Competition In Amy Tan's Rules The Game

We are built to compete: Be it from the ancient evolutionary point of view in natural selection, or be it against our colleague for the promotion; competition is a phenomenon we all have to face in our lives and it is integral part of our daily lives. Many people have recognized it and its importance and have commented on it. A famous quotation which I really like and have chosen for this essay was said by one of the greatest basketball players of all time, Michael Jordan, who said, “You have competition every day because you set such high standards for yourself that you have to go out every day and live up to that.” Although on a personal level, he said this from the perspective of competition in sports, specifically basketball, this can …show more content…
Being immigrants, it would be natural for Amy’s mother to want success, because after all, they did not move to America for nothing. Amy’s mother pushed her daughter and this allowed her to exceed her own limits and standards, and to be better than any other child her age. For example, one time during outdoor exhibition games, Amy’s mother terms Amy’s success as being luck when she gets praise from the people who were watching her defeat her opponents one after the other. This incident can be deduced as Amy’s mother pushing her child to prove herself more and to gain more success: to not be content with where she was at that moment. Amy also faced competition at a minor level. After the chess set was brought home, with curiosity, she slowly begins to show interest in chess and begins to grasp the rules of the game. Despite being the youngest of the three siblings, she eventually learns the game so well that she could easily defeat either of her brothers. Her competition with her brothers allowed her to gain more knowledge about the game and improve, and the rivalry fueled her to be successful. Sibling-rivalries, in general, are vital for each others’ improvement. Another explicit instance of how competition develops her is how she progresses through the different tournaments. As her competition gets tougher and as she progresses from smaller to larger level tournaments, she finds new ways to think and new …show more content…
I strive for success and I never want to settle for anything less than the best. In accordance to Michael Jordan’s quote, I believe that first I have to become the best, and then, after being consistent, I need to compete with myself, and be the best I can be and I believe that is limitless. There are many times I have seen this and competition’s positive results in my own life. I have one elder sibling, and for as long as I can remember, he has not only been a benchmark but has also been competition for me. When we used to play soccer together, I would always do my best to beat him in skill and class, and since he was significantly older than me, specifically six years, I would usually fail. But it never seemed insuperable to me, and although my constant efforts and extreme dedication failed to make me better than him, it made me a lot better than the average soccer player of my age. I was proud of myself, and people who played with me would look up to me and respect me, and I was one of the best players in my age group wherever I played. It was because I tried competing with my elder brother who was a lot better than me, that I got near him and his high level of skill, which was success in itself. And still today, I enjoy the fruits of competing with him as it resulted in failing, trying harder, improving and thus