No Picture

Introduction

December 14, 2008 admin 0

Amy Tan wrote The Kitchen God’s Wife about her mother, Daisy. Most of Winnie’s story in the novel is drawn from Daisy’s life, including the […]

No Picture

Amy Tan

December 14, 2008 admin 0

Amy Tan was born in 1952 to first-generation Chinese-American parents. At her birth, Tan was given the Chinese name An-Mai, meaning “Blessing of America.” Her […]

No Picture

Plot Summary

December 14, 2008 admin 0

A Chapters 1-2 The first two chapters of The Kitchen God’s Wife are narrated by Pearl Brandt, the daughter of Winnie Louie, a Chinese woman […]

No Picture

Characters

December 14, 2008 admin 0

A Cleo Brandt Cleo is Pearl and Phil’s three-year-old daughter. She calls her Chinese grandma “Ha-bu.” B Pearl Brandt Pearl is Winnie’s forty-year-old daughter. She […]

No Picture

Themes

December 14, 2008 admin 0

A Duty A central element in Eastern culture is duty, and Winnie exhibits this sense of responsibility throughout her life. When Wen Fu proposes marriage, […]

No Picture

Construction

December 14, 2008 admin 0

A First-Person Narration The Kitchen God’s Wife is an interesting example of a first-person narrative because of its complexity. The story is told from both […]

No Picture

Historical Perspective

December 14, 2008 admin 0

A Political Climate Winnie’s story takes place in pre-communist China when China endured internal struggles between the Nationalists and the Communists, in addition to attacks […]

No Picture

Questions

December 14, 2008 admin 0

Winnie Louie’s life in China was difficult and tumultuous. Research China in the 1940s with special attention to political events. Pretend you are a simple […]

No Picture

Compare and Contrast

December 14, 2008 admin 0

1930s: In China, marriage is arranged to provide the husband’s family with the most wealthy or powerful relations possible. Often, either the couple has never […]

No Picture

Further Reading

December 14, 2008 admin 0

Patricia P. Chu’s Assimilating Asians: Gendered Strategies of Authorship in Asian America (New Americanists) (2000) explores the increasingly important role of Asian authors in America […]