Theme Of Rules Of The Game By Amy Tan
“‘Check,’ I said, as the wind roared with laughter. The wind died down to little puffs, my own breath.” Amy Tan’s short story, Rules of the Game, is about a talented Chinese-American girl, Waverly Place Jong, who aspires to become a champion in chess. As the story progresses, she builds up experience and becomes close to fulfilling her dream with help from her mother she takes for granted. At the end of the story, Waverly gets annoyed at her and runs away from her, only to figure out the action is her loss. A theme in Rules of the Game is the significance of family in one’s life, because the story demonstrates that parents provide support, guidance, and knowledge.
First, the theme of Rules of the Game is the value of guardians in a minor’s
…show more content…
For example, when Waverly was little, she whined because she wanted salted plums. Her mother responded, using the wind as a metaphor, “Come from South, blow with wind-poom!-North will follow. Strongest wind cannot be seen." The tip proves to be useful when Waverly plays chess. She avoids revealing clues about her thoughts through facial expression, so her opponents cannot read through her. Because of her mother, the girl often emerges victorious after participating in matches. Furthermore, when her daughter is curious about Chinese torture, Mrs. Jong instructs, "Chinese people do business, do medicine, do painting. Not lazy like American people. We do torture. Best torture.” She takes pride in her Chinese ethnicity, acting as a role model for her child. Waverly not only learns to have confidence in her culture, but gender as well. Later in the story, a male opponent looks down on her because she is a female. However, she does not let that discourage her, and is triumphant at the end of the game- thanks to her mother’s advice. Waverly’s successes are possible because of the one who gave birth to
Waverly In Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club
238 Words | 1 PagesThis quote from the text stands out to me because it shows that Waverly’s mom cares more about herself than her community. Every Saturday, Waverly and her mom would go to the market. Not to purchase anything, but for Waverly’s mom to show off her daughter who became a national chess champion. Instead of focusing on how her family felt about Waverly’s sudden success and helping them cope with Waverly’s busy schedule, the mother chose to flaunt Waverly and boast about her accomplishments.
Waverly Jong's 'Rules Of The Game'
825 Words | 4 PagesIn “Rules of the Game,” the author directs her focus on the strained relationship between an immigrant mother and her daughter born in America but of intense Chinese background. The narrator, Waverly Jong describes her encounter at the marketplace with her mom; who taught her the art of invincible strength. She explains how her mother termed it as a strategy for winning arguments, respect from others stating that the strongest wind never meets the eye. This lesson proves pivotal in Jong’s spectacular chess expeditions that saw her crowned national champion as well as defined the latter`s relationship with her mother, whom she often saw as an opponent. Jong becomes entrapped in her conflicting environments, forcing her to adjust accordingly to both her physical and social environment.
Waverly In Amy Tan's The Rules Of The Game
323 Words | 2 PagesIn 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.
Character Analysis: The Hero's Journey
933 Words | 4 PagesFrom 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.
Compare And Contrast Rules Of The Game And Those Winter Sundays
701 Words | 3 PagesIn 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
Similarities Between Waverly And Mrs. Jong In Amy Tan's Rules Of The Game
443 Words | 2 PagesIn 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.
Comparison Of Rules Of The Game And Royal Beatings
687 Words | 3 PagesIn the “Royal Beating” Flo lists all of the ways, she feels that Rose has been disrespectful towards her (Munro 1134) and then goes and gets Rose’s father to punish her. Once the punishment has been dealt they go back to normal and their lives go on. In “Rules of the Game” the way Waverly describes her mother’s reaction you know that she is very angry at her. “My mother’s eyes turned into dangerous black slits. She had no words for me, just sharp silence.”
Defiance In The Short Story 'Borders' By Samuel Scoville Jr.
