Sandra Cisneros' house on Mango Street, Krik? Krak! by Edwidge Danticat and The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan all have one thing in common… food. Each novel, from the heart of its own story, enhances the important and culturally diverse association between the importance of interactions in the kitchen and cooking food by telling stories. The differences lie in the ethnic origins of each story and how each “kitchen interaction” or “cooking story” is significant to each culture, in each book. In addition to there being significant moments in each novel that have stories taking place in the kitchen or dining room, stories associated with food take the reader into memories of love, concern, and compassion from the character's life. In the kitchen there is love. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay First, let's look at the general similarities of Cisnero, Danticat, and Tan from their three novels, The House on Mango Street, Krik? Krak! and The Joy Luck Club. All three women are literary artists. “Literary” by Merriam Webster online dictionary definition means “having much knowledge of literature: known to read or write books,” while the definition of “artist” is “a skilled artist” (2016). Both novels Krik? Krak! and The House on Mango Street are composed of short stories and Krik? Krak! has an epilogue, while The House on Mango Street has an introduction, both refer to their personal stories and motivational aspects for writing their literature. The Joy Luck Club has an italicized introductory story titled "Feathers from a Thousand Lis Away." The next few examples contain a more in-depth look at the similarities and slight differences between each of the author's novels and the functions of love in reference to cooking. The epilogue to Krik? Krak! has an unnamed narrator who notes her similarities to her mother and female ancestors. These ancestors and the narrator's mother use cooking to express grief, but the narrator chooses to write. His mother doesn't approve because Haitian writers are often killed. However, the narrator's ancestors are united in death, and she uses stories to keep their history alive. “They insert sentences into their stew and wrap the meaning around their pork before frying it” (Danticat 220). This quote from the book is a direct correlation between the importance of storytelling and cooking in Haitian culture. Although being a writer is frowned upon, being a storyteller comes naturally to the women in Danticat's epilogue. Perhaps the narrator's mother doesn't even realize that if she outsourced the stories she tells to her daughter while she cooks, she could probably become a writer if she just wrote down what she tells her daughter while she's in the kitchen. This quote represents the authenticity and appreciation behind a home-cooked meal, placing emphasis on the story behind every particle of food used in the stew. In Haitian culture, gathering and cooking are an important part of life. Both women and men had different roles in gathering food. Men farmed and cultivated and women harvested and sold the produce. It was rare to find a man in the kitchen because the Haitian culture of gender roles viewed men in the kitchen as a sign of “excessive femininity” and because men worked to support their families, women worked in their homes. take care of yourself and your children. Since most Haitians lived primarily in small houses, shacks and apartments, they valued time spent together through conversations and stories,during a home-cooked meal; that home-cooked meal represented hard work, authenticity, pride, and love of family (“Gender Roles”). In Krik? Krak!, Danticat's stories have a strong, feminine and Haitian character that shows the real difficulties of the daily life of Haitian women not only as women, but also as mothers. Although cooking is not mentioned in the story “Women of the Night,” the reader can still infer the presence of love for a child through his mother. The role that Haitian women play as caregivers goes beyond just cooking, and in this sense, it can be concluded that a mother's love is vital to a child's growth and understanding, regardless of what the mother does. In “Night Women” we see Danticat tell the story of a prostitute humanized by the unconditional love a mother has for her child. Even though the mother in “Night Women” works in what is considered by some to be a taboo occupation, as readers we see that her love for her little family is much stronger than her words of contempt for her job. The female character very whimsically describes her son in “Night Women” as “soft” and “…like a butterfly.” The “Night Women” character also makes sure to protect her son from realizing too young that his mother is a prostitute. Whether she is truly sheltering or sheltering him is a matter of debate, but the extreme love she feels for him as her mother is undeniable (Danticat 85). One could argue that the type of protection displayed in “Night Women” is a function of love, just as cooking a home-cooked meal is a representation of a function of love. Love comes in many forms, from many different places, in many different ways that define us and cannot be defined with one generic description. The function of love is determined by the reasons behind doing things to show love and how the person receiving the love understands it. Many of the characters in each novel struggle with the concept of love and learn that there are different “love languages.” In an online article by Dr. J. Richard Cookerly, titled “A Functional Definition of Love,” he talks about the five functions of love: “to connect us, safeguard us, enhance us, heal us, and reward us with joy” (2010). The story “Night Women” reflects Dr. Cookerly's theory of “safeguarding” love in which the mother tries to protect her son by keeping him a separate factor in her life, away from anything to do with her work as a worker. prostitute. In The House on Mango Street, Cisneros focuses primarily on a protagonist of his stories called Esperanza. In the short story "A Smart Cookie", Esperanza explains that her mother is cooking on the stove talking about what her life was like and how she was "a smart cookie" when she was younger. Esperanza's mother explains her memories with regret because she wishes she had done more in her life with her potential. She describes how she drew and sang and how those things made her feel liberated. Esperanza's mother tells Esperanza not to make the same mistakes she made; he tells her to go to school and study hard, implying that she can later be whoever she wants when she grows up. Although there is a reproachful tone to this mother's story, almost threatening Esperanza to stay in school and study hard, there is also a loving sense of comfort in her mother's undeniable love for her daughter. Esperanza's mother is trying to protect Esperanza from making the same mistakes she herself should have made by telling her to stick to her upbringing and have the ability to do anything she wants in life (Cisneros 90). In The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, let's seea group of women who throw a party every week to drown their sorrows, vent