Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
summary of amy tan rules of the game
the role of books in a childs life
the role of books in a childs life
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: summary of amy tan rules of the game
“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 her in all the shops. One day exasperated Waverly yelled at her mother on the street, telling her that she was embarrassed by her constant bragging. The theme for “The Rules of the Game” is the dynamics relationship between mother and daughter. The first citing from this story states about the dynamics relationships between mother and daughter is at the beginning of the story when Waverly was pulling her mother leg telling her that some boy from her class said that Chinese torture people. Then her mother got angry and told Waverly that they do everything and the best is torturing people. "One day, as she struggled to weave a hard-toothed comb through my disobedient hair, I had a sly thought. I asked her,"ma, what is chinese torture?" My mother shook her head.... "Who say this word?" she asked without a trace of knowing how wicked I was being. I shrugged my shoulders and said, "Some boy in my class said Chinese people do Chinese torture." "Chinese people do many things,"she said simpl... ... middle of paper ... ...fraught relationship between mothers and daughters, but this time Tan's focus is narrower and more intense: not the octet of characters and narratives in The Joy Luck Club but a single story encompassing a lineage of three women” (Gray http://www.time.com). In conclusion, all of my book review and article prove that the dynamics relationship between mother and daughter is a major theme in The Rule of the Game. Works Cited 1)Moore, Dolores http://www.helium.com/items/1169129-book-review-the-joy-luck-club-amy-tan-1989 2) Nadeau, Frances A http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/ALAN/winter95/Nadeau.html 3) Solomon, Andrew http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/16/books/review/16solomon.html?_r=1&ref=bookreviews 4) Gray, Paul http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2047321,00.html 4) Wright, B Wright, B.Introduction to Literature.Boston,2011
Could you imagine what your home life would be like if you and your parents didn’t agree on anything? There would be constant fighting and tension would be everywhere. This is the case of two young girls in the stories “Confetti Girl” and “Tortilla Sun”. The narrators in these stories are the young girls, and they don’t agree with their parent on very important topics in these stories. Because the narrator and their parent don’t have the same point of view in these stories, tension builds up. In, “Confetti Girl”, the narrator disagrees with her father and questions how much he cares about her and in “Tortilla Girl”, the narrator questions if her mother was taking her into account of her new plans. Tension is shown to be caused in the
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.
The Mother walks through the city streets boisterously proclaiming that her daughter is a chess champion. She says, “This is my daughter Waverly-ly Jong.” Waverly quickly informs her mother that she is uncomfortable with her bragging to everyone. Despite the fact that Waverly is embarrassed, her mother does not care about how Waverly feels. Waverly finally snaps, when she says, “I knew it was a mistake to say anything more, but I heard my voice speaking, ‘Why do you have to use me to show off? If you want to show off, then why don’t you learn to play chess?’” Waverly understands that she is being used by her mother. She feels as if she is an animal in a zoo, who is behind a glass window, and out in display for all to see. For the first time Waverly is able to express how she feels about her mother’s control and mental abuse. Furthermore, Waverly insists that her mother is going to have to learn to play chess herself, if she wants all the attention. This climatic scene should be followed with a happy-ending; a moment of mother and daughter bonding, although the contrary occurs. The Mother is certainly not going to allow Waverly to insult her by expressing her opinion. Regardless of how upset Waverly is, the Mother will not stop publically proclaiming Waverly’s greatness. The Mother needs the attention of other people, “Most studies will show that mothers and fathers hell-bent on this image of perfection desperately need the world to take note of their kids’ awesomeness. It’s a way of saying, see, my kids are great. Therefore, I am great. Look at me. See? I’m a great parent. Really, I am” (Gault). Waverly’s mother desperately desires to be seen as successful and perfect. Announcing to everyone in the city that Waverly is a chess champion is her way of calling attention to herself. The only time Waverly gets the slightest
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
No two mother and daughter relationships are alike. After reading “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker and “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan I realized that the two stories had the same subject matter: mother and daughter relationships. These two stories show different cultures, generations and parenting methods. Although the two mothers act differently, they are both ultimately motivated by the same desire: to be a good parent. In addition, while researching related articles, I realized that there were two recurring themes of mothers and daughters: respect and diverse ways of parenting.
The turning point in the mother/daughter relationship came at the end of the story, when Mother realized all of the horrible things her daughter was doing; not even necessarily doing intentionally. She thought that perhaps her daughter would change her un-appreciativeness, and respect her pride for her way of life and her valued items around her, but she had to decide between one daughter and the other. The one who would display the quilts and household items as pieces to be viewed and admired as a way of the old life, or to the other daughter who would use them in the way they were meant to be used.
