Spring Break Assignment

Spring Break Assignment

Read and annotate Amy Tan’s “The Moon Lady” from The Joy Luck Club. Use post-it notes for your annotations. Notes taken in your notebook or on a separate sheet of paper WILL NOT count for credit.

Annotation focus: Symbols, Theme, Imagery, Ways in which Ying-ying undergoes change. Then, complete the tasks that follow. Record the page numbers that inspired your response for each question.


1. Describe how the incident at the Moon Festival affects the main character, Ying-ying.

2. To what degree does Ying-ying’s culture contribute to her transformation?

3. Analyze the literal and symbolic implications of the word lost, as it is used in the story.

4. Trace the changes in Ying-ying’s character before and after the incident at the Moon Festival.

5. Pose three interpretive questions about this story.

6. Draw a symbol to represent Ying-ying’s character.

7. Speculate about how and why Ying-ying changes.

8. How are you being positioned by the author to read this text?

9. How is Ying-ying’s culture like or unlike your own?

10. How are you being positioned by your culture to respond to this text?

* NOTE: If you left school without a copy of Amy Tan's Joy Luck Club, then it is your responsiblity to borrow the book from the library, or purchase a copy of it. You may be able to download it for free at www.googlebooks.com. Otherwise, Strand Bookstore in Union Square sells used books for less!