The Joy Luck Club Chapter 10

A compass for all "Four Directions"!

The NARRATOR for this chapter is Waverly Jong. This chapter brings up (once again) FAILED MARRIAGES!!!

Waverly Jong is thinking about telling her mother that she wants to marry a man named Rich that is now living with her and her daughter Shoshana.

She reminisces about the time she and her mother first started arguing and how she stopped playing chess. She became completely powerless under her mother's power and felt as though she controlled her. She was able to see bad in the things that Waverly thought were flawless and beautiful and was able to convince of it. She hated how her mother did this because it was what had ended her first marriage. It was actually bittersweet because the boy that she had married was a pretty awful husband, but it was bad for Waverly because she thought she had really loved him.

Near the end of the chapter, Rich goes to eat dinner with Waverly and her family in order to help Waverly convince her mother that marrying him was a good idea. She hopes that he he will be able to win her over by complimenting her cooking, but he makes mistakes in every way possible. At the end of the evening, Waverly realizes that the evening went horribly, but Rich is oblivious to her melancholy feelings about the situation.

She knows that her mother found him to be a bumbling oaf, but she still loves him and still wants to marry him.  She finally goes to her mother to tell her that she wishes to marry Rich, but her mother explains that she already knew this and she doesn't mind. Waverly and her mother continue talking, and finally understand one another.

This quote sums up how Waverly is feeling near the end: "But in the brief instant that I had peered over the barriers, I could see what was really there: an old woman, a wok for her armor, a knitting needle for her sword, getting a little crabby as she waited patiently for her daughter to invite her in."

She has realized that her mother seemed like an enemy because she never took the time to understand her and felt powerless. This is true in real life as people often fear what they don't understand, so they just try to block it out and pretend that it doesn't exist.

I found it nice that Waverly thinks that the three of them, Waverly, Rich, and her mother, should move on together because it shows forgiveness and a new tolerance and understanding for her mother.