Personal Narrative: My Move

The story “The Rules of the Game” shows how Waverly’s ability to play Chess well increases her mother’s expectations throughout the story. In the beginning Waverly wanted to play chess so much so that she was begging her brothers to let her play. Waverly says “ Let me! Let me!’ I begged

Waverly knew her mom “would not let me play among strangers”. She used reverse psychology to control her mother, by speaking in a small quiet voice, saying she did not want to go. Mrs. Jong then told Waverly she must play. Waverly got what she wanted without her mother realizing she had been manipulated by her daughter. The theme of the struggle of control became much more evident as Waverly realized how to trick her mother to regain power over Mrs. Jong and to do as she pleased. Another example demonstrating this theme, was Mrs. Jong’s inability to allow her daughter to use the techniques Waverly chose in playing chess. After a chess tournament won by Waverly, Mrs. Jong gave no sign of approval and said, “…Next time win more and lose less” regarding the chess pieces Waverly took from her opponent. Waverly did try to explain to her mother that part of the game was “losing pieces to get ahead”; her mother, although, did not accept that. Mrs. Jong hardly comprehended the rules of chess, but she nevertheless wanted to prove to her daughter that she was still fully in control and had all the power to tell Waverly how she should play the game. Regardless of all the games her daughter had won, Mrs. Jong tried to maintain control over the simplest aspects of the chess game to exert her authority

Waverly plays is the board game chess, where she must think ahead and plan out every possible move to win. She must put herself in her opponent's shoes and try to predict their strategy. “I discovered that for the whole game one must gather invisible strengths and see the endgame before the game begins.” (Tan 8) By understanding Waverly’s thought process throughout a game, we are able to learn more about her as a person. She is aware of how different she is compared to the other players, and uses it to her advantage. “...I would clasp my hands under my chin, the delicate points of my elbows poised lightly on the table in the manner my mother had shown me for posing for the press. I would swing my patent leather shoes back and forth like an impatient child riding on a school bus. Then I would pause, suck in my lips, twirl my chosen piece in midair as if undecided, and then firmly plant it in its new threatening place with a triumphant smile thrown back at my opponent for good measure.” (Tan 12) These situations show how

Confusion, the lack of understanding, the unknown, the lack of knowledge of things being the same or being completely different in a matter of years, months, days, minutes, and seconds. Not knowing what will happen next, what’s around the corner, the thought, a thought so naïve, but one we all believe at one point in our time. The thought of perfection when that’s just the cover up of what is really going on, and the realization that things don’t go as planned.

Furthermore, the main character Waverly in the story ¨Rules of the Game” sets goals to become an amazing chess player, with the aid of her parents. Waverly becomes very talented at playing

It was the last day of school and I was so excited for summer. I was going to do all kinds of stuff and go out of the state. In reality I was going for one of my worst summer ever. All I was going to do is travel most of the time. It was going to be the most boring summer ever.

October 16th, 2013: As the lights glistened through the faint darkness that was beginning to spread all around us, a cool breeze flowed through the metal bars and splashed against my sweaty face. I was sprinting, running faster than I ever had before. Clusters of bodies surrounded me as a tried to maneuver my way through the world's hardest obstacle course as I settled down to make a final leap of faith. I was fourteen years old, and at this moment I didn’t know that what was about to happen would alter my life forever.

This I believe that there is a God, and he is watching over us, and helping us everyday with the problems of everyday life, whether it be an illness, break-up, school pressure, and even helping people make the right choices in life, because some people face greater consequences for things they done in the moment and didn't think of the consequences or what would happen if they did something they knew that was wrong but, didn’t think about the possible consequences of their choices.

I've never had to write a personal narrative before. Nor do I like to. Personally, I've always just tried to forget a lot that goes on around me. I hate diary entries and journaling. The closest I've come to any of it is writing poems. They were never any good though. Mostly talking about teenage angst or what I think the color green would taste like. But some of them were like stories. Stories about my friends, and about dreams.

