Amy Tan’s novel “The Joy Luck Club” has four sections, with the first being “Two Kinds.” The whole story is a touching tale about a mother and daughter trying to survive together despite significant ideologies. Writing a paper about June, the daughter, will require an informative thesis and several body paragraphs that analyze her character. Your thesis is important because it tells your readers what your essay is about and helps you keep your essay from veering off-topic.
Perhaps the best way to write a comprehensive essay about June is to create an outline that details the important aspects of June’s character. If I were writing the essay, I’d include paragraphs about:
June’s character traits, both internal and external
June’s relationship with her mother
June’s change in character over the span of the book.
The major conflicts in the book that impact June.
To fill out these talking points, you will need to have concrete evidence from the book to match up with your own statements. For example, when writing a paragraph about the tension between June and her mother, you should include a quote about how June fights to keep her identity even though her mother is pushing her to become someone else. You could use the following quote:
“But underneath the scarf I still knew who I was. I made a promise to myself: I would always remember my parents’ wishes, but I would never forget myself.”
Remember, that each paragraph needs to be a mixture of your ideas and quotes from the book that support those ideas. When you are finished writing your character essay, add a witty title to it and you will be good to go.
It sounds like you want your paper to be a character analysis of Jing-Mei (June). The first thing to do is to come up with a thesis statement. You want to do this because it will guide your writing. Without the thesis statement, your paper ends up reading like a string of loosely connected paragraphs about June. I would pick a thesis that allows you to discuss multiple aspects of her character. Something like the following might be good. "Although June appears to be a rebellious young girl, she does deeply desire to work hard and please her mother."
This thesis allows you to discuss why June is so eager in the beginning of the story to try to be the prodigy that her mother thinks that she can be. It also alerts your reader to the fact that you will be discussing parts of the story where June completely rebels against the pressure that her mother is putting on her.
One thing to definitely include in this kind of character analysis paper is supporting quotes from the text. A quote that shows June's desire to please her mother and work hard toward becoming a prodigy is the following quote.
In fact, in the beginning I was just as excited as my mother, maybe even more so. I pictured this prodigy part of me as many different images, and I tried each one on for size.... In all of my imaginings I was filled with a sense that I would soon become perfect: My mother and father would adore me. I would be beyond reproach.
It's here at this early point in the story that readers see June's excitement at being loved and adored by her parents. She wants to work hard for it. Perhaps you could claim that there is some selfish motivation here to be famous, but the quote shows June's emphasis on her parents being the people that adore her. June is a good kid, she loves her parents, and she wants to make them happy. I would even claim that June is a hardworking young girl as well. That's why she is so willing to try so many different versions of being a child prodigy.
I was a dainty ballerina girl standing by the curtain, waiting to hear the music that would send me floating on my tiptoes. I was like the Christ child lifted out of the straw manger, crying with holy indignity. I was Cinderella stepping from her pumpkin carriage with sparkly cartoon music filling the air
Of course, that all completely changes as June realizes that being a prodigy is just as difficult as fully satisfying her mother's hopes.
And after seeing, once again, my mother's disappointed face, something inside me began to die.
June quickly moves from being a willing and adaptable young girl to a stubborn and willful daughter. She purposefully tries to wreck her mom's latest ideas and intentions for her. It's not that June doesn't want to be brilliant and amazing. It's just that she wants to be brilliant and amazing for being who she wants to be. She wants to be her own independent and strong person. She doesn't want to be who her mom wants her to be.
As for a supporting quote that shows June as rebellious and willful, I would use this next quote.
I won't let her change me, I promised myself. I won't be what I'm not. So now when my mother presented her tests, I performed listlessly, my head propped on one arm. I pretended to be bored.
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