Moms of The Joy Luck Club

Taken at face value, these moms aren't obvious picks because they instill within their daughters the sorts of issues that feed the therapist meter for decades. The four Chinese immigrants who play Mah-Jong together in San Francisco as the Joy Luck Club expect too much of their daughters — and also, not enough of them. They want their girls to take advantage of everything America has to offer, but still beg them to cling to old world traditions. Oy! It's emotional whiplash. Can anyone please the overbearing, boundary-less immigrant moms who populate the types of My Big Fat (Insert Nationality Here) Wedding worlds that make up ye olde fashioned American melting pot? Maybe not. But both the book and the movie version of The Joy Luck Club artfully show the struggle and sacrifice these women make in the hopes that their children have more choices. (Of course, they want to be the ones making all the decisions for them but... never mind..) Maybe they care a little too much, but in our book that always beats out caring too little.