Invisible Strength In Amy Tan's Rules Of The Game

“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.

The second rule is to encourage a growth mind-set by, “telling stories about achievements that result from hard work…descriptions [like that] of great mathematicians who fell in love with math and developed amazing skills engenders a growth mind-set,” (Dweck, 171-175). Encouraging a growth mind-set allows for a child to have more success in their school life as well as in their social life as a result of motivation and the willingness to be challenged and learn.

Primarily, everyone in the story that are naturally born with above average abilities have to cover it up with things called handicaps.

“The Rules of the Game” by Amy Tan is about Waverly Jong mother taught her the art of invisible strength when she was six years old, saying that it is a strategy for winning arguments and respect. At Christmas Waverly and her brothers received gifts from donations of members from another church. Waverly convinced her brothers, Winston and Vincent, to let her play chess by offering two of her life savers to stand in for the missing pieces. Waverly began playing with Lau Po, an old man who played chess in the park. He taught her many new strategies. Waverly began to attract attention because of her young age, and she became a celebrity within the Chinatown community. Waverly's mother would force her to go to the market with her, presenting

When Narrator Waverly Jong first introduces herself at the young age of seven. Waverly lives in China Town, San Francisco with her immigrant parents and two older brothers. She is a very smart, curious and obedient daughter. The author indirectly shows the reader during the first supermarket scene when Waverly is introduced to the “art of invisible strength”. Waverly first begged her mother for candy but after practicing this art form and silently ignoring the candies, her mother rewards her by purchasing them. This value of silence is a form of strength and dignity in the Chinese Culture. Waverly obeys her mother that day and soon learns that it can be used as a tool for success in the game of chess. According to David Kelly in ‘Critical Essay on "Rules of the Game” ‘, invisible strength “is presented as a magical equation that gives young Waverly the wisdom and grace to rise to national prominence in the chess world within a few short years of first taking up the game.” Waverly becomes quite good at the game. She states “By my ninth birthday, I was a national chess champion”, and was even featured in Life Magazine.

What is actually being valued to our students’? Dweck points out, “In our society, we seem to worship talent- and we often portray it as a gift”. (Pg.15) This is an absolute prime example why students’ tend to get defensive of each other's intelligence. For instance, students’ presume that the gifted get to attend class, sit there and become successful. In this case, that statement is incorrect, you have to work for the success you crave, creates problems within the students’. Not only teachers, but parents need to realize that praising children is the inaccurate approach to do, and it will later benefit them in doing

Strength doesn’t come from what you can do. It comes from overcoming the things you once thought you couldn’t.”

Being strong can be defined in many ways. For this situation, strength could mean plain power, the higher title you have, the stronger you are. It seems as if all of the play is just a game of power between every character. A game of king of the hill. The player (or in this case the

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

In Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club, Waverly Jong is a dynamic character who shows her arrogance, selfishness and insecurities as the story progresses. On the first letter of Waverly’s name, W, sits a Mink, which symbolizes her desire for her mother’s approval. Throughout the novel, Waverly avoids Lindo’s criticism and fears her mother will not agree with her choices. This is evident in “Four Directions” when Waverly shows her mother the mink coat Rich bought her and Lindo responds, “This is no good… It is just leftover strips. And the fur is too short” (Tan 186). Waverly is destroyed by her mother’s criticism. After Lindo points out the coat’s flaws, Waverly can no longer see the good in it; she only values the things her mother values. Next, the “a” is formed by a crab, symbolizing selfishness. During New Year’s dinner at the Woo house, Waverly takes the best three crabs for her family. She does not care that she is a guest or that Suyuan had not planned on Shoshana eating crabs, she takes the best for herself, showing her self-centered nature. After the “a,” the “v” is formed by two dolls, symbolizing her childhood and her love for her daughter. Contrasting her negative traits, Waverly’s unfaltering love for Shoshana shows that she is willing to sacrifice her successes for her daughter’s prosperity, demonstrating that she is not as selfish as she is portrayed. A red candle is embedded in the “e” to highlight Waverly’s ignorance. She believes she is all knowing but does not

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).

Natural talent helps prepare someone and gives them an advantage when they think about playing a sport, but it would ultimately be incorrect to say it meant everything. The message of the outlier's story is very important "achievement is talent plus preparation"(Gladwell 10) said by Gladwell himself. To summarize the sports gene effectively the story reflects that a person should not need excessive amounts of practice and preparation because one can be successful without them. The coach also says "there's no way I could do that"(lohr 5) he is referring to the talent of the high jumpers when he says this. And there you have it preparation is a key feature in talent winning over genes. Gladwell left the reader with a strong conclusion on how much of our lives we can actually control. Gladwell is right we can achieve our goals in life using preparation to guide ourselves as our strongest

Waverly’s mother is creating rules for her daughter to become a better chess player. First, Waverly’s mother becomes possessive of her daughter’s chess tournament achievements. When Waverly wins her chess tournament, she says, ‘Ma, it’s not how many pieces you lose’, I said . ‘Sometimes you need to lose pieces to get ahead.’...but it was my mother who wore the triumphant grin” (Tan 4). Waverly disagrees with her mother’s thought as she believes that to win something, you have to lose something. This is significant to the title as Waverly’s mother is creating a rule for her daughter to follow so she can win every tournament she participates in. Second, Waverly’s mother wants to watch her daughter practice chess. While Waverly is practicing, she says, “ ‘Ma, I can’t practice when you stand there like that’, I said one day. She retreated to the kitchen and made