Read the excerpt below from the short story “Rules of the Game” by Amy Tan and answer the question that follows. “Bite back your
tongue,” scolded my mother when I cried loudly, yanking her hand toward the store that sold bags of salted plums. At home, she said, “Wise guy, he not go against wind. In Chinese we say, Come from South, blow with wind—poom!—North will follow. Strongest wind cannot be seen.” The next week I bit back my tongue as we entered the store with the forbidden candies. When my mother finished her shopping, she quietly plucked a small bag of plums from the rack and put it on the counter with the rest of the items. When the narrator bites back her tongue, what two forces are struggling? Meimei vs. self Lindo vs. Meimei Lindo vs. self Lindo vs. Lau Po
It seems to me that the two forces struggling when the narrator bites back her tongue are Meimei vs. self. This meaning, the narrator is battling herself, her Meimei self. Her family called her that way because she was the youngest sister. It seems to me that is a battle against her childhood, her attempt to be or, at least, act as a grown up. Her mother is telling she to restrain her childish whim.
