Waverly manages to fulfill the expectations of her mother to master "the art of the invisible force", applying that ancient Chinese popular wisdom in the struggle of forces between them. Waverly's mother wants her children to be able to develop in American society and all she has to offer is her modest wisdom and the strength of her character, which are imposed on the way she dresses and feeds her children, in the form of impelling her to go further away, minimizing those that for her, like the girl she is, are powerful moments that reveal her full potential.
It suddenly becomes clear to Waverly that the mother's efforts to help her children are not enough and then she understands, after her unfortunate escape and the strong words of the discussion with her mother, that she is ready to start applying a subtle strategy until she gets to earn her respect for the passion for chess and in general, to find her own place in the world, which ultimately is always the struggle of children against their parents to play that subtle balance between obedience and the search for their one's own identity.
The clues are in the descriptions of the dress, the origin and meaning of the names of the three children and even in the mother's handling of the language as a broken English.
