How does Tan explore the idea of change in The Joy Luck Club?

I think the central way in which this masterful story of
Chinese immigrants starting new lives in the US explores the theme of change is through
the differences between the two generations of immigrants and how the daughters of the
Chinese women who left their country are forced to construct their own identity as they
grow up as second-generation immigrants who are born in the US but nonetheless grow up
in a Chinese subculture. This of course creates conflict in all of these relationships,
as the mothers expect their daughters to grow up and show similar respect and obedience
as they had to when they grew up in China. However, at the same time, the Chinese
mothers want their daughters to learn something from American strength and independence,
and integrate these qualities into their identity. The novel is really the exploration
of the daughters and their attempts to find a compromise between the two extremes of a
Chinese identity and an American identity that prove acceptable to both themselves and
to their mothers. An excellent example would be the way in which Rose Hsu Jordan manages
to assert herself in the face of her husband's cruelty after hearing the story of her
grandmother.

Identity is something that is presented as
being malleable and in a process of flux or change. The daughters range between adopting
a Chinese approach to life and rejecting their Chinese heritage to embrace American
norms and values. All of them show the theme of change by incorporating elements of both
identities to create a new hybrid identity that allows them to pick and choose, showing
the way in which identity is something that is in a constant process of change for many
immigrants or second-generation immigrants.