Amy Tan Identity Analysis

In the 1970s and 80s, there was a struggle worldwide for power and finding identity. These problems range from a personal level to the government and to the social status of different people groups, like African Americans and women. During this time, the amount of immigration increased exponentially. Many people escaped here to the United States in hopes of finding a better job or just a better lifestyle overall. Amy Tan, born in 1952 in Oakland, California is famous for her novel The Joy Luck Club (1989). In this book, it explores the relationship between four traditional Chinese mothers and their four Chinese-American daughters. With focusing more on the mother and daughter from the section of Two Kinds, this mother and daughter duo had the
/ I am she: I am he / …We are, I am, you are / by cowardice or courage / the one who finds our way / back to this scene / carrying a knife, a camera / a book of myths / in which / our names do not appear” (Rich, 575).
From the feminist perspective, the modern day culture is a wreck. Rich believes that our culture is “split at the root” and art is separated from politics, and the poet’s identity as a woman is separated from her art” (Baym, 566). Tan, Le Guin, and Rich, all show different perspectives of life that women face. Women struggle with unreasonable expectations that are placed on them at a young age and feel like they can never fulfill. Women are also the butt of most jokes and are publicly mocked and it is seen as something that really “is not a big deal” and should “learn how to take a compliment”. Women also struggle with having their names and their accomplishments be completely insignificant when compared to men. In reality, women are almost seen as nothing and these three women authors showed everyone that there is so much more that they can