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Waverly Jong's 'Rules Of The Game'

725 Words3 Pages

Never let egotistical emotions control family life. Waverly Jong’s, short story, Rules of the Game, entails a review of her life from age seven to the time she’s nine, showing her notorious upbringing in the chess world, and also the boundaries of life. The author’s message about relationship is that there always must be a sense of family and togetherness. Examples of this are when Waverly and her brothers play chess together for the first time, also when Waverly starts to become good at chess her mother comes and watches her on the weekends. Lastly, although Waverly was exempt from many things in her life, her mother never exempt her from joining her at the markets on Saturday. When, Vincent receives a chess board for Christmas one year, her and her brothers start to bond more. Some of the pieces are missing to the board so instead of buying new generic pieces, Waverly offers something to replace the pieces and in return wants the affirmation of her brothers to let her play: “ Vincent at first refused to let me play, but when I offered my Life Savers as …show more content…

Waverly, states the norm, every saturday at the markets: “ I had to accompany my mother on Saturday market days when I had no tournament to play. 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. (99) ” The, tone of this shows the proudness and boastfulness in the mother. From one viewpoint she can just be seen as a proud mother that is doing it for Waverly’s sake. Another viewpoint can show that she boasts to people about her daughter just to gain fame for herself and take all credit. The mother of Waverly obviously can be seen as a person, that uses her child as a way to gain popularity throughout the community, but still shows her sense of family as she is a proud mother of her amazing

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426 Words | 2 Pages

(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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238 Words | 1 Pages

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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825 Words | 4 Pages

Her mother`s words were vital for her success. Contrastively, her mother, was unimpressed by the number of pieces she would lose before defeating the opponent. She tried explaining herself to no avail, saying its part of the strategy as long as you corner your enemy, her mother, shunned her and instead repeated the same deed at the next tournament. An angered Jong more often than not felt her mom was getting in her

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927 Words | 4 Pages

This is conveyed by Waverly’s relationship with her brothers, her mom using her, and Waverly continuing to lose. To begin, the relationship between Waverly and her brothers holds a significance to the theme. When Vincent first got the chess board for Christmas, he did not let Waverly

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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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443 Words | 2 Pages

‘Why do you have to use me to show off? If you want to show off, then why don’t you learn to play chess.’” (Tan 241). This shows that her mother is very proud of Waverly and

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1095 Words | 5 Pages

Lindo Jong, the mother of Waverly, says, “But inside I am becoming ashamed. I am ashamed that she is ashamed. Because she is my daughter and I am proud of her, and I am her mother and she is not proud of me”(The Joy Luck Club 255). The shame the daughters feel causes the mothers to feel shame. However, the shame the daughters felt because of

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1189 Words | 5 Pages

When Tea Cake asks her if she wants to play checkers, Janie says, “Yes, Ah do, and then agin Ah don’t know whether Ah do or not, ‘cause nobody ain’t never showed me how” (95), referring to the fact that she wants to play checkers with him, despite society as a whole objecting to her playing checkers and refusing to teach her how to play. Janie, regardless of society telling her not to play checkers, decides to learn how to play checkers because she believes that playing checkers will lead to her obtaining happiness. Not only does Janie decide to play checkers to make her happy, but she also decides to go fishing to make her happy. The narrator says, “They caught two or three and got home just before day” (102), describing the way that Janie went with Tea Cake to go fishing. Fishing, like checkers, is considered by society to be a hobby that should only be participated in by men.

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777 Words | 4 Pages

However, she makes a pledge to herself, which she resolves to keep with equal zeal. Lindo’s lesson in balancing duty to one’s parents and responsibility to oneself also links her to her daughter who must learn to revere their heritage and elders without becoming passive, and without giving up their desires and aspirations. Waverly states, “ I was six when my mother taught me the art of invisible strength. It was a strategy for winning arguments, respect from others, and eventually .. chess games. At home, she said, “Wise guy, he does not go

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334 Words | 2 Pages

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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1253 Words | 6 Pages

The characterization of Waverly Jong in Amy Tan’s “Rules of the Game” delineates the importance of foresight and the ability to anticipate the outcome of situations, especially in the case of her mother. In analyzing Waverly’s acknowledgement, “I learned why it is essential in the endgame to have foresight...all weaknesses and advantages become evident to a strong adversary and are obscured to a tiring opponent..for the whole game one must gather invisible strengths and see the endgame before the game begins.” (3), the reader is able to decipher how Waverly’s thoughts work to elicit a greater meaning

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352 Words | 2 Pages

(MINOR 1 FOR MAJOR A) In the story, she would consistently dedicate her time and effort in the game of chess. As a result, at age nine, she was a national chess champion. In addition, Waverly would spend countless of hours trying to discover and learn new strategic ways/techniques always to win the game. For instance, Waverly stated, “I went to school, then directly

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677 Words | 3 Pages

Conflict arises when her mother controls her life. The more she excels in playing chess, the more expectations her mother puts on her, and she loses her freedom to spend jovially as a kid. At heart, she enjoys playing chess, but her mother always wants her to do better. Waverly says: “At the next tournament, I won again, but it was my mother who wore the triumphant grin” (1952, p. 1495). Waverly’s mother is thrilled when her daughter is featured on the cover of Life Magazine.

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721 Words | 3 Pages

After undergoing a tremendous amount of stress from her mother, Waverly begins to give into the pressure of the wind: “Where I was gathered up by the wind and pushed up toward the night sky until everything below me disappeared and I was alone” (Tan). Waverly is arguing with her mother when she runs from and felt free from the wind. Once she is in her bed at the end of the night, she doesn't run from the wind, she allows it to consume her. This wind is what she has been fighting and trying to become the whole

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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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