Joy Luck Club: The Hero's Journey

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Joy Luck Club Essay Joseph Campbell defines the purpose of the usual hero adventure as “when something had been taken or someone feels there is something lacking in the normal experiences available”(Moyer 1). In the novel Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, An­mei goes through experiences filled with challenges and struggles similar to what Campbell defines as the hero’s adventure. Campbell also stated that “a hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself ”(1) and An­mei represents this definition of a hero throughout her adventure. The three stages of the hero’s journey are seen in the stories of An­mei’s life and her daughter, Rose, goes through a similar experience with guidance from her mother. According to Joseph…show more content…
Rose is struggling to find a solution and she faces internal enemies and problems. An­mei and Rose then take these internal challenges and solve them in a similar manner. In the Blendspace presentation, the last stage of the hero’s journey is known as the return where the hero faces the ultimate challenge and returns to old reality. In the last stage, An­mei faces her ultimate challenge and learns to stand up against her enemies. After her mother dies and An­mei is explaining her current situation she says,” And on that day, I learned to shout”(240). An­mei finally speaks up for herself and overcomes the situations that were thrown at her. In this sense, An­mei completes a spiritual deed. According to Joseph Campbell in The Power of a Myth, a spiritual deed is “when a hero learns to experience the supernormal range of human spiritual life and then comes back with a message”(Moyer 1). An­mei is able to return and give the message of speaking up for herself to her daughter who used it in her hero’s journey. Rose learns to stand up to her enemies in the final stage in a similar manner. While talking to Ted a while after the divorce Rose says,” You can’t just pull me out of your life and throw me away”(Tan 196). Rose speaks up for herself and confronts the enemy that has
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