Synthesis Essay: Comparing Relationships in Two Short Stories

This synthesis essay examines the dynamics of family relationships as portrayed in two short stories: Amy Tan's "The Joy Luck Club" and Shirley Russak Wachtel's "The Music Makers." The essay focuses on the mother-daughter relationship in the former, particularly the complexities and cultural differences between Suyuan Woo and her American-born daughter, Jing Mei (June). It then contrasts this with the sibling relationship between David and Daniel in "The Music Makers," who are brothers connected by shared experiences during the Holocaust. The analysis highlights how characters' personalities and life experiences shape their connections, exploring themes of memory, cultural identity, and the enduring strength of familial bonds, even in the face of adversity. The essay underscores the significance of these relationships in shaping individual identities and providing support and understanding.

Running head: SYNTHESIS ESSAY
SYNTHESIS ESSAY
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1
SYNTHESIS ESSAY
In this compare and contrast essay the analysis of two stories will be represented, where
the bond between two characters will be observed and compared to each other. Referring the two
books there will be, the evolvement of the characters will be understood. Characters are
represented according to their personalities and how the different personality develop their
relationship between themselves. The thesis of the essay is to understand mother daughter
relationship in “The Joy Luck Club”, written by Amy Tan, and then compared to the parent
sibling relationship in Shirley Russak Wachtel In “The Music Makers”.
The “The Joy Luck Club” written by Amy Tan
Suyuan Woo
She was the women, in Amy Tan short stories, who represented the Joy Luck Club that started in
San Francisco in the year 1949. She was always the main host of those meetings occurring in the
Joy Luck Club. She was an ambitious, friendly, and intuitive woman. As she shifted in San
Francisco, she observed similar women like her from China has come here, all of them beholding
memories of unspeakable tragedies. Her daughter was born after two years of opening the San
Francisco Joy Luck club. She was attached to her daughter psychologically, which is from her
second marriage. She would talk about her first marriage to her daughter and share many
memories as well her observations of women she would encounter in the Joy Luck Club. She
died by Cerebral Aneurysm, with unfulfilled desires to reunite with her twin daughters from her
first marriage who were lost in China.
Jing Mei (June) Moo
She is the American born daughter of Suyuan Woo, who later replaced her mother’s place in Joy
Luck Club. Later she realized that the stories her mother used to tell her was fairy tale. Husband

2
SYNTHESIS ESSAY
denied the truth of her death as well her illness, to be specific he quoted “She had a new idea
inside her head” said my father, “But before it could come out of her mouth, the thought grew
too big and burst. It must have been very bad idea”, which depicted very well the relationship
between husband and wife was not so well (Westernhs.bcps.org 2020). This affected the
American daughter Jing Mei, she thought that she connected well with her mother; she was a
good listener and would listen to all her mother’s story intuitively. Although, after her death she
came to know about her existing twin who were lost in China and was found in Shanghai. She
ended with an understanding that she never knew mother and as her last desire to reunite with
her mother.
The complicated relationship between the mother and daughter was highlighted later after the
death of the mother, which reflected their cultural differences, as she was born in America.
Therefore, the name of the short story also represents the base of the story, and the Joy Luck
Club was the only identity Jung Mei mother had.
The Music Maker by Shirley Russak Wachtel
The ordinary characters in this short story represents the problems between human beings and
there close relations. There are many characters represented in the story, which depicts various
kinds of relationship. Therefore, there will be explanation of parent sibling relationship with the
story of “Joy Luck Club”, therefore, comparing the mother daughter relationship with parent
sibling relationship in Music makers.
David and Daniel
They were brothers who survived Nazi attack together, encountered the Holocaust, and survived.
The two siblings have grown in utmost crises and have experiences many heinous crimes

3
SYNTHESIS ESSAY
happening around them during the war period (thriftbooks.com 2020). Alzheimer has, affected
David as he ages which leads to loss of memory, but his relationship with his brother was so
strong, that he recalls those moments with him. He used to think about all the slayings of his
brother, which kept him recalling the heinous memories of holocaust and the Nazi attack.
In comparison to the mother daughter relationship with the sibling relationship, many things are
common, the daughter Jing Mei was a good listener, lingered on her memory, until and unless
her best friends reveal her about her twin daughters, and help her to reach them in Shanghai. As
meeting with her lost twin daughters was her last wish, In case of David, Daniels stories linked
the happening which they have endured together, in midst of Alzheimer’s he could recall and
live in the moment which his brother shared depicting their string relationship whereas the
mother daughter relationship was
References
thriftbooks.com 2020. [online] Available at: <https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/the-music-
makers/9136985/#isbn=1500785520&idiq=10664495> [Accessed 3 April 2020].
Westernhs.bcps.org. 2020. [online] Available at:
<https://westernhs.bcps.org/UserFiles/Servers/Server_4204286/Image/
Grade9GTjoyluckclub.pdf> [Accessed 3 April 2020].