Question

A man who watched me play in the park suggested that my mother allow me to play in local chess tournaments. My mother smiled graciously, an answer that meant nothing. I desperately wanted to go, but I bit back my tongue. I knew she would not let me play among strangers. So as we walked home I said in a small voice that I didn’t want to play in the local tournament. They would have American rules. If I lost, I would bring shame on my family. “Is shame you fall down nobody push you,” said my mother.   Compare and contrast the narrator’s motivations with her mother’s.

Answer 1

Waverly “Meimei” Jong wants to excel at “invisible strength” so she can get what she wants and be respected for it. In this scene, she practices wielding “invisible strength” in order to get her mom to do something that Lindo Jong does not like to do: allow Meimei to play chess with strangers. To do this, Meimei appeals to Lindo’s main motivation to help her children be successful in life. Instead of aggressively or forcefully expressing why she wants to go, Meimei instead speaks her mother’s language. Lindo wants her children to master “American rules” and have a chance to do the opposite of shaming the family—be successful. By doing this, she’s able to point out to Lindo that allowing Meimei to compete will give her the opportunity to be successful.

Answer 2

The mother knows what her son is capable of doing and that no matter how good or bad the outcome will become she will always be the mother that supports her son. As opposed to the son who feels like his mother has a lot of expectations from him because of her non-verbal cues and very few verbal utterances.