A Synopsis of Amy Tans Book The Joy Luck Club

A Synopsis of Amy Tan's Book The Joy Luck Club â€Å"There are times when even the tiger sleeps.† This Chinese proverb is essential in understanding the character of Lindo Jong, mother of Waverly Jong, in Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club. The book, written as a series of interwoven vignettes, delves into the world of Chinese mother-daughter relationships. The Joy Luck Club tells about four Chinese families: the Woos, the Hsus, the Jongs, and the St. Clairs. Waverly Jong’s mother, Lindo, has always been strong and stubborn, criticizing everything around her and not yielding to persuasion. This pugnacity bothers Waverly, who has spent her entire life subconsciously trying to impress her mother, a seemingly impossible task. Waverly has always been plagued by her mother’s criticism, becoming increasingly agonized thinking that she cannot live up to her mother’s lofty standards. After finally deciding to confront her mother about her implacable personality, Waverly realizes that her mother is just a vulne rable old woman despite her inner strength. The Chinese proverb, â€Å"There are times when even the tiger sleeps†, suggests that even the strongest have an Achilles heel. This proverb is particularly relevant to the sleeping scene with Lindo Jong because even though Lindo is strong and combative, she is still a fallible old woman who worries about her daughter. The proverb can be interpreted literally, but it also has a deeper figurative meaning. The tiger, a powerful predator, is seen as an almost faultless warrior in the animal kingdom. Always on its guard, the tiger is a fearsome creature that is not to be meddled with. As with every creature, the tiger needs to sleep, thus making it vulnerable to attack. Viewing tigers as a dominant adversary and viewing sleep as a universally held moment of vulnerability, this ancient Chinese proverb correctly asserts that no creature is without its weaknesses or moments of weakness. Waverly and Lindo’s contrasting personalities highlight both of their personal weaknesses. By the Chinese Zodiac, Waverly was born a Rabbit, making her â€Å"supposedly sensitive, with tendencies toward being thin-skinned and skittery at the first sign of criticism† while her mother Lindo was born a Horse, making her â€Å"obstinate and frank to the point of tactlessness† (183). These two an animal signs do not bode well together, leading to a plethora of conflicts between the two Jongs. Lindo constantly criticizes everything from the food she is eating to the people around her. A good example of Lindo’s hurtful criticism is when she calls Waverly’s expensive fur coat present from her fianc? â€Å"just leftover strips† (186). As stated by Waverly, â€Å"[Lindo] never thinks anybody is good enough for anything† (183). This insatiability infuriates Waverly, who simply wants her mother to accept her surroundings. The proverb’s pertinence to Lindo Jong becomes apparent when Waverly discovers her mother sleeping. Waverly has always been angry at her manipulative mother for her â€Å"scheming ways of making†¦ [Waverly] miserable† (199). Waverly leaves early in the morning to go to her parents’ apartment and yell at her mother. When she finds Lindo, she sees a side of her mother she had never previously observed: The back of her head was resting on a white embroidered doily. Her mouth was slack and all the lines in her face were gone. With her smooth face, she looked like a young girl, frail, guileless, and innocent. One arm hung limply down the side of the sofa. Her chest was still. All her strength was gone. She had no weapons, no demons surrounding her. She looked powerless. Defeated. (199-200) Upon seeing her mother in this state, Waverly’s immediate thought was that her mother was dead; dead while she was thinking terrible things about her mother. Waverly shouts at her mother, tears flowing down her face. Lindo then wakes up, and with a look of motherly worry, says to Waverly, â€Å"Shemma? Meimei-ah? Is that you? Why are you here? Why are you crying? Something has happened!† Lindo had not called Waverly Meimei, her childhood name, in many years. After this, Waverly had realized the true state of mother: she was just a tired, worn old woman who only wanted the best for her daughter. The criticisms and the subtle, sneaky comments were only made so that Waverly would make a better life for herself and analyze the faults of her present environment. This epiphanous moment for Waverly helped her realize the subtle meaning behind the Chinese proverb, â€Å"â€Å"There are times when even the tiger sleeps.† Although it is never explicitly mentioned that Wav erly is familiar with the proverb, she soon learns of its meaning and verisimilitude. Waverly had always viewed her mother as the proverbial queen of the chessboard, â€Å"Able to move in all directions, relentless in her pursuit, able to find my weakest spots† (199). After seeing her tiger-like mother not on her guard, Waverly realizes that even Lindo sleeps. Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club is not only a story of Chinese mother-daughter relationships, but it is also an insight into the nature and mannerisms of humanity. Lindo Jong is a feisty, critical woman who is never happy with her circumstances. Despite this, she is still old, caring, and vulnerable. For these reasons, Lindo Jong of The Joy Luck Club truly exemplifies the ancient Chinese proverb â€Å"There are times when even the tiger sleeps.†

