Rules of The Game: Cultural Analysis of The Story

Introduction

A short reading written by Amy Tan's, 'Rule of the Game' stated about the art that the mother of Weaver Region teaches invisible power at the age of six, which is a strategy to win controversy and respect. The story is about Waverly J., the daughter of Chinese immigrants, as she has risen to the highest levels of competitive chess by the age of nine. I was delighted by Tan’s hilarious, keen portraits of the Chinese mother, full of pride, confusion and old values, while speaking in her broken English.

Cultural Traditions in 'Rules of Game'

Tan's, 'Rules of Game,” was held in a small community with plentiful Chinese traditions, culture and beliefs in San Francisco. Tan portrays these attributes throughout the story and incorporates them into major and minor work clashes. The theme of this story is about the invisible power, the mother taught her young girl and rules of life. Even tradition, culture, and even chess game are the factors and friction that affect a mother-daughter relationship. The main character of the story is Waverly Place Jong whose family calls her “Meimei” or 'Little Sister' and her mother. Meimei is a very smart girl that is fascinated by chess games. Her mother is a strict, thoughtful and proud woman who teaches her daughter how to act on life and the way she wishes.

Tan also writes us running with adventurous children through the alleys of San Francisco’s Chinatown, and her said details of this area are precise and entertaining. She shows a fish market’s display tank, for example, “crowded with doomed fish and turtles struggling to gain footing on the slimy green-tiled sides,”, she also goes further to show the hand-written sign instructing tourists, “Within this store, is all for food, not for pet,” (Tan 1989). These are details that show us both the physical and the psychic features of this world— not only its material substance but also its population’s attitudes, as well as the wider cultural attitudes influences upon it. Caucasian visitors want to adopt the turtles; Chinese residents want to eat them.

Cultural Contrast in Amy Tan's 'Rules of the Game'

This is how the details begin to signal the story’s larger themes of cultural contrasts. The turtles show a conflict between Chinese and American values, and it shows the Chinese community’s willingness to defend their own culture. This action is carried to the extreme in the passage about torment. This portrays how extremely true she is to her Chinese heritage. Waverly's mother thought that she was an important element of the journey. Furthermore, Waverly herself was a successful individual. Waverly's mother must live through her daughter as she lacks success.

Tan had never mentioned the cultural suggestions of such things. She does not let her character fully reflect on herself. Therefore, the author creates these ideas in the details, action, and characterization---realists believed that the author should align every narrative element with a story’s deepest themes (“present everywhere”) but never interrupt on the narrative with apparent announcements, or writing pieces about those themes (“visible nowhere”), (Tan 1989) as many writers before them have done.

Conclusion

Waverly's mother thought that she was an important element of the journey. Even though my mother actually does not play a real role in Waverley's adventure, she still believes that she is a successful person. This belief is crucial for Waverly's mother as she does not know anything about herself. Waverly's mother must live through her daughter as she lacks success.

References

1. Tan, Amy. 'Rules of the Game.' The Joy Luck Club, Vintage Books, 1989, pp. 158-166.