The Joy Luck Club Sex Quotes

How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #4

"Because it is too terrible to consider. A man can grab you off the streets, sell you to someone else, make you have a baby. Then you’ll kill the baby." (II.2.31)

Based on this and other warning stories, Ying-ying’s worst fear is that her daughter will be forced to have an unwanted baby.

Quote #5

The emotional effect of saving and being saved was addicting to both of us. And that, as much as anything we ever did in bed, was how we made love to each other: conjoined where my weaknesses needed protection. (II.3.19)

Rose and Ted’s relationship isn’t defined so much by their sex life as their emotional life, which plays itself out in a pattern: damsel in distress and strong savior.

Quote #6

"Lena, you’re really extraordinary," Harold said after six months of dinners, five months of post-prandial love-making, and one week of timid and silly love confessions. We were lying in bed, between new purple sheets I had just bought for him. His old set of white sheets was stained in revealing places, not very romantic. (II.4.20)

This is called symbolism – they’re lying on sheets that Lena has bought for Harold, just like their lives are built mostly on what Lena has sacrificed and worked for. Also, notice that one of the most important things about the sex in this scene is the sheets, not the action that just took place.