An-mei is the narrator of “Scar” and “Magpies,” and her stories revolve around the sacrifices of her disgraced mother. When she is four, An-mei’s father dies and her mother is exiled from the family for remarrying and becoming a rich merchant’s lowly fourth wife, rather than remaining a widow forever. An-mei’s mother returns to take An-Mei to her second husband Wu Tsing’s house after An-mei’s grandmother, Popo, dies. At Wu Tsing’s, An-mei and her mother are treated terribly by Second Wife, who controls the household. An-mei’s mother eventually commits suicide on a date that frightens the superstitious Wu Tsing, giving power back to An-mei.
An-mei Hsu Quotes in The Joy Luck Club
The The Joy Luck Club quotes below are all either spoken by An-mei Hsu or refer to An-mei Hsu. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Note: all page numbers and citation info for the quotes below refer to the Penguin Books edition of The Joy Luck Club published in 2006.
The Joy Luck Club
Quotes
Not know your own mother? How can you say? Your mother is in your bones!
Related Characters:
An-mei Hsu (speaker), Jing-mei “June” Woo, Suyuan Woo
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 1, Chapter 2
Quotes
My mother took her flesh and put it in the soup. She cooked magic in the ancient tradition to try to cure her mother this one last time. She opened Popo’s mouth, already too tight from trying to keep her spirit in. She fed her this soup, but that night Popo flew away with her illness. Even though I was young, I could see the pain of the flesh and the worth of the pain.
Related Characters:
An-mei Hsu (speaker), Popo, An-mei’s mother
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Without Wood
Quotes
“A mother is best. A mother knows what is inside you," she said above the singing voices. "A psyche-atricks will only make you hulihudu, make you see heimongmong."
Related Characters:
An-mei Hsu (speaker), Rose Hsu Jordan
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire The Joy Luck Club LitChart as a printable PDF.
An-mei Hsu Character Timeline in The Joy Luck Club
The timeline below shows where the character An-mei Hsu 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
...game nights in America in 1949 with new participants, after immigrating to California and meeting An-mei Hsu, Lindo Jong, and Ying-ying St. Clair at the San Francisco Refugee Welcome Center. In...
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Back in the present day, June arrives at An-mei’s house for the Joy Luck Club meeting. She immediately feels out of place, like she...
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...searching; however, she died before having the chance to contact them. The three women – An-mei, Lindo, and Ying-ying – ask June to fulfill her mother’s greatest wish of reconnecting with...
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...Suyuan after a lifetime of being raised by her. June recognizes that behind the anger, An-mei, Lindo, and Ying-ying are actually afraid that their own daughters would have the same reaction...
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Part 1, Chapter 2: Scar
In “Scar,” An-mei recalls her childhood in China, when she lived with her grandmother rather than her mother....
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Popo becomes ill and bedridden in 1923, when An-mei is nine years old. Popo continues to scare her by telling bedside stories about disobedient...
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Later that summer, An-mei’s aunt loses her temper and reveals to An-mei that An-mei’s mother had run off with...
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...revelation, a pretty woman arrives at Popo’s house to nurse Popo back to health, and An-mei immediately knows it’s her mother even though she has no memory of her mother’s face....
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Later that afternoon, An-mei’s mother calls An-mei over to brush her hair, scolding her shyness by saying “An-mei, you...
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An-mei’s mother had begged An-mei to leave with her that night, but Popo refused to let...
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Right before Popo dies, An-mei discovers her mother cutting off a piece of her arm and cooking it in a...
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Part 2, Chapter 3: Half and Half
...coffee table leg in her parents’ living room, and remembers a time when her mother An-mei was very religious and treasured that bible. Though now An-mei pretends to care little for...
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...a divorce transitions to her greatest childhood trauma, which also served as the reason behind An-mei’s loss of religious faith.
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...a leisurely white family at the beach. As the middle child, Rose was instructed by An-mei to watch her little brothers as they played on the beach; in particular, her four-year-old...
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...the precarious cliff side. Her attention is diverted when her other brothers start fighting, and An-mei calls to Rose to stop the two boys. Rose turns her gaze back to Bing...
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...family to blame her too, but each member has self-guilt for not being attentive. Only An-mei refuses to accept Bing’s fate, and takes Rose back to the ocean to look for...
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Back in the present-day, Rose tells An-mei about her divorce, and as predicted, An-mei tells her to try and save the marriage,...
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Part 3, Chapter 3: Without Wood
Rose used to believe every superstition her mother An-mei mentioned, even when she didn’t quite know what it meant; the power of An-mei’s words...
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In the present day, Rose and An-mei attend the funeral of a family friend, and Rose tells her mother more about her...
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...if the check is a trick or an attempt to be compassionate. She remembers that An-mei told her she lacks the Chinese Zodiac element of wood, which causes Rose to listen...
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...Rose stays in bed for three days, taking sleeping pills to numb her chaotic mind. An-mei starts calling Rose non-stop on the fourth day, rousing her from her depressed stupor. Rose...
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...as soon as possible to a woman he’s been seeing during their separation. Rose realizes An-mei was right in suspecting extramarital “monkey business,” and gets the courage to not sign anything...
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Part 4, Chapter 1: Magpies
An-mei connects to her daughter Rose’s divorce narrative by concluding her own mother’s story. Though Rose...
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The next morning, An-mei wakes to her relatives screaming at An-mei’s mother, who’s kneeling pitifully in the dirt in...
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After a long train ride, they arrive at the opulent Western-style mansion of Wu Tsing, An-mei’s mother’s new husband. He is a very wealthy merchant, who collects wives on a whim....
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An-mei’s first few weeks in the new mansion are the happiest times in her whole life,...
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...houses with their children. Second Wife is clearly the dominant matriarch, and tries to win An-mei over with a beautiful strand of pearls. An-mei’s mother privately shatters the illusion by cracking...
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An-mei learns more about Second Wife from a servant who’s loyal to An-mei’s mother. Second Wife...
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After learning the awful truth about Second Wife’s wickedness, An-mei starts noticing all of Second Wife’s attempts to hold power. The worst happens when Wu...
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Two days before the Lunar New Year, An-mei’s mother commits suicide by overdosing on opium. Though some think it was supposed to be...
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Part 4, Chapter 3: Double Face
...away. Lindo starts work at a fortune cookie factory in San Francisco, where she meets An-mei. Through An-mei’s church, Lindo meets Tin Jong, a nice man who unfortunately speaks Cantonese, not...
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