Yingying St. Clair

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From The Joy Luck Club...
Starring. . .
Ying-ying St. Clair
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-Background-
Her family was one of the richest in Wushi. She
went with family to the Moon Festival to see the
Moon Lady. At 16, she attended her youngest
aunts marriage festival. 6 months later she
married a man from another town. Her husband
left her for an opera singer She had an
abortion, went to live with her second cousins
family After 10 yrs moved to the city to work as
a shop girlmet St. Clair Received a letter on
her husbands deathdecided to marry St.
Clair Was blessed with a daughter whom she named
Lena
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Ruined Marriage
Ying-ying tried in everyway to please her
husband, that she became a stranger to
herself But her love turned to hatred when she
discovered his true intentionsas a result she
had an abortion. (She realized the meaning of his
joke of slicing open the watermelon Kai
Gwa) When Ying-yings husband disappeared, she
was filled with griefshe fell into a deep state
of misery and lost all her strength - I
overcame my grief and came to have nothing in my
heart but loathing despair 280 Waiting
Between the Trees - I threw white clothes over
the mirrors in my bedroom so I did not have to
see my grief. I lost my strength, so I could not
even lift my hands to place pins in my hair.
And then I floated like a dead leaf on the
after until I drifted out of my
mother-in-laws house and back to my family
home. - 282 Waiting Between the Trees
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After she left her ruined marriage, Ying-ying
had lost herselfalthough not completely lost-
Ying-ying lived like a ghost, loving her husband
only as a ghost could love. Ying Ying lost her
Chi, her spirit and will.
The result...
Ying-ying was born in the year of the tigershe
has a gold side which leaps with its fierce
heart and a black side which stands still with
cunning, hiding its gold between trees, seeing
and not being seen, waiting patiently for things
to come (Waiting Between the Trees, 282).
How does this relate? Well . . .
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Ying-ying realizes that her daughters life
is falling apart, and she feels that the only
way to save Lena, is to bring out the tiger
spirit in her. - She will fight me,
because this is the nature of two tigers. But
I will win and give her my spirit, because this
is the way a mother loves her
daughter.(Waiting Between the Trees,
286) Ying-ying saw the unhappiness of Lenas
marriage to Harold, and it reminded her of her
own first marriagebut now Ying-ying sees
something different, she sees that she must feel
guilty for not having a strong will, and for
giving a bad example for her daughter with her
lack of vitality and self-confidence, as well as
the communication with her familys members
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Symbols
In Waiting Between the Trees, a marble table
crashes to the floor since it is unbalanced- this
is a strong symbol and can be associated with
Ying-ying as well as her daughter the poorly
balanced table is a representation of Ying-yings
and Lenas marriages- Lena has an unbalanced
marriage with Harold, and Ying-ying had one with
Clifford. I know a thing before it happens. She
will hear the vase and table crashing to the
floor. She will come up the stairs and into the
room. Her eyes will see nothing in the darkness,
where I am waiting between the trees. (Waiting
Between the Trees, 287)
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created for YOU by Caleb and Meg
THE END!