Every person wants to have power and success in one thing or another. However, some people take this power to an advantage, and it becomes the only thing they care about. In "Rules of the Game", by Amy Tan, Waverly is a very gifted chess player. She plays in local tournaments that soon turn into national tournaments, and gradually loses connection with her family to her chess career. Waverly mistakenly breaks apart her relationship with them, especially her mother. Tan believes that no one should take advantage of power over their family, because it can end up hurting them.
Waverly doesn't know how to tell her mother she is being annoying in the beginning of the story, so she comes up with a plan for everything she needs from her. When Waverly wants something, she doesn't directly ask for it. She knows that her mother is strict and doesn't allow many things. She says, "I desperately wanted to go [to the chess tournament], but I bit back my tongue. I knew she would not let me play among strangers. So 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" (119). So instead of
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In the story, "Rules of the Game", Waverly takes power over her family, specifically her mother. She breaks apart the bond between herself and her mother that can probably never be fully restored again. Throughout the book, Waverly takes advantage of the power she's earning from her chess career. As she becomes more successful, the more focused she becomes on the power she earns. Her family makes changes in their own lives to help Waverly, but she just uses it to her own advantage. At the end, Waverly realizes how deeply she has hurt her family, and that she has lost their respect. Taking too much power ended up with Waverly losing all admiration from her mother, who was once her biggest supporter. She is alone now, and her mother has changed to her
Suzan Lori Park’s play Topdog/Underdog explores the power dynamics in a contentious fraternal relationship. Topdog/Underdog follows Lincoln and Booth’s ostensibly shared search for “what is” and “what ain’t” and struggle to survive under stifling societal confines. Navigating the only reality they know, a money-driven world that denies them any social or economic stability or progress, the brothers survive by resorting to a life of hustling. Lincoln and Booth are defined by their struggle to survive, to obtain money and power; Parks identifies the brothers within the power-based relationship of “topdog” and “underdog,” suggesting that one must perpetually dominate the other in order to fill the position of power and superiority: the “topdog.”
In the novel Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, power portrays throughout the story in various types of situations. Power is important to this story because it influences each of the three major story elements. It is seen in clarifying a character’s traits, explaining a plot decision, and also relating to another theme. The story shows the different types of power, with their uses and abuses, and are central to the story.
The first of many situations was when she states that “ I see a woman may be made a fool if she had the spirit to resist” (line 225-226 The taming of the shrew), which means that as a woman she had such strong apparent beliefs of feminism to be opposed to that idea but at the end she let herself be made a fool and her spirit of resisting wasn’t apparent anymore and because of this she has gone on to “Unto the taming school” (4.2.54) to let herself become a proper wife and no longer display the traits of feminism and only be the idea that women must do what their husband says without any say about it because as Laura Hollins Hughes states that “ A play that climaxes with an apparent happy ending in which a woman is offering to make herself a doormat to her husband” is the same as Katherine in The Taming of the Shrew becoming the opposite of twho she is and becoming a doormat that “Any well educated woman in the 20th or 21st century should approach with great caution because you might be in great danger of reaffirming a patriarchal society”(Hughes) which in the era where is written women were portrayed as
Percy Bysshe Shelley once stated “Power, like a devastating pestilence, pollutes whatever it touches” (Shelley 1). This suggests that those with the power to create potentially positive change at the same time risk destroying that hopeful promise for change. Humanity has produced many works of literature that explore this delicate balance. Numerous of these novels often present utopian societies being conquered and changed by an authority which ultimately makes the society dystopian. Ender`s Game is a science fiction novel about an eleven year old boy named Ender who is forced by the International Fleet to save the world from destruction by an alien race called the “Buggers”. In the International Fleet’s perspective, these aliens are determined
In George Orwell’s novel 1984 the civilians of Oceania live under the manipulative powers of Big Brother that drive the people to extreme obedience. Big Brother is the leader of the party and the authoritative figure who all people obey. As a dystopian society numerous techniques are used to keep the population of Oceania under control. The party enforces many crude laws to keep the population of Oceania from revolting against the government. Above all ways of controlling the people of Oceania, the most effective are the telescreens because they are in the homes of every civilian and everywhere they go, they monitor their every move including their pulse, and they are used for manipulating people through propaganda.