1589 Words | 7 Pages‘Hmmmmph!’ Only this one came out of her tight throat” (8). This quote is able to reveal that Waverly had stood up to her mother, and in return, her mother had become less overbearing. Furthermore, with this action, Waverly had been able to receive the reward of a little freedom and independence from her mother that she had been trying to acquire throughout the story. In addition, a little later in the story, Waverly informs the reader that “One day after we left a shop I said under my breath, ‘I wish you wouldn’t do that, telling everybody I’m your daughter’”
Essay On Lindo's Deviousness
795 Words | 4 PagesWhen 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
Amy Tan Identity
334 Words | 2 PagesThroughout Amy Tan’s Rules of the Game, one can interpret different aspects of Waverly that are not explicitly spelled out. Her approach to her games reveals one detail about her: “As I began to play, the boy disappeared…and I saw only my white pieces and his black ones,” (5). Not only does this show how much focus she puts in her games, but also shows her willingness to win the match. From this, one can also infer that Waverly is competitive and finds losing to be intolerable. The passage also reveals some aspects of her culture, therefore also revealing her identity.
Compare And Contrast Rules Of The Game And Route 1 North
385 Words | 2 PagesIn Chinese we say, Come from South, blow with wind-poom!-North will follow. Strongest wind cannot be seen.” Waverly’s mother, Lindo, is saying that if she shows emotions then she won’t get what she wants in life. She has to show that she is strong at all times. Amy Tan goes on to write, “The next week I bit back my tongue [...]
Character Analysis: The Bean Trees By Barbara Kingsolver
1615 Words | 7 PagesIn the short story “Rules of the Game” by Amy Tan, Waverly Jong’s mother is unsupportive of Waverly’s dream to pursue chess. Waverly Jong explains to us that she was only six years old when her mother taught her “the art of invisible strength,” a strategy for winning arguments and gaining respect from others in games. Waverly and her two brothers love on Waverly Place in San Francisco’s Chinatown. Waverly’s brother received a chess set at the Baptist Church Christmas party. Waverly immediately took interest in the game.
Waverly Jong Quotes With Page Numbers
426 Words | 2 PagesPlay 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.
Suyuan Woo Relationship
645 Words | 3 PagesIn Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club, mother and daughter relationships are put to the test. Four women meet to play a game of Chinese mahjong, keeping a tradition alive. Suyuan Woo, founder of the club, had a daughter named Jing Mei June Woo. Suyuan had two daughters which she expected both to succeed to her standards.
Joy Luck Club Essay: Lindo Jong's Invisible Strength
647 Words | 3 PagesShe credits her success to her mother’s lesson of the power of invisible strength. She recounts how “my mother taught me the art of invisible strength. It was a strategy for winning arguments, respect from others, and eventually, though neither of us knew it at the time, chess games.” (p. 89) Waverly goes on to have a lucrative career as an attorney, while her mother 's power over her gradually wanes reminiscent of the Taitai’s power over Lindo.
More about Theme Of Rules Of The Game By Amy Tan
Waverly In Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club
238 Words | 1 PagesWaverly Jong's 'Rules Of The Game'
825 Words | 4 PagesWaverly In Amy Tan's The Rules Of The Game
323 Words | 2 PagesCharacter Analysis: The Hero's Journey
933 Words | 4 PagesCompare And Contrast Rules Of The Game And Those Winter Sundays
701 Words | 3 PagesSimilarities Between Waverly And Mrs. Jong In Amy Tan's Rules Of The Game
443 Words | 2 PagesComparison Of Rules Of The Game And Royal Beatings
687 Words | 3 PagesDefiance In The Short Story 'Borders' By Samuel Scoville Jr.
1589 Words | 7 PagesEssay On Lindo's Deviousness
795 Words | 4 PagesAmy Tan Identity
334 Words | 2 PagesCompare And Contrast Rules Of The Game And Route 1 North
385 Words | 2 PagesCharacter Analysis: The Bean Trees By Barbara Kingsolver
1615 Words | 7 PagesWaverly Jong Quotes With Page Numbers
426 Words | 2 PagesSuyuan Woo Relationship
645 Words | 3 PagesJoy Luck Club Essay: Lindo Jong's Invisible Strength
647 Words | 3 Pages