Treatment or Punishment for Youth Drug Use Research Proposal

Treatment or Punishment for Youth Drug Use - Research Proposal Example Since punishment is a response to crime that is much older than treatment, we begin by describing the concept of punishment. Punishment refers to imposing some unpleasant consequence for a person for a proven action that is decidedly unacceptable to others (Duff, 2001). Examples of punishment include incarceration, which is the response the United States has historically taken in response to the distribution and use of banned substances like heroin, cocaine, and marijuana. The justification for punishment is typically given as either retribution (i.e. taking something away from an offender in proportion to what the offender took from the victim), deterrence (i.e. using threat of punishment to dissuade others in society from committing a similar act), or incapacitation (i.e. to remove an individual from society in order to prevent him or her from committing more crimes). In the United States, the reasoning for a punishment is left to a criminal court’s discretion based on the i mpact and severity of the crime as well as other factors that might influence whether deterrence or incapacitation is necessary. Arguments in favor of punishment extol its benefits in being the simplest to administer and in sending the clearest message both to the offender and as a deterrent to potential offenders. In addition, favorable arguments point to the effect of punishment on restoring fairness within a community (Baumard, 2012). Serious objections to how fair society is will exist if society negates its objective to punish criminals for wrongdoing because, in a sense, victims are not recompensed for the wrong. Such a thought process behind punishment as retaliation dates back in human history to the way in which cooperation developed: that is, one cannot attack another without risk of being attacked themselves, and the alternative is either avoidance or cooperation. Of course, the limit imposed upon that thought is that retaliation and punishment must be proportionate to th e crime committed, rather than causing an additional harm.

Total Quality Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Total Quality Management - Essay Example TQM has been designed for companies that are operating in various disciplines and for this reason, each company has different uses and implementation technique of TQM. However, there are organizations that fail to implement TQM at an operational level. Some of the reasons for the failure are as follows:Â   Rigid Organizational CultureOne of the key reasons for failure of TQM is that the implementation of this process requires patience and agility and it requires flexibility in organizational culture. Organizations are required to change their paradigm from a functional to customer focus approach. Organizations that are unable to cope up with this approach can face detrimental consequences because implementation of TQM is not easy and it requires mobility to changing customer needs and business trends. Not every organization can cope up to such changes and this is certainly one of the reasons of failed implementation of TQM.Resistance to ChangeIf a company wants to implement TQM, it should first communicate to its employees the importance of TQM. Every single employee, from the lowest to the highest hierarchical level, should be accepting and willing to adopt this organizational change (Donaldson & Munir, 2013). However, such changes are not successful at times because some employees do not want to come out of their comfort zone and resist to any sort of change. Employees fail to understand the importance of this activity and do not understand that this will improve the productivity and profitability of the company.

Strolling along the Narrow Paths into the Deep Forest Essay

Strolling along the Narrow Paths into the Deep Forest - Essay Example A soft waft of air tickles the leaves above creating a flip-flopping light underground – something romantically perfect for couples. Going to the forest is one of the best voyages in life to take. God indeed loves humanity as it manifests through the perfect beauty of the nature surrounding us. I can remember one sunny and blissful morning when I decided to take a trip to an outskirt nearby. Half a kilometer away, I could tell that one blissful reunion would take place later that day. Because I am a forest addict, I had the cheek to go there all by myself. Just like what most forest goers encounter, I had my share of stern tests. Before getting to the heart of the timberland, I knew that I had to go through tough challenges. Nevertheless, these challenges would not tarnish attitude towards this place since the way I feel while am at this place outweighs the few challenges I have to encounter. Therefore, no matter how many challenges I would encounter, it enhances my confidence and attitude towards the place; thus, giving me a good reason why I will always consider it the best place I can be in the world. Finally, I arrived at the doorstep of the jungle, and the first thing I saw was a cohort of vibrant buds bowing their heads down to welcome me, and although quite silly, I felt, as I was treated royally. As I hovered above my head, I could see the wild vines meshing up with each other to form a lovely wild curtain; I could also hear the birds chirping tones in mirth. It gave the impression as if they were chanting out in harmony to serenade me. I stared down and saw my leather booths muddled up with some thick mud clinging around them, but I knew the sludge was not going to stay there for long as the spiky fingers of the rye were ready to wipe them out. When I finally took several steps inward, it seemed as time has traveled so fast that day. In fact, the surroundings turned rather gloomy, although everything  was still in sight. This reminded me that and that I would finally leave and get back to the normal life.  

