The way a family or person lives can be stereotyped but if one looks hard enough, the true colors and character of a person will show. In the short story “Thank You, Ma’am” by Langston Hughes, Roger, a teenager, attempts to steal a purse from a woman named Mrs. Jones, to buy himself some blue suede shoes. Instead of calling the cops on the young boy, Mrs. Jones graciously invites him into her house and offers him a second chance. In the short story “Rules of the Game” by Amy Tan, Waverly is a young girl who is a chess prodigy in the making. However, the pressure her mother puts on her to be as good as she desires pushes Waverly to her limits, causing her to run away from home. In the short stories “Thank You Ma’am” and “Rules of the Game,” …show more content…
Roger's world gets rocked as he meets his mentor, Mrs. Jones, who grants him a second chance. As the text states, “The woman said, ‘You ought to be my son. I would teach you right from wrong. Least I can do right now is wash your face. Are you hungry?’” (Hughes 1). Mrs. Jones treats Roger with tough love, and then offers him food and a place to clean himself up even after he tried to rob her. She felt sympathy for him in the sense that she also felt responsible to clean him up and feed him. Likewise, Lau Po treats Waverly with kindness as he devoted his energy to teaching her everything he knows about chess. The text states, “By the end of the summer, Lau Po had taught me all he knew, and I had become a better chess player” (Tan 5). Waverly was given the chance to spend all summer getting better at chess, thanks to Lau Po’s kindness and patience. Without him, she would not have gotten better at chess since she was on her own. In conclusion, Roger and Waverly are similar because they both had influential mentors involved in their …show more content…
The two characters share a similar trait, they both had influential mentors in their lives, and the mentors changed each character for the better. The two characters differ however, as Roger is a thief because he does not know any better, and Waverly is a hard worker because it is all she has known. They have different family lives, but their relationships with said family contribute to their actions in the stories. Each character’s setting affected the plot of each story because of the hustle and bustle of city life. Both characters do not live in a particularly safe area, as both characters are poor as well. Even though a person or family can be stereotyped, there is always a chance to look hard enough and see the true character of said person or
Both characters face very similar struggles, despite not being in the same world. The similarity between their living situations caused them to face
In Amy Tan’s short story, “The Rules of The Game,” Lindo is a definite ally to Waverly, although she may have trouble expressing it. For instance, in the beginning of the story, Waverly goes to her first official chess tournament. As she leaps up from her cold metal seat after being called to play, Lindo gives her a good luck charm. The author writes, “My mother unwrapped something in her lap. It was her chang, a small tablet of red jade which held the sun’s fire.
From trading pieces of candy for chess pieces, to playing in local tournaments, she transforms into a proficient chess player. Her skills were unmatched in her early years, and she was quickly seen as the first female Grandmaster at the age of twelve. This is her departure from what would appear to be a “normal” life. Furthermore, she meets a mentor, Lau Po, and improves at playing chess. This mirrors the Hero’s Journey, in how both a Hero, and Waverly, must traverse through calls of action, meet a mentor, and transform.
In both pieces of literature read, the chapter “Rules of the Game,” from the book “Joy Luck Club,” Amy Tan and in the poem “Those Winter Sundays,” Robert Hayden, both have a major shift and a theme that changes the narrator’s perspective. In the chapter from “Rules of the Game,” Amy Tan the shift comes right after Waverly runs away. The theme of that chapter is that parents want their children to be successful even if the child does not want to be. As opposed to the poem, “Those Winter Sundays,” Robert Hayden, the shift comes when the narrator realizes that his father has been doing everything with absolutely no help from the son. In that poem the theme is that children should be more appreciative of the chores/tasks that their parents are
In the story “Rules of the Game" by Amy Tan, the characters Waverly and her mom, Mrs. Jong, share different viewpoints. Both Waverly and Mrs. Jong are correct in their viewpoints, but they always seem to clash because they have different views of chess. First, Mrs. Jong is right for being proud of her daughter but uses Waverly to show off. The text illustrates, “My mother would proudly walk with me, visiting many shops, buying very little. ‘This my daughter Wave-ly Jong,’ she said to whoever looked her way…I knew it was a mistake to say anything more, but I heard my voice speaking.
