In The Kitchen God’s Wife by Amy Tan, I am intrigued by the intricate relationship between Winnie and Aunt Helen. Both of them have had extreme character developments since I started reading and as I predicted, the story has mainly focused on Winnie. I am considering analyzing either of these characters. Both present a strong front and have traditional Chinese values. Winnie and Helen are so similar that they often dislike each other yet they pretend everything is fine because of their past. Because of shame, they both suppress details about how their lives have intertwined. Up until this point, such secrets have not yet been revealed. However, I know that as the story unfolds secrets will be spilled and this will allow me to get a deeper analysis of each character. “You want to tell my secrets, just like that? We made a promise—never to tell” (Tan 79). Helen wants to expose their private information while Winnie dreads the day people will find out. Helen wants the truth to be known yet Winnie is content with her life as it is. This conflict will reveal complexities about both Winnie and Helen that I am very interested in analyzing.
Amy Tan has done an impressive job building this conflict. The way she has developed the story from the beginning creates suspense and leads the reader to wonder what secrets are so harrowing that they are worth being kept hidden for years. Tan alludes to how the secrets may have to do with a previous husband or with Winnie’s mother. Tan also mentions Winnie’s daughter in connection to the secrets. Tan implies that whatever details Winnie is hiding relate to Pearl, Winnie’s daughter, which explains why Winnie is so hard on Pearl to be perfect. I like how Tan used Winnie’s internal conflict as an explanation for the conflict between Winnie and Pearl that was introduced at the beginning of the book. I am looking forward to reading more and I can’t wait to discover what Winnie is hiding.
The complex relationship between Winnie and Aunt Helen seems pretty complex. It’s weird, yet understandable, to know that they are so similar, yet these similarities are what cause them to often not like each other. Based off what you said, they seem to have a sort of love-hate relationship, and character dynamics like those are always incredibly interesting to analyze. I’d love to read this book myself some time!
I am not reading this book but I am also curious about these secrets! I find it very interesting that you as a reader dont fully understand what is happening because normally authors use dramatic irony. I think not only analyzing the two separate characters but their relationship and now they act by each other would be interesting too.
Thank you for sharing, Abby. I’m glad you are enjoying your reading! You very well could focus your literary analysis on the characterization of either Winnie or Aunt Helen!