从象棋探究《喜福会》中的韦弗利学士学位论文

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1、学士学位论文题 目 从象棋探究喜福会中的韦弗利 学 生 指导教师 年 级 专 业系 别 学 院 HARBIN NORMAL UNIVERSITYChess and Waverly in The Joy Luck ClubAbstract: The Joy Luck Club is the masterpiece of Amy Tan，a famous Chinese American writer. This article is to understand the character of Waverly from a special visual angle in The Joy Luck

2、 Club. Through analyzing the explicit features of chess, we find the implicit meaning of Waverly. From this aspect, we can understand the works and the character better. The stories of chess and Waverly betray the developing of the plot in The Joy Luck Club and the change of Waverly. Waverly conside

3、rs her mother as her adversary at beginning. But Waverly understands her mother at last. She realizes that the power is from her mother and her mothers love. Conspicuously, chess has influenced the character of Waverly as a matter of fact. Key Words: Chess, Rule of law, Fairness, Independence, Compe

4、tition 1. IntroductionAmy Tans The Joy Luck Club is a masterpiece in Chinese-American literature. The Joy Luck Club mothers and their daughters have been the focus of research ever since the publication of this book. Some researchers put the emphasis on the relationship between the mothers and daugh

5、ters while some others believe that it is the writing style that makes Amy Tans The Joy Luck Club a success. For there are conflicts that have been vividly described in this book, some researchers making the conflicts in The Joy Luck Club the theme of their thesis. However, in this thesis, chess wil

6、l be the theme, and it will be interpreted from a cultural point of view In The Joy Luck Club, fundamental differences between Chinese and American societies are presented in both explicit and implicit ways. For years, scholars have been conducting considerable research on the novels explicit portra

7、its of the clashes, largely based on the major plots, conflicts and characters. Yet inadequate research has been done on Amy Tans implicit depiction hidden in her frequent mentioning of the symbolic games, Western chess. From my point of view, the contrastive image of chess is created by the author

8、out of design. By making analysis of the games, Amy Tan has suggested four major futures in the American societies: Rule of Law, interdependence, fairness, competition.2. Features of Chess2.1Rule of Law In The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan has depicted the attitude toward the game of chess. Chess players w

9、ere supposed to follow the game rules strictly, chess under the rule of law. Chess in the western has to obey a host of rules. In the beginning of learning or playing the game of chess, the two chess players have to learn the some basic knowledge about it .In those basic knowledge, rules is the most

10、 important . In the process of the game, the two persons have to use these rules of the chess to score a success. The two people are independence. In hence, the rules of are significant in the game of chess for the chess players. Conspicuously, we can draw the conclusion that chess is a game that fo

11、cuses on rule of law. 2.2 Independence and Self-reliance In The Joy Luck Club, chess is a game that seen as a combat of individual intelligence. The different relations of the players in the two games reflect the different roles of interpersonal relationship in American society. Chess is a game of p

12、ersonal abilities. The two adversaries are independent from each other and one can only rely on him/herself to defeat the other. When playing chess, “it is important to control the center early on have a clear plan in the middle and have a mathematical understanding of all possible moves in the endg

13、ame”. Unlike in mahjong, chess players pay no attention to the adversaries, all they have to do is focus on the game. “As I began to play (chess), the boy (the adversary) disappeared, and I saw only my white pieces and his black ones waiting on the other side”. In the American society, individual co

14、mpetence plays a much far more important role in ones pursuit of success than interpersonal relationship. By the strategies to win the game, Amy Tan suggests the way of achieving success in US. That is relying on their talents and diligence. So the game of chess has the feature of independence or se

15、lf-reliance.2.3 Fairness In The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan has implied a view on life in American. American people promote fair and equal opportunities for everyone to strive for his/her dreams, they do not believe they are born different, and ones future is to a large extent destined the moment he/she

16、is born. In The Joy Luck Club, chess is a game played with fairness. To start the game, the two players must have the same pieces at mirroring positions. “You have sixteen pieces and so do I. One king, and queen, two bishops, two knights, two castles, and eight pawns.” This start is a reflection of

17、the American creed that all men are born equal and all games are played fair.They put more stress on fairness, and they are more readily to accept the fact that life is a fair play in America. So fairness is a feature of the game of chess.2.4 Individual Confrontation Where there is a game, there is

18、competition. Chess shows a feature that is individual confrontation. From analysis the characters about the game of western chess, competition is the key word to describe chess. In The Joy Luck Club, player of chess has an attitude of competition. While Waverly, the chess player, expresses openly he

19、r desire to confront and crush her adversaries, the Joy Luck aunties seem to be less amiable with each other at chess game. By giving the descriptions, Amy Tan suggests that America is a country that promotes individual confrontation. So competition is a main character of the game of chess.3. Chess

20、and Waverly in the Joy Luck ClubTans first short story was Endgame. It describes a precocious young chess champion who has a stormy relationship with her overprotective Chinese mother. In 1985, Tan used the story to gain admission to the Squaw Valley Community of Writers, a fiction writers workshop

21、run by the novelist Oakley Hall. Guided by another novelist and short story writer, Molly Giles, Tan rewrote Endgame at the workshop. It was then published in FM magazine and reprinted in Seventeen magazines. Giles sent the story to Sandra Dijkstra, a literary agent in San Francisco, who thought tha

22、t it was very well written. When Tan learned that an Italian magazine had reprinted Endgame without her permission, she asked Dijkstra to be her agent. Dijkstra agreed. She urged Tan to submit other short stories and to turn the series into a book. That book became The Joy Luck Club. In this works,

