Don't understand; need something to compare the story to? Well, here are some literary connections:

The entire chapter of At the Western Palace is an over-exaggeration of the things the author [Kingston] feels about the things her mother has done in the past. Speaking of over-exaggerations the Life of Pi is full of them. You've heard of the Life of Pi, right? Well, if you haven't then you should check it out. But back to the point: in the Life of Pi, Pi [the main character if you haven't already guessed] tells the story of the animals on the boat and the story of the humans on the boat. The story of the animals on the boat is favored because it is more interesting as is the story in At the Western Palace. If Kingston simply told her story of her mother then it wouldn’t be interesting at all in fact it would be rather harpy." Brave Orchid told her children they must help her keep their father from marrying another woman because she didn't think she could take it any better than her sister had. If he brought another woman into the house, they were to gang up on her and play tricks on her, hit her, and trip her when she was carrying hot oil until she ran away." See my point? That quote is much more entertaining than listening to harping.

Things Fall Apart for example is a parallel for Woman Warrior. In Things Fall Apart Okonkwo and his tribe fall from their culture just as Brave Orchid falls from her culture. In Woman Warrior Brave Orchid falls from her culture and her beliefs when she goes to America. In her traditional culture it is wrong to question a man especially a husband, but after living in America for thirty years she doesn’t follow her past beliefs but falls from them. In Things Fall Apart Okonkwo falls from his culture by killing a man, but not just that caused Okonkwo to fall but his constant fight to be completely opposite of his father.

In Joy Luck Club and Woman Warrior Chinese culture is unvarying between the two. Chinese culture is brought out in both novels and has several comparable examples in the Chinese culture. In Joy Luck Club there are individual stories which all contribute to different experiences in their life; Chinese culture is the background to every one of the stories told.