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The Antagonists In Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club

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How does the antagonist in the story you’ve chosen contribute to the story’s overall meaning?
The “Rules of the Game”, by Amy Tan is closely link to the rules of life. The story mainly focuses on a mother teaching her daughter the tools to live in this world when she grows up. As a result, this creates lots of tension between the mother and daughter. The mother being the antagonist in the story change the family dynamic, help the main character change and bring conflicts into the story. Lau po adds lights to the story and helps move the story.
Lau Po, is a character, who we know very little, but made a big impact in the life of the main character. He teaches Waverly complex moves in chess. Waverly eventually lost many games against Lau Po. After every game, she is learning “I added new secrets”. Playing at the park with Lau Po helps Waverly to go play in the local chess tournaments. …show more content…

Jong, changes the family dynamic and some of her cultural belief in the story, because her daughter is playing chess and bringing pride in the family. She makes the adjustment in the family to give Waverly more opportunities to concentrate in chess. Even though in Chinese culture boys don’t do chores, “Winston and Vincent had to do my chores” (Norton 1495). Waverly starts feeling that she can get everything that she wants, mostly after “my brothers slept in a bed in the living room”. She has her room all to herself, as her mother strongly believe that Meimei needs to focus. These decisions are very surprising to Waverly, as a result, start to bring changes in her

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(b)Connect: Waverly is told not to question the rules just figure it out on her own. Waverly uses the rules to make her own chess strategy. (c)Extend: Waverly Jong is a young girl who lives with her mother, Mrs. Jong, and her two older brothers, Vincent and Winston. Her family is of Chinese descent and they live happily in busy Chinatown, San Francisco.

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This 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.

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In “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.

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When Waverly first met Lau Po, she lost many games but did not give up. “I lost many games and many Life Savers”. This quote explains how towards the beginning of Waverly’s chess journey, she kept on losing games over and over. Therefore, Waverly thought that she could never get better at this point in the story. She did not realize that each time she lost she got better and learned from her losses.

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647 Words | 3 Pages

She 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.

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“This my daughter Wave-ly Jong,” she said to whoever looked her way. 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,’” (Tan). What Waverly means by this is when her mother goes everywhere saying that Waverly is her daughter, Waverly feels ashamed. She feels ashamed because Waverly was taught to always be humble and never to boast, yet then her own mother boasts about her.

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This lesson proves pivotal in Jongs spectacular chess expeditions that saw her crowned national champion and also defined her relationship with her mother whom she considered as an opponent. Jongs

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Waverly’s conclusive thoughts reveal to, “see the endgame before the game begins” (3). In a literal sense, “seeing the endgame” means predicting the outcome of your opponent before they begin to make a move. In the context of Waverly’s game, however, this phrase takes on the meaning that Waverly needs to predict her mother’s reactions before she herself acts based on her mother’s personality and habits. It is clear, therefore, that the link between the necessity of premonitions and adaptation are mirrored through Waverly’s

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The interactions between Waverly and her mother in the first three paragraphs suggest about their relationship as a game, childish, and knowledgeable. For example, the interactions depicted in the opening paragraphs of “Rules of the Game” suggest that Waverly and her mother might see their relationship as a “game” that each wants to “win”. Both of them argue with each other. This could be seen as a possible affection for each other since they both care. In addition, it 's a childish relationship also because Waverly tries to get her mother to buy her “salted plums” by crying in the store.

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Waverly Jong becomes an amazing chess player who opens up many opportunities for her and her mother. In reality, Waverly just wants to be the girl her mother is proud of. However, Waverly now thinks that her mother is now using her. For instance Waverly's mother would make her go to the market when they didn't have a chess tournament. Her mother would walk with her proudly and say, ¨this is my daughter Wave-ly

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In Amy Tan’s Joy Luck Club, the different stories show how the different characters develop and progress. Rose Hsu Jordan begins “Half and Half” as someone who clearly lacks of conviction as she allows everyone but her to make decisions. Throughout “Without Wood”, however, Rose Hsu Jordan begins to learn, with the help of her mother, how to speak up.

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The Rivalry between Waverly Jong and June Woo through Waverly Jong being a child chess prodigy and June Woo struggling to master the piano reflect values of success and worth depicted in the novel because the novel highlights on the subject of how other people treat you because of your success and how someone can determine if the success is worth what they are doing, even if they do not necessarily enjoy what they are doing. For example, Waverly Jong being a chess prodigy, would naturally have a very proud and boastful mother. When Waverly was nine years old she became a national chess champion, and ever since then her mother is very cocky about it and boasts to people whenever she is with Waverly, almost as if she was taking credit or achievement for her daughter’s success. Waverly feels like her chess skills have made her look like a very accomplished person but at the same time she doesn’t like how her mother is very boastful and shallow about it, she almost feels like she is disregarded from her.

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416 Words | 2 Pages

Josh enters a tournament and wins and goes on to win all of his next ones. Even though Josh enjoyed chess his teacher and father were forcing him to live for chess and have his life revolve around it. Josh’s mother sees whats going on and makes them realize that they made Josh think of chess as more than just a game.

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746 Words | 3 Pages

“‘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.

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People may think that movies aren't as different as their book counterpart. While that may be true, there are many aspects between the book and the movie that aren't as similar. The book The Joy Luck Club written by Amy Tan share many similarities and differences with the movie by the same name. The book and the movie possess similar qualities; nevertheless there are many parts where the movie diverged from the book. However, although there are many differences, both movie and book place an emphasis on the same themes.

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