The Joy Luck Club Quizzes

The Joy Luck Club Quiz 1

1 What does the swan in the prologue represent?
The effects of the cruelty of American immigration officials.

The beauty of China, now lost through assimilation.

The daughters' vanity in trying to become more than their mothers would ever be.

The mothers' expectations for their American daughters.
2 Who were the original members of the Joy Luck Club?
June, An-mei, Lindo, and Ying-ying.

Suyuan, An-mei, Lindo, and Ying-ying.

Four legendary women in Kweilin, about whom Suyuan read.

Suyuan and three other women who lived in Kweilin.
3 Why was the Joy Luck Club begun originally?
Because all the other residents of Kweilin had similar clubs.

To create a Chinese legacy for the daughters to continue.

To pass time in the caves during bombing raids.

To maintain good spirits despite the horrors of the Second World War.
4 What do the mothers give Jing-mei at the end of the meeting?
Enough money to visit her long-lost sisters in China.

Good-luck foods and money to take home to her husband.

A Mah Jong set of her own.

Enough money to start a new Joy Luck club with the other daughters.
5 Why doesn't Jing-mei know her Chinese sisters?
They are not her real sisters but old friends of Suyuan's from Kweilin.

Her mother never tried to look for them, and she told June never to speak of them.

Her mother only recently managed to find them.

She never knew they existed.
6 Why must there always be four members of the Joy Luck Club?
One for each of the four elements of the soul.

One for each week of the month.

One for each season of the year.

One for each corner of the Mah Jong table.
7 According to Jing-mei, what defined her mother's relationships with the other members of the Joy Luck Club?
Acceptance.

Competition.

Exclusivity.

Consolation.
8 Why did Jing-mei think that her mother's Kweilin story was a fairy tale?
She always changed the ending.

She could not believe such a painful story was real.

She told it to her at bedtime.

She told it to her in Chinese, like all other fairy tales.
9 How did An-mei get the scar on her neck?
In the midst of a family argument, hot soup accidentally spilled all over her neck.

She was born with it, causing disgrace in her family.

She cut flesh from her neck in an attempt to cure her mother's illness.

Popo spilled hot soup on her neck to spite An-mei's mother.
10 Why did An-mei's mother cut flesh from her arm?
To make a sacrifice to the spirits of her ancestors.

To make An-mei feel better about the scar on her neck.

As a debt for disgracing her family.

To make a curative soup for Popo.
11 What did An-mei understand when her mother cut flesh from her own arm?
That enduring pain is the only way to pay one's spiritual debt.

That our flesh and pain connect us intractably to our mothers.

That her mother understood nothing about loyalty.

That flesh is worthless, and only spirit is of importance.
12 Why does Lindo tell Waverly the story of the red candle?
She wants Waverly to have a red candle ceremony with Rich.

She thinks Waverly does not understand the meaning of a promise.

Waverly has been bothering her to tell the story since she was a girl.

Now that Waverly is a mother, it is important for her to know the story.
13 Why did Lindo move in with the Huangs?
Huang Tai Tai's youngest daughter died, and Lindo took her place.

Her family's land was destroyed in a flood.

She was already married to Tyan-yu.

Huang Tai Tai tricked Lindo's mother into making her do so.
14 Why did Lindo blow out Tyan-yu's end of the candle?
She thought the custom was foolish and that it undermined their marriage's sanctity.

The ritual was bad luck in her clan's belief system.

She conspired with Tyan-yu to wreck the ceremony so they would not be married.

She wanted to get out of marrying him.
15 Why didn't Lindo and Tyan-yu consummate their marriage?
Tyan-yu had no interest in having sex with Lindo.

Huang Tai Tai insisted that she did not want any children.

Lindo refused flatly every time Tyan-yu acted amorous.

Lindo was afraid of having sex.
16 How could Lindo manage to get what she wanted while keeping her parents' promise?
It was done for her, because Huang Tai Tai did everything she could to force Lindo to leave.

It was done for her, because Tyan-yu was cheating on her.

She used superstition to trick Huang Tai Tai into making her leave.

She did not keep her parents' promise; she sacrificed their honor for her happiness.
17 What belief of Huang Tai Tai's did Lindo take advantage of in order to get what she wanted?
Her belief that matchmaking was a thing of the past.

Her belief in her son's righteousness.

Her belief in Japanese supremacy.

Her belief in the ghosts of ancestors.
18 What was the purpose of the red candle?
It symbolized the bond between daughter and mother in-law.

It warded off evil spirits on the wedding night.

It symbolized the permanence of marriage.

It was an omen of fertililty.
19 According to Ying-ying, why did she turn into a ghost?
Because on the streets of America, people acted as though she were invisible.

Because she learned to think only of others and forget her own hopes and desires.

Because she learned to honor her family without thinking of the government.

Because she married an American.
20 When is the last time Ying-ying remembers being fully alive?
When she was a girl, on the day of the Moon Festival.

The day she married Clifford St. Clair.

When she was a girl, on the day her mother left.

The day Lena was born.
21 Why could Ying-ying tell only the Moon Lady her secret wish?
Because the Moon Lady was the only person who spoke the same dialect.

Because girls were supposed to keep their wishes to themselves.

Because if she told it to anyone else, she would be beaten.

Because the Moon Lady would not tell her mother.
22 Who was Amah in relation to Ying-ying?
Her nanny.

Her mother.

Her aunt.

Her mother-in-law.
23 How did Ying-ying end up on shore by herself?
Amah let her go back to land to see the Moon Lady.

She fell overboard and was saved by fishermen.

She swam from the boat to shore.

Amah punished her by leaving her on the shore.
24 What is the moral of the story of the Moon Lady?
Women represent darkness and require men to show them the light.

Wishes are best kept to oneself.

Men and women are meant to miss one another perpetually.

Women are bright and illuminate their families.
25 What does Ying-ying realize when the Moon Lady takes off her costume?
That she looks exactly like Ying-ying.

That she is really a man.

That men have made her miserable.

That she is Ying-ying's own father.

Look at Popo’s words to An-mei when she was sick. What do you think about the way she talks to her?

What chapter are you referring to?

Asked by Air A #1166463

Answered by Aslan on 8/5/2021 9:41 PM

Waverly's relationship with her ex-husband?

When Waverly and her first husband Marvin Chen eloped, Waverly's mother picked him apart until Waverly too saw his flaws and lost interest.

Asked by Bianca M #1208747

Answered by jill d #170087 on 1/2/2023 1:08 PM

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What is the author's view of marriage in the book?

The fact that many of the mothers and daughters have unhappy marriages creates a common ground on which they can relate. But marriage has different meanings for each generation. For the mothers, it is permanent and not always based on love....

Asked by Aaron Sean T #684196

Answered by jill d #170087 on 1/2/2023 1:06 PM

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The Joy Luck Club

by Amy Tan

The Joy Luck Club Quiz 1

The Joy Luck Club Questions and Answers

Study Guide for The Joy Luck Club

Essays for The Joy Luck Club

Lesson Plan for The Joy Luck Club

Wikipedia Entries for The Joy Luck Club