Mothers, Memory and Female Agency: Mary, Sarah, Jing-mei Woo and Rose Hsu Jordan in Comparative Perspective

Abstract

This paper undertakes a comparative literary and theological analysis of two biblical women Mary, mother of Jesus and Sarah, wife of Abraham—and two characters from Amy Tan's fiction: Jing-mei Woo and Rose Hsu Jordan from The Joy Luck Club. Situated within the broader thesis framework Faith, Fate and Female Fortitude, the study explores how faith (religious, filial and cultural), conceptions of fate and practices of fortitude (resilience, agency and endurance) shape feminine identity across divergent historical and cultural
contexts. Employing close reading, intertextual comparison and feminist theological critique, the paper shows that although Mary and Sarah belong to a religious tradition that frames women's roles within covenantal narratives and Jing-mei and Rose belong to diasporic literature negotiating bicultural identities, all four women negotiate meaning through stories of vulnerability, relationality and transformation.