THE JOY LUCK CLUB, FEATHERS FROM A THOUSAND LI AWAY The Joy Luck Club: Jing-Mei Woo

"And I am sitting at my mother's place at the mah jong table, on the East, where things begin."

Jing-Mei's mother, who has died, was very wise. She was the originator of the Joy Luck Club. She began it. She told her daughter the East is where things begin-where the sun rises and the wind comes from. The effectiveness of this quote is that Jing-Mei is going to begin a new journey in honor of her mother. She is to travel to meet with her sisters she never knew about. She's the beginning, like her mother. Like many of us, we carry on our family legacy. Whether it be in sports, careers, family businesses, or simply by having the same last name. This family uses the game mah-jong as a tradition. Everyone in their family learns how to play and continues to play all throughout their lives. 

Here are the basic rules and guidelines for how to play mah jong: http://rummy.com/mahjong.html 

The literary term I chose for this section is ANECDOTE (a brief narrative that focuses on a particular incident or event). A lot of this chapter is Jing-Mei's mother telling stories of her life. She tells anecdotes of her life that help Jing-Mei understand who her mother is and who she used to be and how she used to live.