ENG101: Literary Analysis of 'Rules of the Game' - Student Essay

This essay provides a literary analysis of Amy Tan's short story, 'Rules of the Game,' focusing on the protagonist, Meimei, and her role in the conflict with her mother, Lindo. Set in San Francisco's Chinatown, the story explores the clash between Chinese and American cultures, particularly through the lens of a young chess prodigy. The analysis examines how Meimei's misunderstanding of her mother's intentions and her desire for independence contribute to the central conflict, symbolized by the game of chess. The essay argues that Meimei's actions, stemming from her perception of exploitation, ultimately lead to the outcome where she internalizes her feelings, highlighting the power dynamics and cultural tensions within the narrative. The analysis references the theme of 'invisible strength' and its impact on the mother-daughter relationship, concluding that Meimei is significantly responsible for the escalating conflict due to her misinterpretation of her mother's actions.

Running head: LITERARY ANALYSIS
LITERARY ANALYSIS OF ‘RULE OF THE GAME’
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

1LITERARY ANALYSIS
‘Rules of the Games’ by Amy Tan is a biographical short story about a young girl who is
a flourishing chess prodigy, trapped between her clashing Chinese and American cultures, and
conflicts between a mother and her daughter (Bausch, 2015). This paper would attempt to
investigate the extent to which the protagonist, that is, the young author is responsible for the
outcome that she faces at the end of the story.
The story is set in the late 1950s, from the author’s mention that she was born in the year
1951, in San Francisco’s Chinatown. This is the largest Chinese settlement outside Asia. The
plot begins when Meimei, the youngest out of three, takes an interest in playing chess. She
quickly excels way beyond her siblings, who lose their interest in the game, through the help of a
local old man named Lau Po in the park. All this takes place under the strict vigilance of her
mother, Lindo, who is portrayed as a strong and intimidating character, steeped in Chinese
culture and norms. As Meimei gains success and fame through her consecutive wins in chess
tournaments, her mother seen growing more and more proud and gloating of her daughter’s
success, as she is taken around by Lindo in the Saturday market like a trophy. Meimei manages
to run away and stay hidden for two hours in a dark alleyway after blaming her mother of
showing her off. She returns to her home where all the members ignore her under her mother’s
orders and trudges her way to bed (Gayle, 2016).
The story revolves around the protagonist, Meimei, who is torn between her American
mindset and her mother’s Chinese heritage. The author speaks of the ‘art of invisible strength’
which keeps her under her mother’s control as well as help her win the chess tournaments. The
main theme of the entire story revolves around the power struggle between the author and her
mother. Meimei is shown off by Lindo which gives her the impression of exploitation. The main
theme is supported by the underlying theme of the game of chess signified as a metaphor for the

2LITERARY ANALYSIS
war between the author and her mother. The game of chess is a battlefield that is set on a board
with two opponents fighting to win over each other. It requires a lot of strategies and tactics but
at the same time it also entails sacrifice on both the sides. Similar to chess, the ways of starting,
continuing and ending a match correlates with the same in real life. The main conflict revolves
around the two characters coming from two different ethnic upbringings and having different
ways of looking at life (Huang, 2017). Therefore, it is easy to conjecture that the conflict would
be escalated not only because of the divide in ethnic understanding but also the cultural
underpinning where in Chinese communities; women in that era were still not given high respect
(Lozada et al., 2016).
In conclusion, we can generalise that the author, through her misunderstanding of her
mother’s attitude towards her, has been a significant contributor to the conflict that raged
between her and her mother. As she mistook her mother’s pride for exploitation of her skills, she
wanted to be independent, which led to the certain outcome that she faces at the end of the story,
where she decides to ‘bite back her tongue’ and wait till she is older to break free.

3LITERARY ANALYSIS
References
Bausch, R. ed., 2015. The Norton anthology of short fiction. WW Norton & Company.
Gale, C.L., 2016. A Study Guide for Amy Tan's" Rules of the Game". Gale, Cengage Learning.
Huang, S., 2017. When Tiger Mothers Meet Sugar Sisters: Strategic Representations of Chinese
Cultural Elements in Maxine Hong Kingston's and Amy Tan's Works (Doctoral
dissertation, Curtin University).
Lozada, F.T., Halberstadt, A.G., Craig, A.B., Dennis, P.A. and Dunsmore, J.C., 2016. Parents’
beliefs about children’s emotions and parents’ emotion-related conversations with their
children. Journal of child and Family Studies, 25(5), pp.1525-1538.