Canning Woo Character Analysis in The Joy Luck Club

Suyuan’s second husband and June’s father. He insists that June take over Suyuan’s spot in the Joy Luck Club, sparking the novel’s chain of events. He is aware of Suyuan’s first family and shares more of Suyuan’s history with June while they visit China, believing it’s important for June to know her mother’s legacy.

Canning Woo Character Timeline in The Joy Luck Club

The timeline below shows where the character Canning Woo appears in The Joy Luck Club. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Mother-Daughter Relationships Theme Icon

...months after her mother Suyuan passes away, Jing-mei “June” Woo is asked by her father Canning to take over her mother’s spot in the Joy Luck Club, a weekly mahjong game... (full context)

...Lindo to acknowledge Rich through a sneaky plan: she first takes him to Suyuan and Canning’s house for dinner, then claims that Rich has never had better Chinese food. Lindo’s personal... (full context)

Immigration, Language, and Mistranslation Theme Icon

June and Canning first go to Guangzhou, formerly Canton, to see Canning’s aunt. In the forty years since... (full context)

In Guangzhou, Canning reunites with his aunt for the first time in forty years. She introduces June to... (full context)

...that night, after most of the relatives have fallen asleep, June wakes up and hears Canning tell his aunt about his life in the past forty years, including how he met... (full context)

Canning’s aunt falls asleep, leaving just June and her father awake. June asks if he knew... (full context)

...weeks previously. She is so delirious with disease that she laughs uncontrollably at the news. Canning, also displaced by the war, meets Suyuan sometime later in the same Chungking hospital. (full context)

Canning now knows from the recent correspondences with Suyuan’s twins that they were rescued by an... (full context)

...daughters from overseas, asking old friends in China to look anywhere for young twin girls. Canning knows nothing about her constant efforts, until Suyuan has a big idea right before she... (full context)

...Hwa. “Hesitations and expectations forgotten,” they run together and embrace, whispering Suyuan’s name in unison. Canning takes a quick-develop Polaroid picture of them together, and when June sees their similar smiles... (full context)