divinity, who appears on a peculiar day of the year, and this is the only time when people are allowed to tell their secret desires to her, other than that they have to keep it for themselves all year long. The Moon Lady had a husband called Master Archer of the Skies. One day Queen Mother appeared in front of him and presented him with the peach of eternal life. To prove worthy of it, he had to fast for a year. Naturally this peach was very precious for him, but when he left it unattended, his wife grabbed it and ate it. As punishment she had to "stay lost on the moon, forever seeking her own selfish wishes. 'For woman is yin, [...] the darkness within, where untempered passions lie. And man is yang, bright truth lighting our minds.'"*
I wonder who gave them the foolish idea which Christianity also proudly celebrates, namely that woman is evil and man is the playboy of the world. This story sounds pretty much Adam and Eve to me. However, the chapter itself has a quite beautiful and powerful ending, as the then child speaker goes up to the Moon Lady and wishes to be found. And I think that's all we wish for.

*Tan, Amy 1998 [1989]. The Joy Luck Club. Vintage. (page 81)

P.S. Sorry for not using mla.
P.P.S. The pic is from the film version, which is also quite good as far as I remember.