Themes

The main theme that ran through all the stories was the differing beliefs between generations. In "The Life You Save May Be Your Own," the difference is between the trusting nature of the old woman's generation and the coniving of Mr. Shiftlet. The old woman tries to adapt to the game of the new culture, but she just gets burned. In "Rules of the Game," the conflict is between traditional Chinese culture and American culture. Waverly grows up embracing American culture while her mother tries to raise her according to Chinese ideals. Annie and her father have their differences in "The Book of the Dead." Annie feels betrayed by her father for not telling her the truth, but he was trying to protect her from knowing what her father had done. The present conflict between generations was displayed in "Teenage Wasteland." Cal and Donny represented a culture where self-esteem was king to all other things while Daisy and Miss Evans represented a more traditional view of discipline.

Teenage Wasteland

At the beginning of the story, I felt really bad for Daisy. She must have felt so awkward in the principal's office. I did feel she was doing the right thing by checking Donny's homework and helping where she could; however, I also felt bad for her daughter, since Daisy wasn't spending as much time with her anymore.

Once Donny got caught drinking and smoking and Cal came into the picture, I began to get very annoyed with all the characters. Cal wanted to help the kids but he was a friend when they needed a parent. And because Cal was the one with the psycology degree, Daisy and her husband leave him to raise their son. However, I found most of Cal's methods to be very counterproductive. In an effort to raise Donny's self-esteem, Cal causes Donny to believe that he can do no wrong. He also turns Donny against any form of authority, including his own parents.

When Cal and Daisy discussed the rules she and her husband enforced on Donny, I was about to throw up. I was so disgusted by the way Cal taught all of them to equate trust with love. I was practically screaming at the book that love is unconditional but you don't earn trust until you prove yourself trustworthy. I know I have this view because my mom always told us, "With priveledge comes responsibility." Donny wanted all of the priveledges of being an adult without any of the responsibility. I think that by not punishing Donny and by giving into his every demand, Daisy and Cal actually hurt Donny. I was also dumbfounded when Donny tried to protest that the school was out to get him when he was expelled. By this point, I was comepletely fed up with all the characters in the story. I just couldn't believe that Cal, who was supposed to be an adult, supported and encouraged "Donny's side of the story." It was disgusting.

I pitied Daisy thruout the story, though. I could tell that she really just wanted to do what was best for her son. I just really wish she had gotten some better advise. Cal, on the other hand, I loathed. Every decision he made concerning Donny only hurt him. He tried to be a friend instead of a mentor and was more worried about being cool than making sure that the kids were punished when they needed to be.

The title refered to the song by the Who and to the lack of substance in the teenage culture. All of the kids at Cal's house had been taught to believe that every bad thing that happened to them was someone else's fault and that their poop didn't stink. I think the author highlighted many things that are wrong with this generation with this story. The big push to help a child's self esteem has resulted in a generation of narcissic, irresponsible and easily offended adults. Many of the teens at Cal's and in America today needed to be told "no" and made to suffer the consequences of their choices.

The Book of the Dead

At the beginning of the story, I was touched by Annie's concern for her father. She obviously loved and respected him. She viewed her father as a victim and pitied him to some extent I think. I felt as she did when she told why her father was in prison. Her statue of him was a good symbol of how she felt about him. someone who suffered unjustly at the hands of a totalitatian government. I think she identified with Gabrielle Fonteneau because she believes that both of their fathers suffered from an unjust government.

When Annie first started talking about the ancient Egyptians, I thought she was just remembering her father because she missed him and was worried about him. Later, I realized that the author put it there because of how the father viewed the statue. He explained this when he came back and told Annie he had thrown the statue in the water. When he told how he was a guard at the prison instead of a prisoner, I felt betrayed. He was not a victim, but a victimizer. I understood why Annie felt she might never be able to do art again. She had spent her whole life believing her father to be a good man who suffered unjustly, and then to suddenly find out that he was one of the "bad guys." I don't believe she would ever be able to look at him the same again.

The title refered to the Ancient Egyptian book of the Dead and more particulary to the weighing of the heart after death. Annie's father felt that his heart was too heavy to allow him into the next world, and he also viewed Annie's statue of him as a charm that might help him. The statue was a representation of the way she pictured him her whole life, and I think to some extent, what he wanted to be.

