Study Guide

The Joy Luck Club Part 2, Prologue

By Amy Tan

Part 2, Prologue

This is a dialogue between a mother and a young daughter.
The mother knows that if the daughter rides her bike around the corner, she will fall.
The girl refuses to believe her mother.
The mother knows her daughter will fall because of a book called The Twenty-Six Malignant Gates, which details twenty-six horrible fates for children.
The girl wants to see the book, but the mom says it’s written in Chinese so she won’t understand it.
The daughter demands to know these twenty-six fates.
When her mother doesn’t answer, the girl rides her bike away in anger, shouting "You don’t know anything," and falling before she even rounds the corner.
Score one for mom.