Chaucer's tale tellers are riding to Canterbury one spring to pay their respects to the tomb of St. Thomas a Becket, and the host of the Tabard Inn, where they spent their last night in London, has persuaded them to enter a tale telling contest in which the tale judged wisest and most entertaining will win a free dinner at the end. Chaucer increases the complexity of the situation by drawing his tellers from many walks of life, from a drunken cook to a knight on the male side, and from the prioress of a nunnery to the bawdy Wife of Bath on the female side. Between tales, pilgrims quarrel, crack jokes at each others' expense, flee pursuers angered by their fraudulent behavior, etc. Woo has been called to take the place of her mother, Suyuan Woo, who has died. Otherwise, the tales are organized as variations on the patterns of play in the game of mah jong.
Some common features are true of all, however.
Four players begin with a pile of decorated tiles from which they each choose a starting set, much like dominoes. Chinese mah jong is organized by a seasonal motif in which the players represent the four winds which blow from the four cardinal directions, and in the Joy Luck Club, each woman played the position she won by a roll of the dice. Clair, Jong, Jordan, Woo. The lost relatives in the East were a perpetual agony to most of the parents, who owed their relations important duties of respect and support. Their ancestors' spirits also were understood to be left comfortless without the careful remembrance of their sons and daughters.