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.