Introduction
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 […]
The Kitchen God’s Wife
Plot Summary
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 […]
Characters
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 […]
Themes
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, […]
Construction
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 […]
Historical Perspective
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 […]
Compare and Contrast
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 […]
Further Reading
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 […]