The Joy Luck Club

by

Amy Tan

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on The Joy Luck Club makes teaching easy.
Suyuan’s second husband and June’s father. He insists that June take over Suyuan’s spot in the Joy Luck Club, sparking the novel’s chain of events. He is aware of Suyuan’s first family and shares more of Suyuan’s history with June while they visit China, believing it’s important for June to know her mother’s legacy.
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Canning Woo Character Timeline in The Joy Luck Club

The timeline below shows where the character Canning Woo appears in The Joy Luck Club. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Part 1, Chapter 1: The Joy Luck Club
Mother-Daughter Relationships Theme Icon
Storytelling and Tradition Theme Icon
...months after her mother Suyuan passes away, Jing-mei “June” Woo is asked by her father Canning to take over her mother’s spot in the Joy Luck Club, a weekly mahjong game... (full context)
Part 3, Chapter 2: Four Directions
Mother-Daughter Relationships Theme Icon
...Lindo to acknowledge Rich through a sneaky plan: she first takes him to Suyuan and Canning’s house for dinner, then claims that Rich has never had better Chinese food. Lindo’s personal... (full context)
Part 4, Chapter 4: A Pair of Tickets
Mother-Daughter Relationships Theme Icon
Immigration, Language, and Mistranslation Theme Icon
June and Canning first go to Guangzhou, formerly Canton, to see Canning’s aunt. In the forty years since... (full context)
Mother-Daughter Relationships Theme Icon
Immigration, Language, and Mistranslation Theme Icon
In Guangzhou, Canning reunites with his aunt for the first time in forty years. She introduces June to... (full context)
Mother-Daughter Relationships Theme Icon
Immigration, Language, and Mistranslation Theme Icon
Sacrifice Theme Icon
...that night, after most of the relatives have fallen asleep, June wakes up and hears Canning tell his aunt about his life in the past forty years, including how he met... (full context)
Mother-Daughter Relationships Theme Icon
Storytelling and Tradition Theme Icon
Sacrifice Theme Icon
Canning’s aunt falls asleep, leaving just June and her father awake. June asks if he knew... (full context)
Mother-Daughter Relationships Theme Icon
Fate and Autonomy Theme Icon
Sacrifice Theme Icon
...weeks previously. She is so delirious with disease that she laughs uncontrollably at the news. Canning, also displaced by the war, meets Suyuan sometime later in the same Chungking hospital. (full context)
Mother-Daughter Relationships Theme Icon
Sacrifice Theme Icon
Canning now knows from the recent correspondences with Suyuan’s twins that they were rescued by an... (full context)
Mother-Daughter Relationships Theme Icon
Storytelling and Tradition Theme Icon
Immigration, Language, and Mistranslation Theme Icon
Fate and Autonomy Theme Icon
Sacrifice Theme Icon
...daughters from overseas, asking old friends in China to look anywhere for young twin girls. Canning knows nothing about her constant efforts, until Suyuan has a big idea right before she... (full context)
Mother-Daughter Relationships Theme Icon
Immigration, Language, and Mistranslation Theme Icon
Fate and Autonomy Theme Icon
...Hwa. “Hesitations and expectations forgotten,” they run together and embrace, whispering Suyuan’s name in unison. Canning takes a quick-develop Polaroid picture of them together, and when June sees their similar smiles... (full context)