The Joy Luck Club Chapters 11-13

The titles of these chapters are "Without Wood", "Best Quality" and "Magpies".

"Without Wood" continues telling the story of Rose and how she is  concerned about ending her marriage with Ted. She has a psychiatrist to help her figure out what her problems are, but she is completely confused and lost about what she should decide to do. She finds that her mother gives her the strength she needs to become strong enough to stand up to the man who she once thought loved her and give him a piece of her mind. She does not want to be pushed around any longer and she claims that she will live in the house that she loves.

"Best Quality" tells Jing-Mei's story of how she acquired a certain necklace from her mother called "life's importance". She recalls how she and her mother went to go get crabs to prepare for the new year's feast, and how one had its legs taken off. At the table, her mother takes this crab, but does not eat it. Jing-Mei tried to take this crab, but her mother would not let her. She later tells Jing-Mei that she knew she would be the only one to take this crab because while everyone else only wanted the best, she was thinking of others as better than she was. At this point, her mother gives her the jade necklace.

"Magpies" tells the story of An-Mei and how she went to live with her mother. Her mother was shunned from her own family because she was taken in as a concubine after becoming a widow, so An-Mei's grandmother even hated her. So when An-Mei goes to live with her, An-Mei's aunt and uncle are appalled. An-Mei finds that she is happy at first, living at the fancy house with servants, receiving whatever she pleases. Eventually she  talks to her mother's closest servant and learns how the second wife was deceitful and made An-Mei's mother join the family against her own will. An-Mei sees how Second Wife receives everything she wants and how her mother has been stripped of all her honor and happiness. Her mother poisons herself in order to return as a ghost and get revenge on those who have done ill to her. After learning about her mother, An-Mei vows to be strong in her stead.

I chose the term TURNING POINT to use in the chapter "Without Wood". Rose has a sudden moment where she is able to overcome her fear and turn it against the man who has ruined her life and takes a stand for herself. This is the turning point for her story because it has been the moment that all of her uncertainty has led up to.

The quote I found interesting was in "Magpies". An-Mei's mother told her the story of the turtle and how it cried and its misery and tears fed the magpies. She tells An-Mei that she is like the turtle, always experiencing pain for others' pleasure. An-Mei later goes on to read a story about how the peasants were plagued by birds who came and ruined their lives. Eventually, the peasants had had enough and decided to take a stand. The quote is, "The birds became more exhausted, unable to land, unable to eat. And this continued for many hours, for many days, until all those birds--hundreds, thousands, and then millions!--fluttered to the ground, dead and still, until not one bird remained in the sky." This shows An-Mei that if she is strong, she can ward off those who are feeding off her pain.