Violet’s mother, who Violet struggles to have a relationship with, accepts Rose’s illness first and approaches it matter-of-factly. Though Violet hints that her mother difficult woman by stating that she is “widely regarded as eccentric” (22) and that they have a strained relationship by looking to Rose as her ”guide to…my mother’s moods” (22), the woman that emerges by the end of the story is strong, sensitive, and intensely devoted to her children. Violet starts showing that sensitive side of her mother when Rose is first taken away, by reassuring Violet that while “Some people go crazy…You never will” (22). She shows the devoted side by telling of her mother’s refusal to accept anything but the best care for her daughter when they came to a place that “had no pictures on the walls, no windows, and the patients all wore slippers with the hospital crest on them” and she “didn’t even bother to go to Admissions,” but “turned Rose around and the two of them marched out” (22). Her mother’s strength is shown fully at the end of the story as she watches her daughters in the early morning, one dying and the other letting her go, when she gathers her remaining daughter into a hug and states “I raised warrior queens” (27). While Violet’s mother appears to undergo changes throughout the story, her father starts and ends the same
The major themes related directly to the entire context of the story. The formidable mother-daughter conflict going on throughout the story exposed the clash of their cultural roots. The conflict showed the theme where the mother does not understand the game of chess and does not accept Waverly playing it. Also, it showed it when Waverly felt embarrassed by her mother using her as a trophy metaphorically. Another theme is the symbolic games of chess that Waverly played. Without the use of symbolism the story would have lost a major impact on the plotline. Also, Amy Tan used setting to her advantage to fully show the tone of the story and created a scene of emotion. Its major theme of mother-daughter relationship made it possible for young children to relate the short story to their own
Throughout the story of Waverly and Lindo, the pair was forced to adjust to certain situations. In other words, they had to approve of questionable factors in order to achieve a goal. During Waverly’s childhood, Lindo made it clear that in order to have a pleasant lifestyle they must, “do business, do medicine, do painting. Not like lazy American people. We do torture. Best torture”(Tan 91). Lindo explains to her daughter, that they must adapt to their current situation in order to achieve success. On another occasion, Lindo scolded Waverly for letting her opponent capture too many of her chess pieces. Even though Waverly provided a vivid explanation, she still told her to, “win more, lose less’’(Tan 97). Waverly knowing that she would not get through to her mother, decided to leave the conversation on that note, rather than arguing and making the situation worse. Consequently the reader can infer, that Waverly had a tough childhood because of having to overcome the challenge of dealing with her misunderstanding mother. Finally, the eventful journey finally comes to an end after Waverly gets married. Nevertheless, the lessons of the mother are portrayed through Waverly, but in a much more realistic and respectful manner. From childhood to adulthood, Waverly never seems to lose sight of her morals or take them for granted, for she is the only daughter of Lindo. This may be the case, to why Waverly may have felt that her
The sculpture I choose is named Nydia, “The Blind Girl of Pompeii.” When I first seen this I immediately liked it, once again this piece of art spoke to me I could kind of relate to it in a sense. When I first look the name of this piece I thought it read “The Blind Girl of Power,” I instantly started thinking of what type of life she once had and how she is blind and still hold power in her village. I hear once someone loose one of your six senses our other senses become stronger because, we rely on them more to survive. I also heard when someone lose the ability to see there are two senses that get stronger than the others. Hearing and feeling, the ability to hear a further distance and the ability to touch an object and know what it is and the form of it without seeing it.
While The constant banter and endless list of rules may seem heartless and demeaningit was also unique and compelling. Her warnings show signs of what the mother has either experienced herself as a young woman or has observed other going through themselves has made her extremely aware of what is will take to take her steps into womanhood. Her advice shows her passion to make sure her daughter knows everything she can to ensure her success and safety as she walks on this new path. “this is how you set a table for tea, this is how you set is for dinner with an important guest; this is how you set a table to a lunch.” The relationship between mother and daughter shows a deep
One character in the play who can be symbolized to the influence of a ‘patriarchal society’ is Petruchio. His cruel judgments upon Katherine’s character was the main reason for her shocking transition. Shakespeare uses his character’s dominance to display the pressure of men on a woman’s freedom of speech. Petruchio acts as the savior to the community who “tames” the shrew Katherine. Like society’s expectations, Petruchio expected Katherine to reform her stubbornness to be his ideal wife. After serious conditioning Katherine’s transformation slowly develops into the norm of being dutiful within a marriage. This is due to Petruchio’s dominance over Katherine’s free will, or basic needs to survive. He takes away Katherine’s freedom to eat, drink and sleep, which represents how society can strip a woman of her decisions to speak, have a career, and dismiss marriage and family ideals for money, because of the need to belong to society, rather than being shunned and independent. Shakespeare expresses Petruchio’s force, “Now, Kate, I am a husband for your turn, Thy beauty doth make me like thee well- Thou must be married to no man but me, for I am he am born to tame you, Kate, and bring you from a wild Kate to Kate, conformable as other household Kates,” (Act 2.1 273-280) this demonstrates his intention to initially control Kate, which is also society’s intention to control a woman’s role in the household. As the play develops, Petruchio’s influence becomes more dormant. Katherine rebellious nature becomes controlled and this is heavily interpreted when Petruchio deprives her of her basic needs to survive just to archive her obedience in Act 4, lines 178-201. He
What is power? Power has no exact definition, as show by the movie “Chocolate y Fresa”. In the movie “Fresa y Chocolate” a homosexual artist named Diego tries to seduce David who is a straight young man who happens to be communist, David is only interested in Diego so that he can monitor Diego’s flamboyant lifestyle. But as they begin to discuss politics in communist Cuba they begin to develop a legitimate friendship. Power is show many different ways throughout the movie and according to Foucault, “power is everywhere”. In this essay I will explain how power is perceived in Cuba using the movie “Fresa y Chocolate” using evidence from the movie supported by Asli Daldal’s “Power in the Eyes of Foucault”and José Martí’s “Our America” in order
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 any group of people, and there will be struggle to achieve it--be it a
Lindo is Waverly’s mother in The Joy Luck Club. She was betrothed at age 2. She moved in with her husband at age 12, and was treated like a slave. She endured this marriage to keep a promise that she had made to her parents, and to honor them. While telling her story in “The Red Candle” she says “I sacrificed my life to keep my parent's’ promise (pg 42).” She eventually schemed her way out of the marriage, so that it was called off honorably. Lindo’s daughter Waverly, grew up with a great life in comparison to her mom. She was a successful chess player and was raised in Chinatown, San Francisco. She also had great marriage mistakes. She married her high school sweetheart, and had a daughter of her own. They divorced, and 4 years later was engaged to Rich, a man as far from her culture as possible. In this way, Lindo and her daughter both had marriage struggles, but it did not bring them any