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Amy Tan “Rules of the Game” is a short story from Amy Tan’s 1989 best-selling collection of short stories, The Joy Luck Club. The Joy Luck Club is often categorized as a novel...
A story about a Chinese American girl who becomes a chess prodigy and clashes with her mother. Learn how chess, invisibility, and the American dream are themes in this excerpt from The Joy Luck Club.
- “Rules of The Game” Summary
- “Rules of The Game” Theme Analysis: Culture Clash
- “Rules of The Game” Theme Analysis: Mother and Daughter Dynamics
The narrator, Waverly, learned the art of invisible strength at the age of six from her mother. It was a strategy for winning, which involved refraining from speaking. Waverly grew up in San Francisco’s Chinatown in a two-bedroom flat over a Chinese Bakery. The alley led to a small playground, but Waverly and her older brothers preferred the alley ...
Waverly is an American born girl with a Chinese born mother. As such, she feels the force of both cultural influences. The earliest lesson she relates to us, “the art of invisible strength”, is based on a Chinese proverb about a strong wind being unseen. Her mother instructs her to hold her tongue. This is different from the American way of asserti...
Waverly has a “sly thought” and says she’s being wicked when she intentionally brings up something she knows could bother her mother—Chinese torture. Waverly manipulates her mother into letting her enter the chess competitions by saying she doesn’t want to compete with American rules. As her mother is all about learning the rules so you can succeed...
A short story collection by the author of The Joy Luck Club and other novels. Read ratings, reviews, and book details on Goodreads, a platform for readers and writers.
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Learn about the plot and themes of Amy Tan's short story "Rules of the Game," in which a chess prodigy named Waverly Jong challenges her domineering mother. Find out how Waverly masters the game of chess and the art of invisible strength in San Francisco's Chinatown.
Sep 6, 2023 · Learn how chess metaphorically represents Waverly's relationship with her mother Lindo in this short story by Amy Tan. Explore the themes of invisible strength, strategy, luck, and escape in the context of Chinese culture and identity.
Sep 6, 2023 · Explore the main themes of mother-daughter relationships, secrets and silence, and the American dream in Amy Tan's short story "Rules of the Game". Learn how these themes are reflected in the characters, the plot, and the chess metaphor.
