The Joy Luck Club Chapter 5

The title for this chapter is "Rules of the Game".

This chapter is told from Waverly Jong's POINT OF VIEW. She is the daughter of Lindo Jong, the woman who shared the story of escaping from her marriage.

It is interesting that Waverly is named after the place where she lives. Her name is actually 'Waverly Place Jong'. I honestly think that it would be bad to be named after the place where you live, but maybe it is respectful.

A chess board, set to play!

The bulk of this chapter deals with how Waverly finds a deep interest in playing chess and how she succeeds and finds it to be her niche. She finds challenge and entertainment in playing chess and it brings her praise and recognition from her family and everyone.

Waverly begins to resent her mother's affections as she presents herself with her daughter. Waverly feels like her mother is just using her to make a name for herself. This makes me think of the show Toddlers and Tiaras because the children may enjoy being in the pageants, but a lot of the time, the mothers just need something to feel good about themselves so they use their children to make a face for themselves. It may sound like a cruel observation made by myself, but that is what it seems like Waverly is feeling like, and it seemed like a good comparison.

That girl does not look like she is happy about it...

The truth of the matter is that Waverly angrily tells her mother that she should stop trying to show off and that she should try playing chess herself. Once Waverly returns home, her mother is waiting to play chess with her, and Waverly is blown away by her mother's skill. It appears to be the classic set up where the person pretends to be an innocent fool with no experience who is really an expert and is able to catch the other person off-guard.

When Waverly is first learning to play chess, she finds that her brothers are no longer suitable opponents and she seeks an adversary in an old man named Lau Po. Her teaches her new techniques and the etiquette of chess. One of the points I found entertaining was, "'Never hurl pieces into the sandbox after you have lost a game, because then you must find them again, by yourself, after apologizing to all around you.'" This made me laugh, as I imagined a young Waverly throwing a temper tantrum, forcing the rule to be put into place. A more simple way to have put this would be don't be a sore loser, but this way provides a better mental image of comedic nature.

That's all for now! Cheerio, then.