Why "Joy Luck" Brings me Misery (3 of 3)

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My angst with JLC is that it plays upon all of the Asian stereotypes that were described in my opening paragraph. Asian women are depicted as lonely miserable characters whose ultimate salvation comes when united in marriage with a white male. Furthermore, the author mercilessly smears all of the Asian male characters, confining them to the role of the wife-abuser, or the nit-picking egomaniac. That a novel inclusive of such detrimental stereotypes is touted as the representative of the AA experience, that it is highly acclaimed by critics, and that the concerns regarding its portrayal of Asian Americans comes only from other Asian Americans is as puzzling to me as racism itself. When Amy Tan (who is, in real life, married to a white man) herself asserts that she would never date an Asian man because she would not date her father or her brother, how can anyone not question the impetus behind the fiction she creates? If a prominent white figure claimed that she would never date a white man because he would remind her of her brother, or even if a prominent black figure claimed that she would never date a black man because she would never date her father, the public would certainly question the mental well-being of the individual. But in Amy Tan's case, neither the personal comment nor the dynamics between Asian men and women in JLC are questioned. Could this be because the public believes that she represents the collective voice of Asian America? In such a "PC" country, certainly no one would dare object to the morale of an entire ethnic group.

Who Are These Guys?
In my countless correspondences with Asian Americans of every background, the overwhelming consensus is that the story is NOT representative of the Asian American experience. I must confess that there were parts to JLC that I could relate to, such as the generational and cultural gap the protagonist felt with her immigrant parents. But alongside these anecdotes came, what I felt, were flagrant generalizations. I especially never felt that abusiveness and arrogance were traits exclusive to Asian men.

So long as JLC and Amy Tan are the only widely recognized products of Asian American literature, the strife for equality of Asian Americans will continue to be stifled. The kung-fu evil master and the white male's sexual servant stereotypes will continue their reign as the foremost images attached to Asian Americans. And if the only contact that many non-Asians have with Asian Americans is through television or literature, we must, by all means, do our best to provide a clearer, more comprehensive and affirmative picture.

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