Secondly, DiYanni states that in a short story “Its characters are recognizably human, and they are motivated by identifiable social and psychological forces.” (DiYanni 47). In other words, the modern realistic short story has characters with flaws, difficulties, and short-comings; their motivations also come from things that make sense to humans living in a specific society, especially a society of the written time period. Because Amy Tan 's short story is somewhat based on her life, and therefore her society, her characters are distinctly human, and their motivations are relatable to her readers. In the first line of the story, the narrator states that her “mother taught her the art of invisible strength.” and in the next paragraph we …show more content…
In contrast to the short story, a parable, fable, or tale tells the basic information in order to get the story across; setting, characterization, and details are not involved. However, a short story has all of that. Amy Tan fulfills this qualification with extreme detail to enhance the setting and visuals that the reader may have. We see that the main character is a six year old girl who lives in San Francisco’s Chinatown with her mother and two brothers Vincent and Winston. She lived on Waverly Place Jong, which is why her mother named her Waverly. Other details such as it was Christmas time and they were given gifts at their First Chinese Baptist Church by missionaries from another church show their economical situation. They may have been able to get by well, but to outsiders they appeared as if they needed help. Also, details about the chess terms that she learned from Lau Po in the park enforced the realistic aspects of the short story; Waverly was learning chess, and she was learning more and more each day. The setting of where she played chess transitioned from the kitchen table, to in the park, to national tournaments. Each of these places were also thoroughly described from the immediate details, to atmospheric surroundings, to the background. From Tan 's descriptions, we clearly see where and when things were happening, and the …show more content…
Her plot progresses in sync from the beginning when Waverly 's mother is teaching her self-control, to the end when she is learning how to respect and care for those around her. On the surface the title “Rules of the Game” appears to apply to chess. And while it does, it could also be argued that Waverly is learning the rules of the game of life. Additional to plot is the setting that brings the appropriate feel to what the story is about. Being in Chinatown, and consistently having the setting be related to the Chinese culture and their customs is the constant reminder that this is reality, but it is maybe in a different world than the reader may be accustom to. Attitude, characteristics, and the insight into the mind of Waverly rounds out the entire story; consistency is key in order to unify the story from beginning to end. Whether it should be credited to the fact that the story is somewhat based off of her life, or if she has that skill and talent to produce such a work, the stronger argument would probably be that Amy Tan 's “Rules of the Game” could be classified as a modern realistic short story. The four features that DiYanni lists in his book Literature Approaches to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama are clearly accomplished by what Tan creates in her writing; so according to Robert DiYanni 's guidelines, Amy Tan 's “Rules of the Game” fulfills the qualifications to be a
The two families mentioned are very different in terms of race. The girl in Cisneros’ “Only Daughter” is being raised in a Mexican family, whereas Waverly, the little girl in Tan’s “Rules of the Game” is being raised in a Chinese family. The two girls have different dreams for their future which comes across in the most unexpected ways. Waverly is never interested in chess and only starts playing after her brother received the chess game at the Christmas party. After she understood the game she becomes somewhat obsessed with playing. Being the only girl child in her family, the boys get tired of playing with her which gives her lots of time alone to think and practice her chess moves . The girl in Cisneros’ “Only Daughter” also has this problem as she is the only daughter in her family as well. Prior to having so much alone time due to her luck of her brothers not wanting to play with her, forces her to spend a lot of time by herself. As was stated in the story, “But that aloneness , that loneliness, was good for a would-be writer- it allowed me time to think and think, to imagine, to read and prepare myself” (1). According to the quote this time alone makes her into the writer that she
"The Rules of the Game," a lost piece from Amy Tan's novel The Joy Luck
“When we quit thinking primarily about ourselves and our own self-preservation, we undergo a truly heroic transformation of consciousness” (Campbell 1). These words by the scholar Joseph Campbell illustrates his philosophy of the hero’s journey, which contains the three criteria of a hero. From these three criteria, he describes a hero’s journey beginning with a departure, fulfillment, and a return which encompasses the hero’s sacrifice for the good of others. As a result, from Amy Tan’s novel The Joy Luck Club, the characters could be applied to Campbell’s theory of heroism due to their life experiences. For example, the character Rose does not undergo a heroic journey. From Campbell’s theory of heroism, Rose contains the departure and the fulfillment of a hero; however, she lacks a concrete return Campbell describes as the moral objective to sacrifice for another person or idea.
In the novel excerpt “Two kinds,” Amy Tan uses the central conflict to develop the theme through the clash of cultural identities. Tan shows the reader how culture is dynamic in each individual person. Culture can be mixed and change over time.
