The Valley of Amazement Themes
- Contention Between Mother and Daughter. The main theme in the novel is the contentious relationship between mother and daughter, in particular the gulf of understanding between the two, and their ...
- Courtesan Relationships. ...
- The Bond Between Mother and Daughter. ...
Tan was born in Oakland, California. She is the second of three children born to Chinese immigrants John and Daisy Tan. Her father was an electrical engineer and Baptist minister who traveled to the United States in order to escape the chaos of the Chinese Civil War. Tan attended Marian A.
What is the valley of amazement by Amy Tan about?
The Valley of Amazement is a novel by Amy Tan. Like many of her works, it deals with mother-daughter relationship and is partly set in historical China. An excerpt from the novel was published independently as Rules for Virgins.
Why is the valley of amazement so popular?
Fans of Amy Tan love her novels because she draws from her own rich family history, with strong female characters often framed in a mother-daughter theme blended with China's history and myth. The Valley of Amazement is that kind of novel, and so much more.
What is the setting of the valley of amazement?
Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. The Valley of Amazement is a novel by Amy Tan. Like many of her works, it deals with mother-daughter relationship and is partly set in historical China. An excerpt from the novel was published independently as Rules for Virgins.
What is the valley of amazement by Lu Shing about?
The Valley of Amazement refers to a series of paintings by Chinese landscape painter Lu Shing. It is while he is in San Francisco in 1897 that Lulu, who then called herself "Lucia," falls in love. Pregnant at sixteen, Lucia follows the artist to his native Shanghai.
What is the moral lesson of the story The Valley of Amazement?
There is nothing wrong with being different because we are all made uniquely. We are humans with our own flaws, and our flaws made us unique and perfectly imperfect. The story conveys the message to love our self because once we start to love and accept our self, everybody will do as well.
What is the conflict of the story The Valley of Amazement?
The author clearly depicts the cultural conflicts that cause the young woman Lucia, to seek refuge in a distant country, as she is unable to return to her native land because her parents have spurned her.
Who is the main character of the story The Valley of Amazement?
Violet Miniturn Danner Fang Violet is the central character in the novel. She narrates most of the novel. Violet is the daughter of Lucia and Lu Shing.
Who is Lulu in The Valley of Amazement?
Lulu is an enterprising and astute businesswomen, but her judgment fails when she dallies with a smarmy American nicknamed Fairweather. He betrays her to save himself from gambling debts, delivering Violet, now 14, to the rival Hall of Tranquility while Lulu waits for her on a ship bound for San Francisco.
What is the setting of The Valley of Amazement?
An adventure-filled story of family and friendship, fate and forgiveness, decisions and consequences, The Valley of Amazement spans four decades and takes readers from the inner chambers of a Shanghai courtesan house and the remote mountains of China to San Francisco and New York's Hudson Valley.
What is the narrator's fear in The Valley of Amazement?
The narrator's fear is that the people could change parts of her, without her knowledge and permission.
What was Lulu's reaction?
Lulu was appalled in learning that part of her was considered undesirable. It also shocked her to the point that she began her quest to know which of her many attributes she needed to protect. Her reaction is normal because she was an innocent child who had undergone an operation without her knowledge.
Who is Mr maubert?
Mr. Maubert was the one who proudly informed Lulu when she was eight that he had influenced the decision. She was shocked in learning that part of her was considered undesirable and thus needed to be removed. It made her fearful and thus began her quest to know which of her many attributes she needed to protect.
Who is the author of The Valley of Amazement?
Amy TanThe Valley of Amazement / AuthorInterview: Amy Tan, Author Of 'The Valley Of Amazement' : Code Switch Speculation about her grandmother's life in China in the early 1900s provided Tan inspiration for her latest novel, out Tuesday.
How many pages are in the Bonesetter's Daughter?
400 ppThe Bonesetter's DaughterFirst edition coverAuthorAmy TanPages400 ppISBN0-399-14685-7OCLC448835767 more rows
What books did Amy Tan write?
The Joy Luck Club1989Two Kinds1989The Bonesetter's Daughter2001The Kitchen God's Wife1991The Valley of Amazement2013The Chinese Siamese C...1994Amy Tan/Books
What is the book The Valley of Amazement about?
The Valley of Amazement is a novel by Amy Tan. Like many of her works, it deals with mother-daughter relationship and is partly set in historical China. An excerpt from the novel was published independently as Rules for Virgins.
