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. …show more content…
June Woo is put under a lot of pressure by her mother to become very good at piano, her mother expects her to have a brilliant performance and skill. From the looks of it, her mother’s expectation seem a bit unrealistic. June Woo starts to practice playing piano, it is revealed that she is not very good at it, as she cannot perform well at concerts. This disappoints her mother and causes her to stop playing piano. June realizes that she does not want to be what other people (like her mother) want her to be, she just wants to be who she wants to be, which is herself.
When June turns about 30 years old, Suyuan gives her the piano around her birthday, it is the same one June played as a child, June tells Suyuan that she does not know how to play the piano anymore but Suyuan encourages her to try again as she believes she has the potential to become a very good