Question

In Amy Tan's short story "Rules of the Game," Waverly's mother points out Waverly to strangers every chance she gets because she is proud of her; Waverly, on the other hand, is embarrassed by this. What does this conflict have to do with differences between American and Chinese culture?

Answer 1

Answer:

Waverly "Meimei" Jong believes and adapts to the adopted American way of life while her mother still believes in their traditional Chinese culture and its customs. And it was this conflict of belief that led to the conflict between the mother-daughter duo.

Explanation:

In Rules of the Game, Amy Tan wrote about how Waverly "Meimei" Jong who is a Chinese descent growing up in America. The whole story deals with how her approach of life the American way is in direct contrast with how her mother feels, who believes that she needs to be taught according to the Chinese way.

After Meimei became famous for her chess wins, her mother also began showing her off every chance she could. Towards the end of the story, the marketplace scene where her mother again showed her off aggravated Meimei so much that she objected heavily and ran away from her mother. Her comment "Why do you have to use me to  show off? If you want to show off, then why don't you learn to play chess?" hurt her mother so much that she later told her family "We not concerning this girl. This girl not have concerning for us."

In truth, Meimei is already adapting to the American way of life and does not like the way her mother led her through with their traditional Chinese customs. Parents being proud of their children and the need to show off just so that she will be famous and be known is what her mother believes is right, while Meimei did not like it. This conflict in the mother-daughter way of approaching life led to the outburst in the marketplace, with the Mother believing in the Chinese culture and trying hard to impart it to her daughter while the other is already imbibing her adopted American culture into her own system.