Picturesqueness or Expressionism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Picturesqueness or Expressionism - Essay Example The essay "Picturesqueness or Expressionism" analyzes expressionism style and Robert Venturi. Venturi implies that the designs should not be taken literally from the styles of the past. He has been a controversial critic of the works in the past. Actually, his style somehow meant to significantly include the architectural history and collaborate it to come up with a modern piece. His architectures seemed to be different from the normal styles and are hard for the people to understand. Indeed, architecture for him is a simple art and does not always have to look good just like how he promotes the oppositions of the elements hybrid, compromising and distorted. Expressing his art through writings gives many ideas regarding various architectural designs. In addition to, his writings made him say what he perceives about how styles should be in his own taste regardless of the common styles. He describes a lot about complexity and contradiction, as well as picturesqueness. However, these te rms somehow lead to confusion and thus needs further clarification according to what his book says. According to Venturi, â€Å"I like elements which are hybrid rather than 'pure,' compromising rather than 'clean,' distorted rather than 'straightforward,' conventional rather than 'designed’.† It means that his idea of architecture falls under a messy way of expressing the styles and designs. As mentioned, people are having difficulties with his styles and his buildings do not reflect the styles of the past.

The women's history in US Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The women's history in US - Essay Example despite having descended from a distinguished family, Emily sent all four of her children, including Mary, to the same Catholic school, refusing either to teach them about their cultural background or their native language (Lakota Woman, 1990). Mary’s childhood, which was also spent at the Rosebud Reservation, was filled with poverty, brutality, and racism. The social status of women had drastically changed since colonization, and the introduction of the 1876 Indian Act, which instigated the eroding of native women’s rights in various domains. Part of this had been the introduction of mandatory education in residential schools for all children, and Mary, like her mother, was forced to attend. Her years there were desperately hard, with nuns that beat the children if observed practicing cultural customs or speaking their native tongue, and the young teenager ran away. Aggressive, angry, and confused, within a short space of time, Mary Crow Dog had, like so many other Indian women before her, entered the world of alcohol and drugs (Lakota Woman, 1990). It was while she was still a teenager that Mary Crow Dog became involved in the protest activities of the American Indian Movement (AIM), where she began to discover her true Indian identity. This enabled personal development and individual growth that helped her come to terms with being a ‘half breed’ – something which had deeply affected her. Then, in 1972, Mary participated in the Trail of Broken Treaties demonstration in Washington D.C., where she met her future husband. She was only sixteen years old (Lakota Woman, 1990). Leonard, a medicine man, was fourteen years Mary’s senior when she married him in 1973, and she was seventeen. The age gap, however, was less of a problem than the couple’s cultural differences. Mary’s role as the wife of a medicine man held various important responsibilities that often left her exhausted. She learnt the difference between the various ceremonies, she studied

Strolling along the Narrow Paths into the Deep Forest Essay

Strolling along the Narrow Paths into the Deep Forest - Essay Example A soft waft of air tickles the leaves above creating a flip-flopping light underground – something romantically perfect for couples. Going to the forest is one of the best voyages in life to take. God indeed loves humanity as it manifests through the perfect beauty of the nature surrounding us. I can remember one sunny and blissful morning when I decided to take a trip to an outskirt nearby. Half a kilometer away, I could tell that one blissful reunion would take place later that day. Because I am a forest addict, I had the cheek to go there all by myself. Just like what most forest goers encounter, I had my share of stern tests. Before getting to the heart of the timberland, I knew that I had to go through tough challenges. Nevertheless, these challenges would not tarnish attitude towards this place since the way I feel while am at this place outweighs the few challenges I have to encounter. Therefore, no matter how many challenges I would encounter, it enhances my confidence and attitude towards the place; thus, giving me a good reason why I will always consider it the best place I can be in the world. Finally, I arrived at the doorstep of the jungle, and the first thing I saw was a cohort of vibrant buds bowing their heads down to welcome me, and although quite silly, I felt, as I was treated royally. As I hovered above my head, I could see the wild vines meshing up with each other to form a lovely wild curtain; I could also hear the birds chirping tones in mirth. It gave the impression as if they were chanting out in harmony to serenade me. I stared down and saw my leather booths muddled up with some thick mud clinging around them, but I knew the sludge was not going to stay there for long as the spiky fingers of the rye were ready to wipe them out. When I finally took several steps inward, it seemed as time has traveled so fast that day. In fact, the surroundings turned rather gloomy, although everything  was still in sight. This reminded me that and that I would finally leave and get back to the normal life.