More than just an inherited object, the jewelry represents a mother’s constant love and a daughter’s priceless value. Similar gifts are given to June by Suyuan, and to An-mei by An-mei’s mother. Lindo continues the legacy by giving the same pendant to her daughter Waverly before Waverly’s first chess competition. Material sacrifice, no matter how great, doesn’t matter if it protects her daughter. Lindo’s mother’s jade pendant is her only prized possession, but she presents it to Lindo on their last day together, hoping it brings her daughter good fortune and protection. In The Joy Luck Club however, the initial owner never keeps jewelry for herself, but gives it to her daughter. In Chinese tradition, jewelry has additional significance they’re often worn as protection charms from harm. Owning a single piece of jewelry speaks to the hard work it took to earn it, and to the preciousness of the material possession. Almost all the main characters grow up in impoverished families without many luxuries. Though rarely appreciated in the moment, the novel argues that the act of sacrifice is the ultimate sign of love, giving up anything for the sake of another.Throughout the novel, valuable jewelry is passed from mothers to daughters, symbolizing inheritance and sacrifice.

As an adult however, she appreciates her mother’s attempts to foster her natural talent. At the time, June resents her mother’s desire to turn her into some sort of child prodigy, and refuses to practice. Unable to afford piano lessons in cash, Suyuan works extra hours cleaning a piano teacher’s house so that June can learn how to play. These memories of sacrifice from the immigrant mothers of the novel are directly weighed with the petulance of the American daughters, who do not value their mothers’ generosities.

These actions show that no cost is too great when love is threatened. When An-mei’s mother returns to care for her dying mother, she slices off a piece of her own arm and uses an ancestral recipe to prepare a medicinal broth, ignoring the physical pain.

She has since become the author of two highly praised works of fiction: The Joy Luck Club, which was chosen by the American Library Association as a Best Book for Young Adults and The Kitchen Gods Wife, named a 1991 Booklist Editors Choice. Her willingness to put her daughters’ lives before her own ensures their rescue. Amy Tan wrote her first published essay, 'What the Library Means to Me,' at age eight. Nearly dead herself from dysentery, she places them near a road along with all her remaining money and her husband’s information, believing they’d be saved if they seemed abandoned. The greatest sacrifice in the book is Suyuan’s decision to leave her twin babies in a safe spot to be rescued during the Japanese invasion of Kweilin. The Joy Luck Club shows that all actions of love require some level of sacrifice, and that women in particular sacrifice themselves for the good of others.

The moon lady joy luck club