One late Autumn Wednesday night, after my mom and I had just settled in the Sage Diner (Preposition), I noticed that there were only a few players. Two of them had already began a game, so I asked Phil for a chess game.

On some days, the alarm that I used to have beside my clock are the chirping birds outside. They seem to have taken pleasure of my endless complaining of wanting to go back to bed and not having to get up and do my morning routine. I dreaded waking up in the early morning for school. Where the sun has yet risen and the sky is still dark. I was leaning my head against the car window where my eyes was half lidded as they were fighting to stay awake. I keep having these in my head that repeated itself over and over again since yesterday. They always seem to have the desire to voice out the words, but I kept my mouth shut and reluctantly listened to my dad’s endless questions about whether I’m excited for school or not however I took note that

The teenage boy stood there still as stone, a marble statue, his flesh had gone beyond the colour of marble, to a new ghostly tinge of white, void of colour. His eyes were the only thing expressing any emotion, and that was fear. Extreme fear, the kind where you can feel your impending death, as it stares you in the face. After moments of complete petrification the traumatised boy spoke in a shaky and terrified voice.
“W-Why are you h-here Lock, get away from me please…” he said to my boyfriend, his eyes flinching, as if his body wasn’t still petrified. Eric, my boyfriend, chuckled loudly, that real genuine laugh, the one that your dad would make which felt warm and hearty like a hug during a thunderstorm. Usually it’d lighten up a conversation,

Every few years my family takes a trip to Oglebay Park in Wheeling W. Virginia and we rent a massive cabin that sleep about ___ people. The special thing about this trip is that my mother 's entire side of the family goes on this vacation. Now everyone had their favorite things to do on the trip - from cooking and eating meals together, to visiting one of the indoor or outdoor pools, to fishing, playing golf, or hiking the mountain paths. However, my favorite activity is playing cards as often as possible. The first time we went to Oglebay Park wasn’t always a good time at the table because that was when I was taught. When I played the first hand, I was my father’s partner. For those of you who don’t know, there are a few things that you seldom, make that never - according to my father - do when playing euchre. One of them is trumping your partner’s ace when it is already taking the point! Well, after I did that for the third time unnecessarily, he said - and I quote (both his words and his tone), “Trent! How can somebody so smart, be so so (pause) stinking STUPID. Well, regardless of this traumatic experience which you can tell (soft sad voice) has scarred me for life, I actually do enjoy playing cards. In fact, I enjoy it so much I did some homework on cards in general and thought I would take a few minutes and share some of what I discovered. While the average person might not realize how important cards are they affect our lives more than we can imagine. Because when you

Imagine being one of the best. Standing on a podium holding a trophy, yet coming home to parents who are disappointed because you stood 3rd place on that podium. This is how Waverley feels in the short story “Rules of the Game” by Amy Tan. Waverly lives with her mother, father, and two older brothers in an apartment in Chinatown, San Francisco. Waverly loves to run around in the bustling streets of her neighborhood smelling red beans and pastries being cooked nearby. One Christmas, the Jong family went to their nearby church for a Christmas party, and Waverly’s brother got a chess set. This chess set sprouted a new hobby for Waverly, and soon after she played chess every day. Waverly became a chess star, with a mother who wanted nothing less than her daughter to be number one. Extreme tension built up from Mrs. Jong pressure, eventually leading the mother and daughter into a fight that could ruin their relationship. The way Mrs. Jong reacted to Waverly’s talent is especially significant in Waverly’s development. Sometimes when parents support their children too much it can stress them out, and parents can often forget that children are children and you must let them relax.

I took out the chess board from the drawer. Quickly putting the pieces to their positions, we started challenging each other, “Dad, you definitely lost this time”. I opened the match by moving the pawn two squares, without contemplating, my dad also replied with a pawn’s move. We managed to process the match quite painstakingly quick: after 10 minutes, we were to the middle game, and after 20 minutes, we were at the endgame. I gradually wanted to end the game with a victory, which made me take any move that jumped to my head at the first second. Disappointingly, I made a false move, my dad realized and take the chance.