The Joy Luck Club, Section 9: "Without Wood" and "Best Quality"

Literary Term: Hyperbole

This section of The Joy Luck Club covers “Without Wood,” which is narrated by Rose Hsu Jordan, and “Best Quality,” which is narrated by Jing-Mei Woo. While the two women share very different stories about their adult lives, Amy Tan makes the fact that both women were able to draw comfort and support from their mothers during unpleasant times clear. In “Without Wood,” Rose Hsu Jordan discusses the emotional struggle that she faced while dealing with a divorce from her husband, Ted. Rose uses a hyperbole, or an intentional exaggeration to create an effect, when she remarks, “I felt such pain… as if someone had torn off both my arms without anesthesia, without sewing me back up.” Rose expresses both feelings of indescribable pain and relief, as well as a desperate need for revenge; however, she admits that, more than anything, she is hopelessly confused. When Rose finally discovers that Ted is in a hurry to make the divorce final because he intends to remarry immediately and take the house that he and Rose had once shared, she feels manipulated and defeated for many days. Despite this, An-mei is able to comfort her, saying, “Why can you not talk to your husband?” and, “I am not telling you to save your marriage… I only say you should speak up.” Encouraged by An-mei’s words, Rose finally stands up for herself and firmly tells Ted that she will be the one to keep the house and that he will have to find another place to live with his new wife.

In “Best Quality,” Jing-mei Woo also faces a challenge in her life which her mother is able to help her overcome. Jing-mei’s mother, Suyuan, invites the entire Jong family over to the Woo home in order to celebrate the Chinese New Year together. At the dinner table, Waverly finds a sly way to insult Jing-mei’s financial position. Jing-mei, who had grown up with Waverly and was accustomed to the clever ways in which she would criticize and degrade her, was aggravated that, once again, she had been ridiculed in front of her family and friends. Jing-mei retaliated, but her attempt to insult Waverly merely backfired and ended up humiliating Jing-mei even more. After dinner, Suyuan reassures Jing-mei that she has no reason to be ashamed and that not always having the best quality of something is not a sign of weakness.

While Rose and Jing-mei were struggling with two entirely different situations in these stories, their experiences are similar in the sense that both women, who had managed to stay relatively close to their mothers even through adulthood, were able to seek strength, guidance, wisdom, and support from their mothers in a time when they were feeling defeated and downtrodden. The fact that both An-mei and Suyuan loved their daughters so unconditionally and both Rose and Jing-mei were able to confide in their mothers speaks volumes for the durability of mother-daughter relationships. I believe that the most important quote in this section is when Suyuan gives Jing-mei her pendant and says, “For a long time, I wanted to give you this necklace. See, I wore this on my skin, so when you put it on your skin, then you know my meaning. This is your life’s importance.” This quote is powerful because it embodies the desire of all mothers in society, which is for their daughters to understand their love for them and learn the wisdom they so desperately want to pass on to their daughters. After all, this bond between a mother and daughter is one of the most important things in every woman’s life.

*This is a jade green pendant similar to the one that Suyuan gave to Jing-mei.

**Please visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6phS1HryoXs to view a video poem that I believe discusses messages that An-mei and Suyuan intended to convey to their daughters in this section.