I'm nearly finished with Joy Luck Club, and I've been starting to think about who the antagonists are. There are lots of different stories with different people,so it's hard to keep track of all of them. I think there are two antagonists in every story.
In every different story, there is a clear antagonist. An Ex-Husband, in Rose's case. In An-Mei's case, it's her family and the way she was brought up. In Ying-Ying's case, it is her fear of American culture and changing her way of life. Then some of hem are a bit confusing, too. For example, Waverly. She is a really complex character. She has this layer of not being enough for her family, and she is always making fun of Jing-Mei to make herself feel smart and talented. But she also shows a different side when it comes to her daughter, Shoshana. She is very protective, but it is good for Shoshana. She really wants Shoshana to like Rich, her new husband, and she is overall a very good mother. Another complicated one is Lena, who also has a sense of not being good enough for her mother, and wanting her mother to like her husband, Harold. But she also has an odd relationship with Harold. He wants them to not share money, because he thinks it will only cause problems and fighting. But he does it to an unhealthy extent, where not sharing money is the thing tearing them apart. These are various antagonists in separate stories, but I think there is also one more antagonist that every story shares.
There seems to be this overall theme of listening to your mother. In all the girls' stories, when the don't listen to their mothers, they end up getting in bad situations, or they find out at the end that their mother's advice was really meaningful and helpful. So another antagonist for all the girls is them not listening to their mothers. Antagonists are super-confusing.
<3 LULULULULULU
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