One American rule adopted into Waverly's family is their age, since they are living in america they use “American age” which is one year behind what she is by the Chinese calendar: “...I was seven according to the American formula and eight by the Chinese calendar.” Mrs.Jong is willing to allow this into her family because it doesn’t change the fact that Waverly is 8 to her family. Mrs.Jong has a “chang” which “is luck” she keeps it for special occasions when it’s needed, “It was her chang, a small tablet of red jade which held the sun’s fire.” They keep this in their family for luck and help during hard times. It’s a part of their culture and they haven’t taken it out because they still believe in it, and its powers. Waverly refers to it as this because you should never tell the secrets you learned. It's a game of attacks and surprises. You use the element of surprise to beat your opponents. Waverly likes the secrets because in her family it's hard to keep secrets.
Waverly acts like this to surprise her opponents and make them under estimate how well she plays. Waverly also acts like a child to make her opponents feel better and think she was just playing random moves which ended up with her winning. She is humble yet devious when it comes to chess, she knows how to get people to underestimate her skills. People feel truly American once they know they have a voice and speak up against what they believe is wrong. It explains how you must never share your secrets and have to lose some things to win/gain something. You’re also responsible for how you respond and act in certain situations you can either gain something or lose something.
I agree to both of your examples. I liked how you mention the fact that her age was only one year off, also the way you showed that waverly's mother let the fact that her age was only a year off pass as something to adopt to in their family's culture.I also wanted to point out the fact that you were very descriptive in giving the reader an image on the way that waverly was acting out in front of her opponents to distract them and tricking them into thinking that they were only playing against some little kid that was making random moves in the game of chess.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great response Morgan! I can relate in certain ways because my parents still carry on some Chinese traditions. When I was younger, my mom would give us red envelopes on the Chinese New Year with money in it because it was supposed to be lucky. This was like Waverly's family believing that her mother's chang was lucky. I think this was well written but, I think you could have elaborated a little more on how they adopted "American rules." For example, they did have to adjust to how the months/ year was different but I think there was more to it. They had to adjust to the lifestyle at dinner as well as the food. When Americans eat food from a foreign country, it might take time to get used to the different flavors. Her family also had to celebrate new holidays like Christmas and attend church to really feel like an American. However, I do agree with you on how they hold onto their Chinese traditions. You included totally different ideas than I had which I thought was amazing because you included traditions I didn't even see. I agree with you about what it means to be American but I could elaborate more on it. How you act really defines who you are. I remember in the story that Waverly's mother says, "Chinese people do business,do medicine, do painting. Not like lazy American people. We do torture. Best torture." Waverly's mother thinks that to be American,you have to act lazy. That is part of what it means, but I think that it's also learning other cultures as well as continuing your native culture.
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