The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, Krik? Krak! by Edwidge Danticat and The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan all have one thing in common… food. Each novel, drawn from the heart of its own story, magnifies the important and culturally diverse association between the importance of interactions in the kitchen and cooking food while telling stories. The differences lie in the ethnicity of each of the stories and how each “kitchen interaction” or “cooking story” has meaning for each culture, in each book. In addition to having important moments in each novel that contain stories that take place in the kitchen or dining room, the stories associated with food take the reader into the memories of love, concern and compassion of the character. There is love in the kitchen. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essay First, let's look at the general similarities between Cisnero, Danticat, and Tan in their three novels, The House on Mango Street, Krik? Krak! and the Joy Luck Club. All three women are literary artists. “Literary,” by definition from the Merriam Webster online dictionary, means “having extensive knowledge of literature: known to read or write books,” while the definition of “artist” is “a skilled performer” (2016). The two Krik novels? Krak! and The House on Mango Street are composed of short stories and Krik? Krak! has an epilogue, while The House on Mango Street has an introduction, referencing both their personal stories and the motivational aspects for writing their literature. The Joy Luck Club has an italicized introductory story called "Feathers from a Thousand Miles Away." The following examples contain a more in-depth observation of the similarities and slight differences between each of the author's novels and the functions of love in reference to cooking. The epilogue in Krik? Krak! has an unnamed narrator who notices his similarities to his mother and female ancestors. These ancestors and the narrator's mother use cooking to express their grief, but the narrator chooses to write. His mother does not approve because Haitian writers are often killed. However, the narrator's female ancestors are united in death, and she uses stories to keep their history alive. “They slip sentences into their stew and wrap their pork in meaning before frying it” (Danticat 220). This phrase from the book is a direct correlation between the importance of storytelling and cooking in Haitian culture. Although being a writer is frowned upon, being a storyteller comes naturally to the women in Danticat's epilogue. Perhaps the narrator's mother doesn't even realize that if she acted out the stories she told her daughter while cooking, she could probably become a writer if only she wrote down what she told her daughter while being in the kitchen. This quote represents the authenticity and appreciation of a home-cooked meal, emphasizing the story behind each particle of food that goes into the stew. In Haitian culture, harvesting and cooking are an important part of life. Women and men both had different roles in food collection. Men cultivated and plowed and women harvested and sold the produce. It was rare to find a man in the kitchen because Haitian gender role culture considered men in the kitchen a sign of "over-femininity" and because menworked to support their families, women worked in their homes. take care of themselves and their children. Because most Haitians lived primarily in small houses, shacks, and apartments, they valued time spent together through conversations and stories, over a home-cooked meal; this home-cooked meal represented hard work, authenticity, pride, and love for family (“Gender Roles”). In Krik? Krak!, Danticat's short stories have a strong, feminine and Haitian character presence that shows the real struggles of daily life of Haitian women not only as women, but also as mothers. Although cooking is not mentioned in the story “Women of the Night,” the reader can still infer the presence of love for a child through his mother. The roles that Haitian women play as caregivers go beyond cooking and, in this sense, it can be concluded that a mother's love is vital for the growth and understanding of the child, regardless of what the mother does. In “Night Women,” we see Danticat tell the story of a sex worker humanized by the unconditional love a mother has for her son. Although the mother in “Night Women” works in what is considered a very taboo profession for some, we see as readers that her love for her little family is much stronger than her words of disdain for her job. The female character very fancifully describes her son in "Night Women" as "sweet" and "...like a butterfly." The “Night Women” character also takes care to prevent her son from realizing too young that his mother is a sex worker. Whether she actually protects or shelters him is up for debate, but the extreme love she has for him as a mother is undeniable (Danticat 85). One could argue that the type of protection displayed in “Night Women” is a function of love, just as preparing a home-cooked meal is a representation of a function of love. Love comes in many forms, from many different places and in different ways that define us, and cannot be defined under one generic description. The function of love is determined by the reasons for doing things to show love and how the person receiving the love understands it. Many characters in each novel struggle with the concept of love and learn that there are different "love languages." In an online article by Dr. J. Richard Cookerly titled "A Functional Definition of Love," he talks about the five functions of love which are "to connect us, to protect us, to enhance us, to to heal and to heal ourselves.” reward us with joy” (2010). The story "Night Women" reflects Dr. Cookerly's theory of love to "protect us", in which the mother tries to protect her son by keeping him separate in her life, away from everything that has to do with her work as a woman. prostitute. In The House on Mango Street, Cisneros primarily focuses on a protagonist throughout his short stories named Esperanza. In the short story "A Smart Cookie", Esperanza explains her mother cooking on the stove as she talks about what her life was like and how she was "a smart cookie" when she was younger. Esperanza's mother explains her memories with regret because she wishes she had done more in her life with her potential. She describes how she drew and sang, and how these things made her feel liberated. Esperanza's mother tells Esperanza not to make the same mistakes she made; she tells him to go to school and study hard, implying that moreLater, she can be whoever she wants when she grows up. Although there is a tone of reprimand to this mother's story - almost threatening Esperanza to stay in school and study hard, there is also