During the confrontation during the poker game, which immediately ends it, readers are exposed to the reality of Stella and Stanley’s
Short stories are temporary portals to another world; there is a plethora of knowledge to learn from the scenario, and lies on top of that knowledge are simple morals. Langston Hughes writes in “Thank You Ma’m” the timeline of a single night in a slum neighborhood of an anonymous city. This “timeline” tells of the unfolding generosities that begin when a teenage boy fails an attempted robbery of Mrs. Jones. An annoyed bachelor on a British train listens to three children their aunt converse rather obnoxiously in Saki’s tale, “The Storyteller”. After a failed story attempt, the bachelor tries his hand at storytelling and gives a wonderfully satisfying, inappropriate story. These stories are laden with humor, but have, like all other stories, an underlying theme. Both themes of these stories are “implied,” and provide an excellent stage to compare and contrast a story on.
Amy Tan used symbolism to reveal the cultures and how it interacted with the conflict of the story. One example was she used the game of chess as more than just a game. She illustrated it as a game of life and a way of her adaptation into her new American culture. This was demonstrated when Waverly’s mother read the rules of chess but did not understand them. Mrs. Lindo said, “Every time people come out from foreign country, must know rules… They say, don’t know why, you find out yourself” (502). This quote demonstrated the culture gap in the family, because the mother grew up with Chinese beliefs. Symbolically, when they received the American game of chess for Christmas they were excited and
After reading the novel Ender’s Game there are many surprises and themes. The main theme is life is a game; Bonzo, Ender and, Peter best prove that with many reasons like: cheating, patience, and enemies. Those supporting points mentioned above contribute to the theme of life is a game because it deals with traits of a game. Some games take patience, some you fight enemies and when the game is difficult people result in cheating.
Later she decided to help the children with disabilities. A few years later, Amy Tan became a freelance writer in 1981. She also worked for several companies for writing stuff. All these experiences accumulated as precious knowledge for her later writing. Four years later,she started writing the novel in leisure time. Another 4 years later, her first novel ‘The Joy Luck Club’ was published and was so popular in that period. Undoubtedly, this is a great success. From the perspective of a young writer without too much experience, it was tough for her to made that achievement. So that is quite impressive. And this novel also won three awards, and these are Los Angeles Times Book Award, the Commonwealth Gold Award, and Bay Area Book Reviewers Award. To some degrees, all these awards also reflect her literary
Some Girl(s) is a story about a man who is about to get married, and like most people, he is freaking out. Instead of talking about it with his fiancé, Guy does the opposite and goes to talk to some of his ex-girlfriends. The story follows Guy as he travels across the country as he pursues to track down his ex-girlfriends. Neil LaBute uses this story not as something created to satisfy the reader on an entertainment level, but to show the reader about interpersonal relationships and the inner conflict that one man is carrying with him. He also uses the story to teach about the struggle of relationships and demonstrated that by giving a character who wronged many women whom he dated. As LaBute once said, “Relationships in general make
Amy Tan’s short story, Rules of the Game, is open to many different interpretations, the most evident being the idea that life is just a big game of chess. In chess, you have to stop and strategically contemplate your next move which is also exactly what you would do in tough situations you may encounter during life. There was a point in the story where Waverly was at a difficult time, and she just “closed her eyes and pondered her next move”. This specific comparison (and basically the entire, underlying theme of this short story) between chess and life represents Waverly’s conflicts between her and her mother.
In Amy Tan 's Two Kinds, Jing-mei and her mother show how through generations a relationship of understanding can be lost when traditions, dreams, and pride do not take into account individuality. By applying the concepts of Virginia Woolf, Elaine Showalter, and the three stages of feminism, one can analyze the discourse Tan uses in the story and its connection to basic feminist principles.
In conclusion, Amy Tan uses many literary elements such as characterization, symbolism, and conflict to display the themes of independence and the battle within Waverly between her Chinese heritage and becoming Americanized. The characterization shows just how much young Waverly changes from beginning to end, and how she grows further and further from her family. The struggle between being an American and Chinese is portrayed with the symbolic properties of the good luck charm from her mother, the wind she hears while playing chess, and the game itself. By using the element of conflict, Tan shows the extent of the conflicts between the two cultures and ways of life, and also between Waverly and her mother.
Born to Chinese immigrant parents, Amy Tan is a second-generation Chinese American. Although Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club (1989) isn’t strictly autobiographical, Tan has managed to slide bits and pieces of her life in the novel. Amy Tan’s novel The Joy Luck Club (1989) consists of four sections narrated by four Chinese Immigrant mothers and four of their American born Chinese daughters; The Joy Luck Club (1989) is divided into four main sections narrated in third person by the mothers and daughters. The novel contains the struggles of first generation immigrant mothers and their second generation immigrant daughters due to language barriers and cultural differences.
The introduction of Reading Fiction introduces concepts in which a story has fictional characters but may have settings or plots that highlight about real life stories or actual events in history (Schakel & Ridl. pg 108. 2017). Whereas, another type of fiction can be short stories that reveal or emphasize about an important life lesson or social issues (Schakel & Ridl. pg 108. 2017). Short stories may not generally always revolve about a character’s development but instead prioritizes on the development of the story. The author prioritizes on the heme to convey the message to reader. Two example of written fiction stories are The Tell-Tale Heart and Momento Mori, which would also be analyzed.