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Lena St. Clair in The Joy Luck Club

            "The Joy Luck Club," by Amy Tan, is about four mothers and four daughters talking about their relationships sharing key points in their lives. Lena St. Clair was one of those daughters; half Chinese and half English-Irish. She talked about her relationship with her mother Ying-ying St. Clair and her marriage with her husband Harold Livotny. Lena St. Clair is immature from childhood to adulthood as evidenced by her thoughts of a beggar's death, her reluctance to eat, and her actions in regards to her marriage. .
             As a child, Lena St. Clair was always over imaginative and "could see the bad in everything"." Lena reveals her immaturity in the beginning when she thinks of multiple ways a beggar could die; "Did they slice off his skin first? Did they use a cleaver to chop up his bones? Did he scream and feel all one thousand cuts? Why do you American have only these morbid thoughts in your mind what does it matter how he died?"" (105). This conversation between Lena and her mother shows that Lena used her wild imagination to come up of numerous ways a man could die. But as her mother points out, Lena is being childish for thinking about a man that is already dead. .
             Later in the book, Lena shows her immaturity when without any evidence given she believes that Arnold, a boy who is mean to her, would be her future husband. So to avoid this she decided not to eat; "I saw what I had to do so I would not have to marry Arnold. I begun to leave more rice in my bowl"" (166). This reveals her immaturity by taking what she assumes and putting that into action by not eating. She doesn't eat because she believes that he might not become her husband at an early age, showing her immaturity to an "arranged marriage."" This action later haunted her when she becomes close to bulimic. .
             Lena's immaturity is further developed as she becomes an adult when her mother Ying-ying comes to visit her and her husband Harold.


Essays Related to Lena St. Clair in The Joy Luck Club

1. Summary of the joy luck club

The Joy Luck Club This novel contains four sections, each beginning with depicting a stage in the life cycle. ... Now remarried, she settles in San Francisco, has a daughter, Jing-mei (June), and starts a Joy Luck Club similar to one in China with three other women. ... At the next meeting of the Joy Luck Club, her mother's friends tell Jing-mei that Suyuan's twin daughters have been found. ... Ten years later she marries Clifford St. Clair, an American exporter, even though she doesn't love him. ...

  • Word Count: 485
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Grade Level: High School

2. Joy Luck Club

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  • Word Count: 1447
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3. Joy Luck Club

The Joy Luck Club In Amy Tan's novel "The Joy Luck Club" there are many themes and imagery throughout the book, but one theme that is relevant and stands out is the issue, "Cruel men? ... Clair family. Although many people would believe that the men in "The Joy Luck Club" were vindictive, they have shown that they not only are they feeble but that the weak men over power the cruel, and through their actions this statement will be apparent to all. ... Lena's husband Harold St. ... The male roles in Amy Tan's novel The Joy Luck Club have been defined as not only feeble b...

  • Word Count: 1288
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Grade Level: High School

4. The Joy Luck Club

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5. Joy Luck Club

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  • Word Count: 879
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6. Joy Luck (in Under 400 Words)

The main characters of four mothers and each of their daughters, The Joy Luck Club tells a fascinating tale of two generations, in two different continents. ... Lena St. Clair's marriage demonstrated how sometimes it takes a major event to trigger the building of strength that allows a person to take themselves out of a bad situation. ...

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7. The Quest for Identity

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  • Word Count: 707
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8. Chapter Summaries: The Twenty-Six Malignant Gates

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  • Word Count: 1269
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9. Joy Luck Club

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  • Word Count: 1148
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