because she loved to play games with Chinese people

because her mother had died and she was asked by her father to be “the

fourth corner” at the game

because there were very high prizes for winning at the club

because she promised her mother to attend at least one meeting of the club

Sixteen

Twelve

One

Two

to be the first in her neighborhood to form a club

because she loved to eat

because she and her friends had nothing else to do

to give herself and some friends a diversion from the horrors of war

because the women hoped to be lucky, and that hope was their only joy

because all of the good names for clubs were already taken

because they wanted to use some of their own initials in the club name

because “Joy Luck” in Chinese means “happy ladies”

She realized that her mother had been a shop girl in Kweilin.

She realized that her mother’s family had been royalty.

She realized that her mother had left her two daughters behind.

She realized that her mother was an inveterate liar.