Joy Luck Club

Suyuan Woo is one of the main characters in the novel The Joy Luck Club even though she is deceased in the beginning, a flashback of her life helps her daughter understand why she was the was she was. After the recent death of her mother, June Woo hears stories of her mother before she came to America so she can go to China and tell her sister about the mother they never had a chance to know. She heard these stories from her mother 3 best friends. They all went through tough times growing up in China and came to America for a better life and to give their daughters a chance at opportunities they never had.

Suyuan Woo's past was mysterious because her and her daughter did not always see eye to eye and June knew somewhat about her mothers painful past in China but she always left the worst parts out. In the beginning of the story June says, "Over the years, she told me the same story, except for the ending, which grew darker, casting long shadows into her life, and eventually into mine." The ending that she was never told was that back in China Suyuan left her twin daughters in Kweilin during the war. Suyuan's husband at the time was in the war and it wasn't going well because the Japanese were winning. Poverty stricken, she was forced to leave her daughters under a tree with all of her most treasures possessions hoping someone would pick them up and give them a better life.

June hears her mothers story while taking her mothers spot in The Joy Luck club with her mothers 3 best friends, Lindo Jong, Ying-ying St. Clair, and An-mei Hsu. Suyuan started The Joy Luck Club with these 3 Chinese immigrants she met in church. It was a club Suyuan started where they could bet over a game of mah jong and be free to joke, eat, and tell stories. With June listening in on their stories Suyuan always changed details to her stories of China so June didn't even believe them. The truth was she walked with a wheelbarrow