The Joy Luck Club Quote Analysis

"It was my folly! I have said it. But up to that epoch of my life, I had lived in vain. The world had been so cheerless! My heart was a habitation large enough for many guests, but lonely and chill and without a household fire. I longed to kindle one!" Chapter 4, 71

Pg. 105 "I wondered how and when I'd become capable of causing this kind of pain."

“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.

Quote 6: “He felt his consciousness slipping, his mind losing adhesion, until all he knew was a single thought: He cannot break me.” (296)

“We’ve got to talk about this fear and decide there’s nothing in it.” Pg 82

“My mother would proudly walk with me, visiting many shops, buying very little. “ This my daughter Waverly Jong,” she said to whoever looked her way. One day after we left a shop I said under my breath, “ I wish you wouldn’t do that , telling everybody I’m your daughter.” My mother stopped walking..... “Aiii-ya. So shame be with mother?” She grasped my hand even tighter as she glared at me. I looked down. “It’s not that, just so obvious. It’s so embarrassing.”... If you want to show off, then why don’t you learn to play chess?” (Tan 41).

To learn find her own identity within a set of rules .Lau Po an elderly man that goes to the park often, teaches Waverly new strategies of the game. Waverly finds her identity as a “Chess Campion” as a result her mother starts to brag about her accomplishments’ due to the fame Waverly feels she has been exploited but in Chinese culture is a good thing to be able to brag about your family members but due to Waverly up bringing the Americanized daughter feels that this bad for her so she argues with her mum shortly after this she runs off to an alley when she is walking back home “She rises above the board and floats over houses.

In Amy Tans “Rules of the Game” a first generation adolescent becomes fascinated with the game of chess and uses its rules as a strategy for life while growing up and away from her Chinese culture. This short story illustrates the struggle of growing up is especially difficult when in a culture different from ones parents.

Have you ever played a game of mahjong? Mahjong is a solitaire matching game which used mahjong tiles. This game brings people together to create and reminisce memories while feasting on Chinese delicacies. In The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan reinforces the mothers’ bonds through meeting up to play mahjong in their club. They try to influence their daughters to take part in this Chinese tradition, but the girls have different views. They try to become part of an American society, and look back at their Chinese descent with distaste. While the mothers of The Joy Luck Club are determined to keep their Chinese heritage, their daughters are open and willing to experience a new American lifestyle, which causes conflicts between the mothers and daughters.

“He looked around him as if seeing the world for the first time. The world was beautiful, strange, and mysterious.” (page 39)

I noticed that Waverly likes to use her mother’s beliefs against her. An example is when Waverly wanted to compete in the chess tournament. Her mother tells her “ the strongest wind cannot be seen ”, which means that Waverly's action will be better than her words. Waverly knew that her mother may not let her compete in the tournament if she asked directly. So instead, she said that she would bring shame to her family if she entered. By using Waverly's mother's beliefs against her she was allowed to compete.

“No father had watched my infant days, no mother had blessed me with smiles and caresses; or if they had, all my past life was now a blot, a blind vacancy in which I distinguished nothing. From my earliest remembrance I had been as I then was in height and proportion. I had never yet seen a being resembling me, or who claimed any intercourse with me. What was I? The question again recurred, to be answered only with groans.” (109)

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).

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

It is not a matter of what is true that is regarded, but what is perceived to be true. The number sixteen was muffled from under my breath. Selflessness did not alter my decision, but rather my weak, fragile charisma that would fail to tolerate the hardships alone. “I didn't know how to take care of myself. Not here”