Essay On Lindo's Deviousness

Winston Churchill once said, “However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results”. In The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, Lindo’s deviousness and strategies help her get what she wants throughout her life. Her devious-looking face symbolizes the way she tries to strategize so that other people do what she wants them to do. However, Lindo’s deviousness can also be at the expense of other people’s fear. Facial features and strategies could be good and bad things that parents can pass down to their children. Amy Tan uses Lindo’s facial features to show that her deviousness relies on other people’s insecurity, but more importantly it is helpful for people to get what they want.

Amy Tan uses Lindo’s face to symbolize Lindo’s strategizing

When Lindo realizes that Waverly has decided to marry a white man, Lindo doesn’t say anything, so Waverly thinks that her mother still does not know. When Waverly goes to tell her mother about her engagement, she says, “Her mouth was slack and all the lines in her face were gone. With her smooth face, she looked like a young girl, frail, guileless, and innocent” (180). Waverly sees that her mother’s face and body is weak and defenseless and realizes that she is amazed by her mother’s weak appearance. Therefore, Waverly is completely upfront about her upcoming marriage, not realizing the traps that Lindo sets her up in to make Waverly feel bad about her poor opinion of Lindo. When Waverly gets annoyed that Lindo manipulated her, Lindo talks about their ancestors and says, “We are a smart people, very strong, tricky, and famous for winning wars” (182). Waverly goes on to manipulate the conversation in the way she wants to, to show Waverly that she should embrace Lindo as part of Waverly’s life. Her deviousness is shown through her verbal attacks, and she does not care how foolish she makes Waverly feel, because she gets what she