Rules of the Game

One of the most prominent themes of this story was the importance of pride and honor in the Chinese culture. It seemed to be this pride that caused Mrs. Jung to teach Waverly about "invisible streagnth." She wanted to teach her daughter how not to show her emotions to her opponent. In most cases, the opponents were the rules, both of chess and of life. Mrs. Jung parallels Waverly trying to learn chess to her trying to learn how to live in America. I really liked this parallel because I felt that it described immigrant life very well. Another theme I noticed in the story was that of clashing ideas. It starts when Waverly begins playing chess, she views each game as her ideas against her opponents. She discovers that she must have her ideas and goals well organized if she wants to win. Another clashing of ideas is American ideas versus Chinese ones. That is first seen when Waverly does not know what to answer when she is asked her age. As Waverly becomes a more prominent chess player, she struggles with her mother always showing her off. Waverly is uncomfortable in the situation, but her mother does not understand this. In Mrs. Jung's mind, she is bringing honor to their family by displaying their brillant daughter. I think she saw Waverly's success as a step the rest of the family can use in order to better themselves in their new world. When Waverly finally tells her mother that she does not want to be shown off, it leads to a huge arguement. Mrs. Jung feels that Waverly is harming the family by not taking pride in her accomplishments. I think I would feel a lot like Waverly if I was in her situation. There were times when I first came here that I was tired of being "the girl from California." Sometimes it felt that I was just being shown off as some new oddity that came to town. Waverly probably got tired of always being introduced as "my daughter, the chess prodigy." I felt very sorry for Waverly when her mother ignored her the way she did, because it seemed that Waverly didn't know how to articulate what she was feeling. But I also realized that Mrs. Jung felt that Waverly was embarrassed about being with them when they had made so many sacrifices to get her were she was.

The Life You Save May Be Your Own

When Mr. Shiftlet first came to the old woman's house, I thought that he was sincere about what he said. He seemed disgusted with the world and all of the hypocrisy in it. He appeared to be a man that had gotten lost in the shuffle of the business world and was down on his luck. But as he kept on talking about the world and his high standards, he became less believable. When he agrees to marry Lucynell, it seemed that he was up to something. During that whole dialogue with the old woman, he was saying something to the effect of, "I don't want to marry her if I can't support her," but then he agreed to the old woman's plan when she offered him what I believe was all she had left to live on. This seemed suspicious, but I didn't think much of it at the time.

I was rather shocked when Mr. Shiftlet just left Lucynell at the rest stop. I still thought he might have had some character at the time, but then he just left her. I felt so sorry for her. I can't even imagine how scared she would be when she woke up. Since she couldn't hear, it would be impossible for anyone to calm her down, and with a vocabulary only consisting of the world "bird", it would also be impossible for her to tell anyone what happened. I also felt sorry for the old woman, for it would be very unlikely that she would ever see Lucynell again. After this event, it became clear that all of Mr. Shiftlet's morals that he talked about when he first came to the old woman's house was just a front to get her to trust him so he could take advantage of them.

I was rather confused when Mr. Shiftlet picked up the young boy. It seemed to be a random act of compassion, but he had just ditched Lucynell. He was problably going to try to take advantage of the young boy as well, now that I think of it. That's most likely why he started saying all those nice things about mothers, maybe hoping to make the boy sad and vunerable, or so he could return him and take advantage of his family. The boy seemed to be much less gullible then the old woman when he said what he did about mothers. I was shocked when he jumped out of the car. I thought he just rolled into the ditch at the side of the road, but when the author mentioned about the cloud that looked like the boy's hat, I thought that he might have died.

When the cloud enveloped Mr. Shiftlet's car and he felt that the slime of the world was around him, that seemed very ironic since he was the lying, cheating scum of the world. The cloud might have represented his conscience, since being covered by it caused him to call out to the Lord to save him. But then when it passed, he went on like nothing ever happened.

The title came from the road signs he saw while driving, but I'm a little confused how they relate to the rest of the story. The best guess I can up with is it refers to obeying the rules of life like you would obey the rules of the road. Mr. Shiftlet's behaviour could be decribed as reckless driving, for he violates the natural trust that exists between people. The signs could be warning him that if he doesn't start obeying the laws of life, soon he will be the one who is taken advantage of.