Amy Tan, The Opposite of Fate

Bella Adams (University of Sunderland)
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What is

The Opposite of Fate

? For Amy Tan, the opposite of fate is “choice, chance, luck, faith, forgiveness, forgetting, freedom of expression, the pursuit of happiness, the balm of love, a sturdy attitude, a strong will, a bevy of good-luck charms, adherence to rituals, appeasement through prayer, trolling for miracles, a plea to others to throw a lifeline, … the generous provision of that by strangers and loved ones”, and, above all, “hope” (p. 3). The opposite of fate is also a recurrent issue in Tan’s fictional texts: from the beginning of

The Joy Luck Club

(1989), in the swan-feather mother’s opening vignette about a swan, “

a creature that became more than what was hoped for

” (p. 17), to the endings of

The Kitchen God’s Wife

(1991),

The Hundred Secret Senses

3095 words

Citation: Adams, Bella. "The Opposite of Fate". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 08 April 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=15602, accessed 19 March 2024.]

15602 The Opposite of Fate 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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