Charlotte’s mother is unsympathetic unlike Miss Hancock who is tender and compassionate by nature. When Miss Hancock passed away, Charlotte’s mother’s response to her daughter’s grief was, “If you would examine this whole, perfectly natural situation with a modicum of rationality, you would see that she got exactly what she deserved” (232). Charlotte’s mother cares more about the “even tenor” of her home than she does her daughter’s grief. Looking at this response in comparison to Miss Hancock’s response to Charlotte’s worrying writing assignment really showcases the differences between the two women. When Charlotte writes a metaphor comparing her mother to a cold, concrete building Miss Hancock takes Charlotte aside and asks her about it.
Most importantly, in the story, the mother is characterized as a very overbearing mother. However, in this part of the story, the main character, Waverly, stands up to her mother and becomes a little disobedient to her mother. In fact, it occurs like this “‘Ma, I can’t practice when you stand there like that,’ I said one day. She retreated to the kitchen and made loud noises with the pots and pans. When the crashing stopped, I could see out of the corner of my eye that she was standing in the doorway.
Sylvia explains why Miss Moore wants to help children’s education, “She’d been to college and said it was only right that she should take responsibility for the young one’s education, and she not even related by marriage or blood” (304). Miss Moore wants to teach the children because she wants them to become aware of what is happening in their society. While they are in the toy store, Miss Moore asks the children what they think about their trip and one of the children, Sugar says, “that this is not much of a democracy if you ask me. Equal chance to pursue happiness means an equal crack at the dough, don’t it?” (309).
Roger is the kind of person that you wouldn't
On her first day of school, a classmate named Walter Cunningham didn’t bring his lunch. He was from a Cunningham family, who were poor, but never took what they couldn’t give back. When Miss. Caroline, their first grade teacher, insisted on giving him a nickel to buy himself lunch, Scout stands up for him. ‘“You’re shaming him Miss. Caroline.”’ Scout said outright.
At first Waverly was curious as to why a stranger would want to play with her, but she gave in and looked at her mom for a sign of approval. Waverly narrates: “A man who watched me play in the park suggested that my mother allow me to play in local chess tournaments. My mother smiled graciously” ( Tan, “Rules of the Game”). Waverly’s mother allows her to go and play chess with an old man showing that
Play it onto the discard pile. (b)Analyze: At the beginning of this story, the narrator, Waverly Jong, explains how her mother taught her the art of invisible strength when she was six years old, saying that it is a strategy for winning arguments, respect, and chess game. (a)Recall: When Waverly fears that she will lose a chess match and shame the family, Mrs. Jong says, "Is shame you fall down nobody push you. " Under the humor of her syntax, however, her words are powerful and biting - that is, Waverly has no one to blame for her failure but herself.
Roger is someone who does bad habits that could get him in bad places such as drugs, smoking, hurting people, etc. Roger is a guide at a rafting company he likes to party and Roger likes to mess around with people. Roger is against Scott because Roger wants Greg to be with him and not with a younger kid, and roger likes to mess with Scott such as get him in trouble. Roger is a good avoider and planner one, he can get away with doing things that he doesn’t want to do and two, he can plan how to get away with things that are worse such as, not telling people things that are needed to know, and telling lies. Roger is bad at comprehending things like hard tasks, and surprising things that are bad.
Roger, once selfish and dishonest, becomes more cooperative and polite. Her actions towards the boy influenced his actions. Mrs. Jones’s impact was first apparent when she had Roger stay and eat dinner with her. Scared and confused, Roger didn’t understand why she was being so hospitable even through he had tried stealing from her.
It is also, by forgiving Roger, that Mrs. Jones helps him open his eyes to the idea of choice. The combination of her sternness and compassion affects Roger tremendously. The text states, “ The boy wanted to say something else other than “Thank you, ma’am” to Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones, but he couldn’t do so ..” (Hughes Pg.3) Instead of forgiving him, had Mrs. Jones handed him over to