... and in her hurry to get away, she (falls) before she even reach(s) the corner,” (87). This foreshadows the relationship between the mothers and daughters in The Joy Luck Club. The daughters can not understand the reasoning behind their mothers’ decisions. However, the mothers realize their daughters are so much like them and they do not want this to happen. The daughters grow up being “Americanized,” but as they grow older they begin to want to understand their Chinese culture. All of the characters learned many valuable lessons that will be passed on to their own children.
“Whenever she had to warn us about life, my mother told stories that ran like this one, a story to grow up on. She tested our strengths to establish realities”(5). In the book “The Woman Warrior,” Maxine Kingston is most interested in finding out about Chinese culture and history and relating them to her emerging American sense of self. One of the main ways she does so is listening to her mother’s talk-stories about the family’s Chinese past and applying them to her life.
Amy Tan’s novel, The Joy Luck Club describes the lives of first and second generation Chinese families, particularly mothers and daughters. Surprisingly The Joy Luck Club and, The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts are very similar. They both talk of mothers and daughters in these books and try to find themselves culturally. Among the barriers that must be overcome are those of language, beliefs and customs.
One day everything is going great, in fact things could not be better and then you say something and your friend turns to you and says “oh my god, you sounded just like your mother”. That is when you freak out and think to yourself it is true I am turning into my mother. This is every daughters worst nightmare come true. When a young girl is growing up her mother always says and does things that the girl vows she will never say and do but she does. Very rarely do we see cases of women wanted to be like their mother but it usually happens even if they do not want it to. In the book The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan tells stories of four Chinese immigrant mothers and their relationships with the American born daughters. In this novel, Tan shows us the struggle these mothers face in teaching their American daughters about their heritage. Throughout the novel it becomes evident that the daughters feel it is important to learn about their history and develop stronger relationships with their mothers
In The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan explores mother-daughter relationships, and at a lower level, relationships between friends, lovers, and even enemies. The mother-daughter relationships are most likely different aspects of Tan's relationship with her mother, and perhaps some parts are entirely figments of her imagination. In this book, she presents the conflicting views and the stories of both sides, providing the reader--and ultimately, the characters--with an understanding of the mentalities of both mother and daughter, and why each one is the way she is.
Overall, each mother in The Joy Luck Club went through something emotionally exhausting and saddening in her life. The mothers use their experiences to try to direct the course of their daughters' lives, to make them simpler and more carefree. Initially, however, the daughters only see that their mothers want to make decisions for them, not to help them. Ultimately, the daughters realize their mothers' intentions, but not all accept them. The important thing, however, is that each daughter learns a valuable lesson and comes to peace with her mother.
Gish Jen’s “Who’s Irish” tells the story of a sixty-eight-year-old Chinese immigrant and her struggle to accept other cultures different from her own. The protagonist has been living in the United States for a while but she is still critical of other cultures and ethnicities, such as her son-in-law’s Irish family and the American values in which her daughter insists on applying while raising the protagonist’s granddaughter. The main character finds it very hard to accept the American way of disciplining and decides to implement her own measures when babysitting her granddaughter Sophie. When the main character’s daughter finds out that she has been spanking Sophie she asks her mother to move out of the house and breaks any further contact between them by not taking Sophie to visit her grandmother in her new place. The central idea of the story is that being an outsider depends on one’s perspective and that perspective determines how one’s life will be.
In the Joy Luck Club, the author Amy Tan, focuses on mother-daughter relationships. She examines the lives of four women who emigrated from China, and the lives of four of their American-born daughters. The mothers: Suyuan Woo, An-Mei Hsu, Lindo Jong, and Ying-Ying St. Clair had all experienced some life-changing horror before coming to America, and this has forever tainted their perspective on how they want their children raised. The four daughters: Waverly, Lena, Rose, and Jing-Mei are all Americans. Even though they absorb some of the traditions of Chinese culture they are raised in America and American ideals and values. This inability to communicate and the clash between cultures create rifts between mothers and daughters.
Chinese Cinderella is a compelling autobiography by Adeline Yen Mah, a struggling child, yearning for acceptance and love in her dysfunctional family. In this novel of “a ‘secret story of an unwanted daughter”, Adeline presents her stepmother Niang, as a violent, impatient, biased, domineering and manipulative demon. Analysing the language used by the author, we can discover how effectively she does this.