Amy Tan uses a microcosm-macrocosm comparison and characterization to reveal the following authorial attitude: foresight can generate success. Chess as life’s microcosm, Mrs. Jong’s candy restriction, and both Meimei’s trivial and crucial foresights respectively reflect the authorial attitude.
Tan uses the title, “Rules of the Game,” to portray the mother-daughter conflict as a game-like competition; Tan explores chess, another ‘game’ where foresight typically produces success, as the conflict’s microcosm to depict her belief that foresight can also bring triumph when Memei and Mrs. Jong dispute. This microcosm-macrocosm comparison becomes evident when Tan explicitly portrays Meimei’s and Mrs. Jong’s climaxing conflict and Meimei’s subsequent desertion as a strategic chess-move: “Stupid girl!’ my mother and the woman cried…Her (Mrs. Jong’s) black men advanced across the plane…My white pieces screamed as they scurried off the board”(Tan 6). Meimei foresees her …show more content…
Meimei uses crucial foresight and obtains a proficient mentor to help her ultimately become a successful chess player: “I came to the park and approached a man who was observing the game… Lau Po had taught me all he knew, and I had become a better chess player”(Tan 3). Meimei also uses trivial prescience effectively to avoid telling Santa her age indecorously: “Santa man asked me how old I was. I thought it was a trick question. I was seven according to the American formula and eight by the Chinese calendar. I said I was born on March 17, 1951. That seemed to satisfy him”(Tan 2). Meimei uses relatively insignificant foresight a second time to choose a more enjoyable present: “I already knew that big gifts were not necessarily the nicest… I quickly fingered the remaining presents, testing their weight, imagining what they contained. I chose a heavy compact one…It was a twelve-pack of lifesavers”(Tan
Tan uses the title, “Rules of the Game,” to portray the mother-daughter conflict as a game-like competition; Tan explores chess, another ‘game’ where foresight typically produces success, as the conflict’s microcosm to depict her belief that foresight can also bring triumph when Memei and Mrs. Jong dispute. This microcosm-macrocosm comparison becomes evident when Tan explicitly portrays Meimei’s and Mrs. Jong’s climaxing conflict and Meimei’s subsequent desertion as a strategic chess-move: “Stupid girl!’ my mother and the woman cried…Her (Mrs. Jong’s) black men advanced across the plane…My white pieces screamed as they scurried off the board”(Tan 6). Meimei foresees her …show more content…
Meimei uses crucial foresight and obtains a proficient mentor to help her ultimately become a successful chess player: “I came to the park and approached a man who was observing the game… Lau Po had taught me all he knew, and I had become a better chess player”(Tan 3). Meimei also uses trivial prescience effectively to avoid telling Santa her age indecorously: “Santa man asked me how old I was. I thought it was a trick question. I was seven according to the American formula and eight by the Chinese calendar. I said I was born on March 17, 1951. That seemed to satisfy him”(Tan 2). Meimei uses relatively insignificant foresight a second time to choose a more enjoyable present: “I already knew that big gifts were not necessarily the nicest… I quickly fingered the remaining presents, testing their weight, imagining what they contained. I chose a heavy compact one…It was a twelve-pack of lifesavers”(Tan