Rules of the Game

Although, Amy Tan’s two stories, “Rules of the Game” and “Two Kinds” share a similar setting in San Francisco’s Chinatown of the 1950’s, the main characters in each story are very different. Waverly Jong and Jing-mei are both age six and of Chinese heritage, but they have different attitudes toward success, confidence in themselves and roles in families.

Waverly Jong plays the main character from the story “The Rules of the Game”. Jong grew up as a successful chess player, so her parents offer her privileges that her other siblings didn’t grow up with.

Her mother treats her with respect because of her successes. In “The Rules of the Game” she says, “I was six when my mother taught me the art of invisible strength. It was a strategy for winning arguments, respect from others, and eventually, though neither of us knew at the time, chess games.” This quote above explains that Waverly’s mother began teaching her important lessons at a very young age.

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Waverly also talks about her feelings and attitude towards success, she explains “A man who watched me play in the park suggested that my mother allow me to play in local chess tournaments. My mother smiled graciously, an answer that meant nothing. I desperately wanted to go, but i bit back my tongue.” This quote explains how Waverly keeps going so she can become the best player ever. Finally, Waverly also talks about the confidence in herself, she states “I attended more tournaments, each one farther away from home.

I won all games, in all division.” This quote is explaining how Waverly is becoming more confident as each tournament passes.

Jing-Mei plays the main character from the story “Two Kinds.” She is considered the prodigy of the family. The story “Two Kinds” says, “And then I saw what seemed to be the prodigy side of me - a face I had never seen before.” This quote explains how Jing-Mei started to realize that she’s becoming a prodigy when starting to play the piano. Jing-Mei also shows off attitude towards success very well, she states “I liked the haircut, and it made me actually look forward to my future fame.” This quote explains that Jing-Mei has a positive attitude towards her succeeding in the future. Finally, Jing-Mei shows off her the confidence she has in herself. “I pictured this prodigy part of me as many different images, and I tried each one on for size.” This quote explains how Jing-Mei is confident that she’ll become a prodigy so she starts to think of different professions.

In conclusion, Waverly Jong and Jing-Mei have very different attitudes toward success, confidence in themselves and roles in families. Waverly Jong listens to her mother and her mother is more supportive and caring, while Jing-Mei doesn’t want to listen to her mother and her mother is very controlling. Both stories tend to focus on a relationship between a Chinese mother and her American-born daughter. However, the real difference is how the mothers choose to raise their daughter and how the daughters react to it.