The Joy Luck Club, Section 10: "Magpies"

Literary Term: Fable

In “Magpies,” An-mei recounts the time when she fled her aunt and uncle’s house to live with her mother despite the fact that her mother was considered a perfidious traitor for abandoning their household to become the third concubine of a wealthy merchant. Upon conversing with her mother’s servant, however, An-mei discovered that the only reason her mother had come to be Wu Tsing’s concubine was because Wu Tsing had raped her. Left utterly ashamed after Second Wife claimed that An-mei’s mother had seduced Wu Tsing, she was left with no choice but to become his third concubine, a disgraceful position in the household. Although An-mei’s mother had desired nothing more than for An-mei to live with her, she soon realized that she had doomed her daughter to living a life of shame by bringing her to live in such a lowly position in Wu Tsing’s household. Out of genuine love for her daughter, An-mei’s mother committed suicide two days before the lunar calendar. Because Wu Tsing was a very superstitious man, he feared retribution from the ghost of An-mei’s mother if he did not elevate An-mei to a higher position in his household; consequently, by killing herself, An-mei’s mother had salvaged An-mei’s life and honor.

I believe the most effective quote in “Magpies” is when An-mei, when speaking of her mother, recalls, “She whispered to me that she would rather kill her own weak spirit so she could give me a stronger one.” This quote reveals that, in addition to sacrificing her own life to save An-mei, An-mei’s mother had also died to show An-mei how to strengthen her own spirit. An-mei’s mother had never stood up for herself, and, as a result, she was taken advantage of, rejected by her family, forced into a position of low status in her new household, and denied the privilege of raising the son that she bore Wu Tsing. Similar to her mother, An-mei was also reluctant to defend herself, and thus it was for this reason that An-mei’s mother died: to show An-mei how to take a stand and avoid making the same mistakes that she had made in her own life. This effective quote therefore showcases the fact that, although her mother had lived a seemingly shameful life, with her last act on earth, she had honorably poured all her love into An-mei and given everything to provide her with a better life. On that day, An-mei says, she learned to “shout.” Now, many decades later, An-mei is pained as she watches her own daughter allow her marriage to fall apart while doing nothing whatsoever to stop it from happening. Recalling the measures that her own mother had taken to teach her how to find her voice, An-mei fears she has not conveyed this important lesson properly to Rose.

*This is a picture or a magpie, the bird of joy.

Personally, this story spoke a great deal to me because I, too, am very tentative to stand up for myself; in fact, I will allow myself to be taken advantage of on a regular basis because I am constantly afraid of making someone angry. My mother is very similar to me in this regard, but she has learned through her own life experiences that, sometimes, it is critical for a person to stand up for themselves. My mother has reminded me frequently that I am worth defending myself. I also know that my mother would do anything to protect me, as I would for her and my own future children, and therefore this story of An-mei and her mother was very relatable to me and surely many of my classmates and peers.

A literary term that applies to this section is fable, or a brief story that leads to a moral and often uses animals as characters. In this section, An-mei’s mother tells her a story in which a turtle swallows tears and turns them into magpies. This fable was meant to teach that tears cannot wash suffering away and can only feed others’ happiness; therefore, one must swallow their tears.

My mother and I