How does Violet's first marriage affect her life?
Her first marriage results in a child, Flora, who is taken from Violet as a result of an unlawful marriage. The second part of the story is told by the mother, who thinks the daughter is dead.
What happens to Violet in the Qing Dynasty?
Violet grows up unaware of who her father is and unsure of her mother's feelings for her. When the Qing dynasty falls in 1912, mother and daughter are separated and the young girl is sold to a rivaling courtesan house, where she is educated by an older girl, Magic Gourd, formerly of her mother's house.
What is the Valley of Amazement about?
A deeply evocative narrative about the profound connections between mothers and daughters, The Valley of Amazement returns readers to the compelling territory of Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club. With her characteristic insight and humor, she conjures a story of inherited trauma, desire and deception, and the power and stubbornness of love.
How many questions are there about The Valley of Amazement?
See all 21 questions about The Valley of Amazement…
Where did Amy Tan's Valley of Amazement come from?
Amy Tan's inspiration for The Valley of Amazement originated at a visit to The Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, where she stumbled upon an academic book with a BW photo of courtesans - "a class of women who were influential in introducing Western popular culture to Shanghai" (read between those words). The 1910 photo was captioned: "The Ten Beauties of Shanghai." She was stunned - these women were wearing clothing specific to the trade, identical to those in her favo
Where did Amy Tan get her inspiration for The Valley of Amazement?
Amy Tan's inspiration for The Valley of Amazement originated at a visit to The Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, where she stumbled upon an academic book with a BW photo of courtesans - "a class of women who were influential in introducing Western popular culture to Shanghai" (read between those words).
Where does the story of the two women move?
A sweeping, evocative epic of two women's intertwined fates and their search for identity, that moves from the lavish parlors of Shanghai courtesans to the fog-shrouded mountains of a remote Chinese village.
Where is the book "Mood Pond Village" set?
This novel spans four decades from the turn of the 20th century, from Shanghai to isolated Mood Pond Village, deeply set in the mountains, to San Francisco, telling the story of three generations of women.
Is Amy Tan's book a comedic book?
It sounds positive, hopeful, uplifting, a little quirky. But the book is tragic. It's comedic. It 's a reflection on Amy Tan's own struggle, and on the struggles of many other Asian women who've felt shortchanged by society on the basis of their biological and ethnic inheritance.
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Review Sources
Cone, Edward. Rev. of The Valley of Amazement, by Amy Tan. Library Journal 1 Aug. 2013: 91. Print.
Where is Tan's novel set?
Tan's favoured locations of California and Shanghai are revisited here. Shanghai itself is a hybrid city – a foreign enclave in China. There is a side trip two-thirds of the way through the novel to a village 300 miles inland, an excursion into undiluted China, but it is more a nightmare to escape from than a location to remember. The bulk of the narrative is divided between the west coast of the US and east coast of China, two geographies and two cultures between which the characters travel in search of themselves, and the missing parts of their own biographies.
Who is Violet's close companion?
In Violet's case, the close companion is Magic Gourd, who was a courtesan in Lucia's establishment until she was dismissed, in one of the novel's minor quirks, because of her close relationship with a dead poet. Female friendships have room to thrive here, not least because of the high mortality rate among the men.
Who is Violet's mother?
Lucia, Violet's mother, had set up her cross-cultural courtesan house after she was abandoned by her Chinese lover, whom she met in California and followed to China. Once in Shanghai she found, as she had been forewarned, that a pregnant American woman was not considered a possible bride for the eldest son of a traditional Chinese family.
Tone and Mood
The tone is one of resentment and frustration; the mood is one of gross unfairness and a sense of what might have been.
Protagonist and Antagonist
Violet is the protagonist; although at first glance her mother might seem to be the antagonist, it is actually the structure of Chinese society that enables men to use women as courtesans is actually the antagonist.
Major Conflict
There is conflict between Violet and her mother because Violet feels horribly betrayed when her mother moves to San Francisco in order to meet her son for the first time.
Climax
At the end of the novel Violet has reunited with both her mother and her daughter and is able to see her life in a positive light.
Foreshadowing
Edward, the father of Violet's child, is already married, which foreshadows his taking Flora from Violet without her consent.
Understatement
Women are said to be treated unfairly which is a huge understatement; they seem to have no rights whatsoever.
Allusions
The author alludes to the historical era in China in which women were to all intents and purposes enslaved and were able to be sold to the highest bidder.