a sense of comfort in her mother's undeniable love for his daughter. Esperanza's mother tries to protect Esperanza from the same mistakes she herself would have made by telling her to stick to her education and have the ability to do anything she wants in life ( Cisneros 90). In Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club, we see a group of women who throw a feast every week to drown their sorrows, vent their problems and tell their stories. The character, June-Woo aka "June", had a mother, Suyuan Woo, who recently passed away and was a member of the "Joy Luck Club". The other members of the Joy Luck Club are called "aunts" in June, and each has a different outlook on life and a different relationship with their daughters. This book revolves around the stories told within the Joy Luck Club and June's memories of her past and her relationship with her mother. The Joy Luck Club is a thoughtful tradition of cooking and serving while telling stories. In the story "Best Quality", June reflects on the day her mother gave her a jade pendant during Chinese New Year. At first, June didn't like the pendant; it seemed too big and too ornate. However, after her mother's death, the pendant will begin to take on great importance for her, even if she does not really understand the meaning that her mother attributed to it. June had helped her mother buy the crabs she served for New Year's dinner. That day, her mother was annoyed by the tenants in the second-floor apartment of a six-unit building she owns . She was particularly bothered by their cat, which June and the tenants suspected of having poisoned. June listened patiently to her mother as she poked at the crabs to find the liveliest ones. While she was spearing the tank's live crabs, one of them lost a limb. Mrs. Woo refused to accept it because a mutilated crab brings bad luck in the new year. After a long discussion, the fishmonger brought it for free. When they get home, June watches her mother cook, but she leaves the room when Mrs. Woo begins boiling the crabs; she can't bear to see them die. There are eleven people at the New Year's celebration. Mrs. Woo hadn't counted Waverly's daughter Shoshana, so she only bought ten whole crabs. When she sees the extra person, she decides to cook the eleventh crab, the one missing a limb. At dinner, Waverly takes the best crab for her child and Mrs. Woo ends up with the mutilated one, which she doesn't eat. June says she doesn't like crab, but picks one anyway. Later that night, after everyone has left, June asks her mother why she didn't eat her crab. His mother told him that it was already dead before she cooked it and therefore was not edible. She cooked it simply because she thought it might still be good and because she knew only June would choose it, because June would never choose the "best quality". She considers this virtue one of June's best qualities. Then she gives June her "life significance", also known as the jade pendant necklace. It was a way to show June that she loves who June is, even if her mother never shows it. Although June is discouraged from always trying to please her mother and does not want to eat crab, she understands that love takes many different forms, saying, "This is how Chinese mothers show that they love their children, not through hugs and kisses but withharsh words. offerings of steamed ravioli, duck gizzards and crab” (Tan 202). This quote embodies a lack of understanding in the relationship between June and her mother through tradition and love. While June can see love in a certain way through Chinese traditions, she cannot see love in other situations, such as when her mother gives her the jade pendant. In both stories and the chapter "Women of the Night" and "A Clever Cookie" and "Better Quality", each mother tries to protect her child in different ways. In each of these stories, each mother shows her love in a way that can only be expressed through the reaffirming tone of the text. In “Women of the Night,” Danticat beautifully and gently describes her sleeping son, saying, “I watch his shadow still resting on the curtain” (Danticat 84). Danticat's delicate and specific description of the character's son implies that the woman's child means everything to her, and by titling the story "Women of the Night" and not "Woman of the Night", she also implies that It represents multiple situations in which Haitian mothers, by instinct and tradition, would do anything to provide for their family and provide the best possible life for their children. In "A Smart Cookie", although the story is shorter than "Night Women", Cisneros uses her own childhood experiences as a Mexican American and remembers herself and her mother through the character of Esperanza. “A Smart Cookie” shows a mother and her unconditional love for her daughter inspiring her to stay in school. From a cultural perspective, Cisneros also recounts how Esperanza's mother cooked on the stove while chatting with her and that cooking and motherhood is also a core tradition of Mexican, Haitian, and Chinese origins. In “Better Quality,” it is important to note that the last section of this chapter takes place in the present. June prepares dinner for her father, who has not been eating well since his wife's death. She hears the tenants upstairs and now understands her mother's old complaints. The tenant's cat appears at the window and June realizes that her mother didn't poison it after all. In Krik? In “Caroline's Wedding” by Krak!, the reader sees a divide between the family members; a mother worries about the idea that her daughter is/has become “Americanized” because she does not marry a Haitian. We often see a clash between tradition and modernism in age differences and in life, as this story illustrates. In the end, Caroline's mother arrives and reassures Caroline that "everything will be fine", despite her personal views on traditional marriage to a Haitian. His love is manifested through his concern for his daughter; she feels that no one else will love her except her husband Eric, if she marries him. Caroline's sister, although seemingly young, is very mature and tells her mother that Caroline should be able to marry whoever she wants because she is an adult. There is this extreme family bond between the characters which proves endearing in this story. This represents the abandonment of some old ideas and, in a way, it is like a mother bird letting her daughter free to fly (Danticat 161). Are there any similarities between Krik? Krak!, The House on Mango Street and The Joy Luck Club in that there is also a traditional divide between the views of Esperanza and her family. Esperanza always seems to clash with her father. Jun is always in conflict with her mother, constantly trying to understand why she can never get her mother's full approval in her life decisions. The father.