MovieChat Forums > The Joy Luck Club (1993) Discussion > The woman who drowned her baby.. her hus...

The woman who drowned her baby.. her husband wasn't that evil...


Yea he screwed around in front of her and treated her like crap, but he didn't appear so bad that she must cut all ties and kill the baby she had with him. It's not like he was Hitler or something where his spawn cannot live on this Earth. She over-reacted and if anything she deserves to die for what she did.

Then somehow she magically fled to America without the husband finding out what she did? That was bad job of writing. Even if she claimed it was a accident he probably would have killed her, the police probably would have imprisoned her or sentence her to death too.



This is for Allah... and it's going way out there sucka...

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I dont think she realized what she was doing. And Yes her husband WAS that bad. Abuse is abuse. and he WAS abusive.

I AM DINOSAUR...RAR!!!

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I believe he was bad enough that when he came home from his whores and found his dead son, he would have killed her too. So how did she escape to live in America? There was no mention of that.


This is for Allah... and it's going way out there sucka...

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I wonder the same thing...maybe it probably says how the escaped in the book...but i've never read it. :(

I AM DINOSAUR...RAR!!!

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Still, he wasn't evil enough that she had to kill the baby she had with him. It wasn't like that same baby would grow up to be just like him.


This is for Allah... and it's going way out there sucka...

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She didnt kill the baby. It was an accident.

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Yes she did. She held him under the water until he was dead.
The narration makes it clear she meant to do it too.

She had a kind of psychotic break by what we see, as she does regret it afterwards.



"I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus."
"Didn't he discover America?"
"Penfold, shush."

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Well, in the book her husband eventually just never comes home to her at all, so after the abortion she went to live with her cousins and then she learns that he died because one of his whores stabbed him when he tried to leave her.

And she was working as a shop girl at the time and she met her second husband there who was an Irish American and he brought her over.

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The book, as is usually the case, is different from the movie.

In the book, he still slept around and actually never did come back home to her. She self-aborted in the book, instead of killing the living baby. Then she was actually still technically married to the man, until she found out one of his lovers killed him.

IMHO, the book is far better than the movie--not because of that scene, but because there are details and nuances that can't translate to the screen.

P.S. I am not going to debate the ethics of abortion on this thread. I am simply stating that the book was different.

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"IMHO, the book is far better than the movie--not because of that scene, but because there are details and nuances that can't translate to the screen. "

I'm not going to say the book makes for a better story... but it makes for a more believable story that he was killed by some chick he was screwing and then she was free to come to America. But still.. why would she be all messed up and depressed 30 years later in America? Because she had an Abortion? Doesn't make for a great story.

Now the drowning in the movie makes a better story but it's just not believable that if he was still alive.. she would get away with drowning the baby.. or at least allowing him to drown. Then she's allowed to flee to America.



This is for Allah... and it's going way out there sucka...

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Past trauma has a tendency to catch up to you someday in the future if neglected. I don't find it implausible at all that she would feel depressed about it thirty years later in America. And maybe she was predisposed to depression; she doesn't seem to be very cheerful, either in the book or the movie. Not that cheer is a foolproof indication of a person's interior life...

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You have to read the book to see her explain why she was "messed up" after 30 years. I think you also have to be a woman to understand why she was different after that incident.

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[deleted]

you're stupied!!!!!
he was a horrible husband and the way he took her son and gave it to his mistress, cmon just cause he wasn't beating (he did slap her though) or raping her. maybe ur a guy and you treat ur wemon like that???? maybe you should marry a guy like that and see what kind or mental state u would be it with all; that mental abusing. she didn't purposely kill her baby it clearly was a accident and she suffered with grief for what she had done for years..

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"she didn't purposely kill her baby it clearly was a accident and she suffered with grief for what she had done for years.. "

Ughh yea she did... She was narrating.. "So I took the one thing from him that I knew could hurt him the most" For like 10 seconds she realized what she was doing then snapped out of it.. but it was too late..

I'm not saying the guy wasn't a complete Jerk Off.. but he wasn't so incredibly evil that his spawn should not be allowed to live in this world. He wasn't Caligula or Charles Manson.. He was just an assH****



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnoSLDmxjXc&feature=related#t=486

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depression is a mutha i know i have had to deal with that after having kids and it will drive you ...but he did nothing to help the issue he didnt care talk about that you are talking about what she did thats the problem always seeing the effect NEVER the cause.

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Exactly, she's NARRATING this! Looking back on the incident, she knows what she did and why. But while it was happening, she was in a depressed, zombie-like state, and did NOT know what she was doing. Just because hindsight is 20/20, it doesn't mean you're cognizant of your motives or feelings behind an incident.



"I hardly know, which way is up, or which way down" - "I Feel Possessed", Neil Finn

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If someone wasn't aware what they were doing when looking back on an event like that. They would just say something like "It's all a blur, or the next few minutes are completely blocked out from memory" Not give a play by play account.


Jesus would support Universal Health Care

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Why? She knows what she did. It's not like she blacked out, went out and killed someone, came home, and was never aware of what they did. She was giving her son a bath and drowned him. If you look at her while she's doing it, she's not looking at him; she's in some sort of trance. And when she realizes what she's done, she's hysterical. What more proof do you need that she wasn't aware of her actions at the time?

"I hardly know, which way is up, or which way down" - "I Feel Possessed", Neil Finn

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I agree killing the baby was a little dramatic but I think you just have to analyze the whole scene to understand it. He was abusive and stole her innocence and while she was at home dedicating her life to him he was out with other women. It's hard to understand because in modern civilization we are taught to be independent and think "well if he doesnt like me who cares" while Chinese women use to be COMPLETELY dependent of the men they married. She could have set the house on fire, broken every dish, ran away but none of it would of hurt him because he still had his pride and joy, his son to carry on his name and legacy. Yeah you could say she could have left him with her son because it's not like he would have grown up to be like him but you have to also take into account how hard it is for an uneducated person who has no money to do this (note that you cant just go out in the streets asking for help in a place where everyone has the same mentality), while leaving on her own without her son is worse because then he would grow up to be just like his father. She did realize too late what she was doing and in the book it is different but the whole message in my opinion that the scene was trying to portray is how sad it is for someone who dedicated her life to another yet has such little power in her way to affect him because she is a woman that she has to further damage and kill a part of herself in order to fully make a point. As far as why she's so damaged in the future, I agree it's a woman thing your baby grows from inside of you, you feel every moment of it so wether it's in terms of the book or movie it's understandable.

Sorry for it being so long, hope it helps you understand more.

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[deleted]

But we are individuals, so whatever hurts one maybe different for someone else. He was verbally abusive, used her, and discarded her. He seduced an innocent, then called her a whore. She didn't say no, so she felt ashamed, and he used this against her. That's my definition of evil.

If we can save humanity, we become the caretakers of the world

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I thought she was despicable for drowning her baby. She should have killed HER HUSBAND!
He was an innocent baby who loved her, he was all she had! Doing such a thing just because her husband was a jerk (who was so OBVIOUSLY an asshat from Day 1, I mean look how he behaved when he was first seducing her!)is not an excuse.

Then she goes & has another baby years later, and abuses her emotionally!
I didn't feel sorry for that mom one bit.


"I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus."
"Didn't he discover America?"
"Penfold, shush."

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[deleted]