Betting Across Borders: A New Way to Read The Joy Luck Club and Other Immigrant Literature through the Window of Play

This article examines how literature involving games represents immigrants by focusing on the representation of the game mahjong in Amy Tan’s 1989 novel The Joy Luck Club. Providing a new way to read The Joy Luck Club through the window of play, this article also analyzes more broadly how games intersect with immigrant experience in other immigrant literature. Building on but further articulating the intersection between games and immigrants, this article uses three thematic approaches to demonstrate how games contribute to the public narrative of immigration in literature. First, games as an activity to describe immigrant experiences and convey characters. Second, games as a metaphor and a plot-driven device to reflect on immigrant experience. And third, games as an intellectual trend to create dialogue with mainstream culture to negotiate the public narrative of Asian American cultural identities