their problems and tell their stories. The character, June-Woo aka “June”, had a mother, Suyuan Woo, who recently passed away and was a member of the “Joy Luck Club”. The other members of the Joy Luck Club are called "aunts" by June, and each has a different outlook on life and a different relationship with their daughters. This book revolves around the stories told within the Joy Luck Club and June's memories of her past and her relationship with her mother. The Joy Luck club is a thoughtful tradition that involves cooking and serving while telling stories. In the story “Best Quality,” June reflects on the day her mother gave her a jade pendant during Chinese New Year. June didn't like the pendant at first; it seemed too big and ornate. After her mother's death, however, the pendant will begin to take on great importance for her, even if she does not really understand the meaning that her mother assigned to it. June had helped her mother shop for the crabs she was serving at New Year's Eve dinner. That day, his mother was angry about the tenants who lived in the second-floor apartment of a six-unit building she owned. She was particularly annoyed by their cat, which June and the tenants suspect of poisoning. June listened patiently to her mother as she poked the crabs to find the liveliest ones. While spearing live crabs from the tank, one of them lost a limb. Mrs. Woo refused to accept it because a mutilated crab is bad luck for the new year. After a long discussion, the fishmonger threw it away for free. When they return home, June watches her mother cook, but leaves the room when Mrs. Woo starts boiling crabs; he can't bear to see them die. There are eleven people at the New Year's Eve party. Mrs. Woohad hadn't counted Waverly's daughter, Shoshana, and so purchased only ten whole crabs. When he sees the extra person, he decides to cook the eleventh crab, the one missing a limb. At dinner, Waverly gets the best crab for her son, and Mrs. Woo ends up with the mutilated one, which he doesn't eat. June says she doesn't like crab, but chooses one anyway. Later that night, after everyone has left, June asks her mother why she didn't eat her crab. Her mother tells her that it was already dead before she cooked it, and therefore it was not edible. He cooked it simply because he thought it might still be good and because he knew that only June would pick it, because June would never choose the “best quality.” He sees this virtue as one of June's best qualities. He then gives June his “importance of life,” also known as a jade pendant necklace. This was a way to show June that she loves who June is, even if her mother never shows it. Although June is discouraged from always trying to please her mother and does not want to eat crab, she understands that love comes in many different forms saying, "This is how Chinese mothers show they love their children, not through kisses and hugs but with severity". offerings of steamed dumplings, duck gizzards, and crab” (Tan 202). This quote embodies a lack of understanding in the relationship between June and her mother through tradition and love. Where June can see love in some ways through Chinese traditions, she cannot see love in other situations such as her mother's gift of the jade pendant. In both stories and the chapter, "Women of the Night" and "A Smart Cookie" and "Best Quality", each mother tries to protect her child in different ways. In each of these stories, each mother shows love in a way that can only be expressed by the reaffirming tone of the text. In “NightWomen,” Danticat beautifully and sweetly describes her sleeping son by saying, “I look at his shadow resting motionless on the tent” (Danticat 84). Danticat's sensitive and specific description of the character's son conveys that the woman's son means everything to her, and by titling the story "Women of the Night" and not "Woman of the Night," she also implies that it represents multiple situations in which Haitian mothers by instinct and tradition, they will do anything to support their family and ensure the best possible life for their children. In “A Smart Cookie,” although a shorter story than “Night Women,” Cisneros uses her own childhood experiences as a Mexican-American and remembers herself and her mother through the character of Esperanza. “A Smart Cookie” shows a mother and her unconditional love for her daughter inspiring her to stay in school. In a cultural sense, Cisneros also talks about how Esperanza's mother cooked on the stove while talking to her and cooking and motherhood are also a core tradition in Mexican, Haitian, and Chinese ancestry. In “Best Quality” it is important to note that the last section of this chapter is set in the present. June is preparing dinner for her father, who hasn't eaten well since his wife's death. He hears the tenants upstairs and now understands his mother's previous complaints. The tenant's cat appears at the window and June realizes that her mother didn't poison it after all. In Krik? In “Caroline's Wedding” by Krak!, the reader sees a divide between family members; there is concern from a mother about how “Americanized” her daughter is/has become because she is not marrying a Haitian man. We often see a clash between tradition and modernism in age differences and life, as illustrated by this story. Eventually, Caroline's mother arrives and reassures her that "everything will be fine", despite her personal views on traditional marriage to a Haitian man. His love is demonstrated through his concern for his daughter; she feels that no one else will love her except her husband Eric, if she marries him. Caroline's sister, although seemingly young, is very mature and tells her mother that Caroline should be able to marry whoever she wants because she is an adult. There is this extreme familial bond between the characters that proves endearing in this story. It represents the abandonment of some old ideas and, in a way, is like a mother bird leaving her daughter free to fly (Danticat 161). Are there any similarities between Krik? Krak!, The House on Mango Street and The Joy Luck Club as there is a traditional divide in viewpoints even from Esperanza and her family. Esperanza always seems to be at odds with her father. Jun is always in conflict with his mother, constantly trying to understand why he can never get his mother's full approval in his life decisions. Esperanza's father believes in tradition and that hard work and pride in one's heritage are key factors in being a true Mexican. In the introduction to The House on Mango Street, Cisneros' father cannot understand why his daughter chooses to live in a shabby apartment when he has worked hard for a nice house where she is welcome. She doesn't want to let go of the fact that her daughter, Sandra, has become an independent adult, just like her mother. This love through concern is typical of both stories when it involves family and tradition. We are all safe in our comfort zones and often do not want to accept changes in our lives, especially when it comes to family. All of the novels beautifully capture the strong bond and yet division between Haitians and their family members, Mexicans and their.