The Kitchen God’s Wife by Amy Tan is to some extent an autobiographical work. The main character, as the author, is also a daughter of Chinese immigrants to America, she lost her father and knew nothing about her mother’s previous life. So, The Kitchen God’s Wife may seem an attempt to reinterpret author’s own family story.

The tale of mother and daughter, who live together knowing nothing about each other’s secrets, starts when another relative, who knows them both, forces them to share these secrets to each other. The two women learn something that they couldn’t even think about each other - the experience of fighting the dangerous illness, the horrors of war and the domestic abuse, so horrible but mundane in Chinese families.

The name of the novel tells a lot to anyone who knows something about the Chinese mythology. The Kitchen God is one of the most respected domestic deities in China, but the legends state that he became a deity thanks to his wife who he mistreated and abused. The wife of the Kitchen’s God never received credits for her devotion, neither she became a goddess herself. This story shows how reconciliation of the family, opening up to the closest ones and accepting one’s experience can give the person power to move on and live further happier than before. The altar of Lady Sorrowfree, that was unnamed and considered bad luck before, symbolizes this revelation. The wife of the Kitchen God finally received what she deserved and is praised by the women who know well what their goddess have survived through.

The Kitchen God’s wife is a talented example of social drama that shows how cruel can the alien culture be to women and how much strength it requires from the heroine to stand tall and survive it all as herself - raising her daughter oblivious to the atrocities of war and domestic abuse she had to withstand.

Author: Noah Kennedy