Character Analysis: Four Directions By Amy Tan

The first way Tan reveals her main idea is through parallelism. She writes, “I was raised the

There is a linguistic gap between the mothers, who are the first generation of Chinese immigrants, and their American-born daughters. The mothers speak only fragments of English and their daughters speak little or no Chinese at all. So the communication often becomes a matter of translations and leads to misunderstandings. The first misunderstanding with translation is shown when Jing-mei tries to explain the significance of the club’s name,

In the passages Confetti Girl by Diana López and Tortilla Sun by Jennifer Cervantes, the narrators and the parents have different opinion on what is the right thing to do, and because of their different opinions, tension and distance in their relationship is created. The narrators in both passages feel alone or left out either because of the lack of attention of because they are missing a beloved parent. In both passages the narrators feel uncomfortable with the parent and is not fully opening up to them. In the sections Confetti Girl and Tortilla Sun, the different opinions between the two narrators and parents create distance and tension in their relationship.

Tan’s gross and repulsive family “licked the ends of their chopsticks and reached across the table, dipping them into the dozen or so plates of food.” Her dreadful family is double dipping and has no table manners. Through her use of detail, the author further emphasizes the differences between her family and Robert’s family. These vast differences fill Tan with embarrassment and discomfort on Robert’s behalf along with self-doubt. Another example is the description given of Robert’s polite and quiet family. They are illustrated when Tan says “Robert and his family waited patiently for platters to be passed to them.” Robert’s patient and well-mannered family is expressed through the use of detail. The use detail further exemplifies the differences between the two families, therefore, further enforcing the author’s humiliation of her family’s actions the fluctuation of cultural differences reinforces the author’s belief that Robert dislikes her. For the duration of the description of the dinner, the narrator creates a deep contrast between her family and Robert’s, showing what her family looks like in his

“Four Directions” is the story of Waverly Jong, the young prodigy chess player who lashes out at her mother because of her constant showing off of Waverly. After returning to chess, Waverly realizes that her skill and determination is gone, along with the support and love from her mother. She beings to understand that her winning was solely dependant on her mother’s boastful remarks about her daughter, the love the Lindo was so openly expressing.

Tan develops her relationship with the audience by allowing us inside of her head and her private conversation that she had with her mom after Robert left. This helps to appeal to the emotions of the audience

On the other hand the main focus on Tan’s story is to show the beautiful and passionate side of her mother that people can't see. Tan describes how all of the English’s that she grew up with, normal English and "mother tongue" English, has shaped her first outlook of life. She writes, "But to me, my mother's

3. In paragraphs 10 through 13, Tan juxtaposes her mother’s English with her own. The point these quoted passages make is to show how different was her mother’s English from her English.

However, the conflict between Waverly and her mother is very realistic, due to the nature that many mothers and daughters have different views which causes disagreements. The people of Chinese descent have their Chinese heritage, but struggle to keep true to their traditions while living around American culture. The major conflict in the story, the clash of different cultures, leads to the weakening of the relationship between the two characters. For example, when Waverly reenters the apartment after running away, she sees the "remains of a large fish, its fleshy head still connected to bones swimming upstream in vain escape" (Tan 508). Waverly sees herself as the fish, stripped clean by her mother 's power, unable to break free. Through the major conflict, the characters struggle to keep their relationship healthy and loving. Tan explains the feelings of Waverly through an important symbolic imaginary chess game as she writes, “My white pieces screamed as they scurried and fell off the board one by one. As her men drew closer to my edge, I felt myself growing light” (508). This shows how Waverly feels about the relationship with her mother and how she is losing the battle. The conflicts are important, especially to the theme, for the conflicts shows where the lack of understanding comes from and how it can be resolved.

Over time, she learns just how to manipulate her to get what she wants. One example of this is seen when Waverly wants to attend at chess tournament that her mother would never agree to. “I desperately wanted to go, but i bit back my tongue. I knew she would not let me play among strangers.” (Tan 9) By initiating what would appear to others as small talk, she redirects her mother's strong will. “As we walked home I said in a small voice that I didn't want to play in the local tournament. They would have American rules. If I lost, I would bring shame on my family.” (Tan 9) This shows she is not afraid of deceiving her mother when the outcome is worth the

Waverly also had a significant upbringing because her mother desired to give her “American circumstances and Chinese character” (Tan 254). Waverly was raised with Lindo imparting traditional Chinese “daily truths” because Lindo wanted to give her daughter wise advice, but Waverly was too Americanized to listen to her mother (Tan 89). Waverly ignored her mother’s advice because her Americanized beliefs made her think any American way was better than any Chinese way. Waverly also lost her ability to act like a child when she became a chess prodigy. Eventually, Waverly stopped playing in the alley with the other children, so she could practice and learn new strategies because Lindo pressured Waverly to win tournaments.

The role of chess as a setting in the story presents an analogy with Waverly‘s life. She uses her new knowledge of “weaknesses and advantages” (1426) to goad her mother into allowing her to compete for the first time. She continues to press her advantage, getting the bedroom to herself and berating her mother for watching her practice. In the chess game of life, however, Waverly underestimates her opponent (daltonkr4).

For Christmas Eve, Tan’s mother had invited over a boy that at the time Tan had feelings for. Throughout the duration of the dinner, Tan is appalled at her family and the boys reactions to it. She feels uncomfortable because of her culture and the boy who she likes reacting to it, as she states, “I wanted to disappear.” It was only a while after the uncomfortable dinner that Tan realizes the importance of her culture and develops an appreciation for it. It was through that uncomfortable experience that she learned to accept herself and her

Even though it may appear as Mattie Michaels, Jane Conrad, and the mother of Connie are three distinct women, it is evident upon analyzing their tragedies that these women are more similar than previously thought. They all experienced a call to action upon losing a family member. In the drastic change of environment, or what they were accustomed to, these females became hesitant and were engulfed with shock. Michaels “…stood for a moment… looking at the space where the car [should have been] and then at the unlit windows” when she discovered she lost her son, while Conrad had her world frozen and lost her ability to “…calculate the interval before the front doorbell [would] ring” to validate her husband’s death (Naylor 53; Wolfe 4). Similarly,

The mother begins to rebel against tradition by taking an active role in educating and freeing herself. Through her radio, telephone and trips out with her sons she develops her own opinions about the world, the war, and the domination and seclusion of woman. She loses her innocence as a result to her new knowledge and experience.