joy luck club by amy tan

joy luck club by amy tan

The Hairy Ape’ examines the concept of not belonging to a certain community through the alienation and rejection experienced by Yank, as well as how others treat him..   “… on'y I couldn't get in it, see? I couldn't belong in dat…”. This quote signifies Yanks struggle to fit in with a certain group. Feeling displaced and rejected, Yank must once again justify his existence that leads him to notice nature which he subsequently finds valuable. Yank’s distinctive speech, characterized by chopped and mangled words eliminate the possibility of Yank's successes or acceptance in a world or class other than his own. His deformed language makes real communication impossible. His speech causes him to feel excluded from the wider community and a sense of not belonging overcomes him. Discarded from the system, Yank searches for what he still belongs to. This is clearly seen through the use of symbolism. Steel is both a symbol of power and oppression in The Hairy Ape. While Yank exclaims in Scene One that he is steel, "the muscles and the punch behind it," he is all the while penned in a virtual cage of steel created by the ship around him. Steel creates other cages in the play—Yank's jail cell and the cell of the Ape. Steel is also oppressive because it creates jobs like Yank's, it is symbolic of the technology that force Yank and the Firemen into slave-like jobs.
“The Joy Luck Club” also deals with the concept of belonging to self, and not accepting yourself for who you are. This is clearly seen in Ying Ying’s reflective account of her first marriage and her lack of self knowledge, existing only to please her husband: “I became a stranger to myself. I was pretty for him. If I put slippers on my feet it was to choose a pair that I knew would please him”. (p247) Furthermore, in allowing her new husband Clifford to make all the decisions and put words into her mouth, Ying Ying’s individual identity faded. This can be seen through the use of metaphor:...