Analysis: Animal Motif

A motif is a symbolic image or idea that repeats itself in a story. A motif can highlight something about a character to help us understand better, or it can help to establish the mood of the story. Often, motifs reinforce the themes of the story.

In The Joy Luck Club, the most prominent motifs include ghosts, jewellery, the five elements, and animals. Take the use of ghost as an example, it can refer to someone that is a shame for the family that should not be brought up freely in Scar; it can refer to evil spirits, superstition and fear of Chinese people in The Voice from the Wall and Without Wood; it can refer to the loss of oneself for the benefit of marriage in Rice Husband and Waiting Between the Trees; it can refer to the inner power of a pathetic dead person in Magpies. Considering them all, the ghosts in the story highlight the fear haunting Anmei, Rose, Yingying and Lena, what it is like to be an empty person, and a gloomy mood in reviewing the past. The ghost motif also helps underscore the theme of "fate and will" and "storytelling and tradition."

The story also used numerous animals as symbols, like the goose,frog, fish, crab etc., eventually creating a motif of animals. What you need to do is to write a short analysis( 200-300 words) of a pair of animals, and there are two options here: (1) turtle and magpie (2) horse and tiger. You need to explain their symbolic values and impacts on the story with proper evidence from the text.

Hint: 

(1) turtle and magpie

You just need to scan the text, Magpies, for evidence.

(2) horse and tiger

This is related to the Chinese Zodiac, and you need to find clues about the horse on page 48 and  196 and scan the text, Waiting Between the Trees.

Just pick one pair of animals, cuz you don't have to cover them all!!!

When discussing the impacts on the story, take the book as a whole!!!

Reference:

Grading: 

Please be aware textual analysis is basically an assessment for close reading instead of just writing, so make sure you can really read between the lines for hidden meanings. 

No plagiarism!

Try to use formal/academic language without many grammar/spelling mistakes!

(MLA  citation is optional, but make sure you put the source in the end if you have used other sources besides the book, and we'll cover MLA format on Thursday)