The Joy Luck Club Part 3, Prologue Summary

  • This is an exchange between a mother and her grown daughter, taking place in the master bedroom of the daughter’s new condo.
  • The mother insists that mirrors cannot be placed at the foot of the bed, because they turn away marriage happiness.
  • The daughter is dismissive, sick of her mom’s superstition and all of the bad omens she sees.
  • The mother corrects the imbalance by giving her daughter a second mirror to be placed at the head of the bed.
  • The two mirrors are meant to help fertility; the mother says that she can see her future grandchild in the second mirror.
  • When the daughter looks in the mirror, she finds that her mother is right: through her own reflection, she can see her future child.