Essential Question - Rules of the Game - Amy Whitler

Waverly grew up with a mother who embraced their Chinese culture and made sure to keep it that way, even if they didn’t live in China. Mrs. Jong made the family hold onto a lot of traditions like the food they ate, the medicine they used, and parts of their lifestyle. When Waverly went to the store with her mother, instead of buying American food like chips, they bought salted plums. Not many Americans purchase food like that. They also ate pastries like dim sum instead of donuts.  In China, they believed that using herbs can cure an ancestral disease.They used herbs like saffron - colored seeds and pungent leaves. Most native-born Americans just use medicine made from drugs. The Jong family also kept their family dinners traditional. In the story, Rules of the Game, it says, “My bowl was always full, three five- course meals every day, beginning with a soup full of mysterious things I didn’t want to know the names of.” In America, most people eat 1 main course with a few side dishes. Even though they wanted to keep things as culturally Chinese as possible, they had to adopt “American rules” as well.

Waverly’s family adopted “American rules” by celebrating Christmas, learning new games like chess, and going to church. In paragraph 14, it says, “We had gone to the annual Christmas party held at the First Chinese Baptist Church at the end of the alley.” Most Chinese people don’t celebrate Christmas. Instead, they celebrate the Chinese New Year, which is a huge tradition that lasts for a week. To fit in, Waverly and her family had to learn how most American citizens pray and celebrate their holidays. Waverly also learned how to play chess. It took her a long time to learn the strategies and secrets of chess, but as she practiced, studied, and learned from others, she got better. In the story she says chess is “a game of secrets in which one must show and never tell.” This means that to become good, you must show your talent instead of telling your secrets and strategies. Waverly would act like a little kid, innocent and uneducated, and then strike with a sneaky move. This kind of reflects off of the family adjusting to the American culture because it took time to adjust, but as they learned they began to blend in. Being American means living with your culture but incorporating other cultures as well. The Jong family learned to keep their traditions but also learn how Americans live their lifestyle.