Female Experiences And Voices: A Comparative Study Of The Woman Warrior And The Joy Luck Club

The following research paper is a comparison of The Woman Warrior and The JoyLuck Club. At the basis of the research is a belief that the close relationship betweenChinese American literature and its socio-historical background through its developingstages makes us assume that reality holds its share in The Woman Warrior and The JoyLuck Club. The second point is that similarities in the social and cultural background ofthe two writers and their concern with the issues of Chinese female immigrants make usassume that more affinities than divergences may come out in the background of theirbooks and the relationship is that of Literary Affinity.The third point is that similarities inthe books’ mode of representation and themes make us assume that the comparativerelationship involves influence.A number of Chinese and American literary critics, inspired mainly by the ideologiesof feminism, ethnic and cultural studies and the notions allied to them have very oftencompared Kingston’s ‘The Woman Warrior’ with other works by western and Asianwriters. However, although, several of those studies compared Tan’s The Joy Luck Clubwith “The Woman Warrior”, no comparative study investigated the connectedness of thetwo books with reality and the type of comparative relationship between them has neverbeen determined. Dwelling on the concepts of gender, ethnic and cultural studies, thoseresearch works helped us to operate our research.We have attempted to avoid the pitfalls of previous comparative criticism byemphasizing the type of comparative relationship between the two books and theconnectedness of the two books with reality. This research paper contains four chapters;the first chapter explains how literature reflects the changing experience of Chineseimmigrants in states and also singles out the shared elements in the two writers’ lifeexperience. The second Chapter examines the Chinese and American realities in the books.The convergences and divergences in terms of characterization, setting, mode ofrepresentation and themes will be examined throughout the third and fourth chapters. Theconclusion that can be drawn from this comparison is that reality holds its firm ground inthe two books and the comparative relation between Kingston’s and Tan’s respectivenarratives is one involving literary affinity and influence.