23、chess and Waverly have some relations between them. In this section, try to find the common characters from four parts to discuss the chess and Waverly in The Joy Luck Club. 3.1 The Understanding of Waverly and Chesss Rules Chess players are supposed to follow the game rules strictly, chess under th

24、e rule of law. The chess players have to obey the rules very strictly. From this feature, Waverly has been influenced a lot.In The Joy Luck Club, Waverly learns the rules of chess mostly from the “dog-eared instruction book”. She does not know why the rules are like this, her brother says: “This is

25、a game. These are rules. I didnt make them up. See. Here. In the book.” Her mother also explained to her, “This American rules, every people come out from foreign country must know rules They not telling you why.” Later on, when Waverlys brothers could not win her under the game rules, they stepped

26、away from the game, rather than consider a change in the rules. “Soon I no longer lost any game, but Winston and Vincent decided they were more interested in roaming the street after school.” American society puts the law above everything and it cannot be challenged or questioned, let alone changed.

27、 Waverly Jong, the narrator of Rules of the Game in The Joy Luck Club, explains that she was six years old when her mother taught her the art of invisible strength, a strategy for winning arguments and gaining respect from others in games. Waverly and her two brothers live on Waverly Place in San Fr

28、anciscos Chinatown. The children delight in the sights, sounds, and smells of Chinatown, the sweetness of the pasty red beans, the pungent smell of the herbs doled out by old Li, and the sight of the blood-slippery fish that the butcher guts with one deft slice. Waverlys brother Vincent received a c

29、hess set at the Baptist Church Christmas party. Waverly took to the game immediately, delighting in its strategy. After her brothers lose interest in the game, Waverly learns complex plays from Lau Po, an old man in the park: She begins to win local tournaments. By her ninth birthday, Waverly is a n

30、ational chess champion. Her fame spreads; even Life magazine runs an article on her meteoric rise. Waverly is excused from her chores, but there is one task she cannot escape: accompanying her mother to market on Saturdays. Mrs. Jong delights in walking down the busy street, boasting that Waverly is

31、 her daughter. One day, mortified by what she perceives as exploitation, Waverly argues with her mother and dashes off. For two hours, she huddles on an upturned plastic pail in an alley. Finally, she slowly walks home. Look, however, at the title from another perspective. In addition to the game of

32、 chess, the title alludes to the game of lifeknowing the rules in order to get what you want. Mrs. Jong calls these rules the art of invisible strength. Unlike the clear-cut rules of chess, however, the rules of the game of life are ever-changing and brutally difficult to learn. On the chessboard, C

33、hess players have to follow the game rules strictly, chess under the rule of law. Waverly is influenced by this kind of thought. Waverly does not want to change the rules of chess, only to obey the rules of it. So we find that Waverly is a person that influenced a lot by the rules of the chess.3.2 W

34、averly and the Spirit of Independence Chess is a game of personal abilities. The two adversaries are independent from each other and one can only rely on him/herself to defeat the other. On the surface, Rules of the Game in The Joy Luck Club applies to the rules of chess, which Waverly masters with

35、astonishing skill. Her success is even more admirable when we realize that she is only eight years old and almost entirely self-taught. Aside from some sessions with old Lau Po in the park, Waverly has taught herself everything that she needs to know about chess in order to become a national champio

36、n. She understands the rules of chess. She knows how the game is played. She knows how to psych-out her opponents and she knows chess is a game of emphasis on self-reliance.3.2.1 Disagreement of Waverly and Her Mother The story of Waverly childhood talent and her disagreement with Lindo over Lindos

37、constant bragging in public. After days of silence between her and her mother, Waverly decided to quit chess temporarily. She initiated the break by purposefully missing a tournament. Although Waverly had meant to hurt Lindo by skipping the event, Lindo was not upset; Waverly alone suffered, as she

38、knew that she could have easily beaten the boy who won. Soon, Waverly broke the silence to tell Lindo that she had decided to play again. Although she expected her mother to react joyously, Lindo was reproachful and told Waverly that it is not so easy to quit and again so glibly. Like her mother, Li

39、ndo, Waverly is fiercely independent, stubborn, and capable of being very tricky. Its clear that Waverly, like her mother, demands the very best. Waverly is, in a sense, Lindos selfish side unmitigated by filial duty or obligation. Yet she is capable of great love and affection, as evidenced by her

40、relationship. Waverly, like all of the other daughters in The Joy Luck Club, has a strained relationship with her mother. Waverly, as stated earlier, is independent and likes to assert her independence to her mom. She makes a show of not taking her mothers advice by saying things like, Dont be so ol

41、d-fashioned, Ma . Im my own person. This woman likes to think that shes in charge of herself. All the same, she continues to look for her mothers approval, especially in romantic relationships. She claims that she doesnt want her moms opinions about Rich, but desperately wants her mother to like him

42、. She tends to use her mother as a scapegoat for her own fears and insecurities (i.e., possible fears about marrying Rich) .These disagreements show that Waverly is an independent person. Waverly has her own understanding and the ways of doing things. 3.2.2 Cultural Problems Between Waverly and Her

43、Mother Waverly also runs into a lot of cultural problems with her mother. Lindo blames this on the fact that Waverly is very American, she says that its too late for Waverly to be Chinese. Lindo thinks Waverlys American-ness is partly her own fault for giving Waverly such an American name. On the co

44、ntrary, Waverly likes to think of herself as Chinese, maybe because its fashionable right now, maybe its because shes about to marry a white man and is worried about losing a part of her identity. Regardless, even though she wants to think of herself as Chinese, she sure has a tough time understandi

45、ng her Chinese mom. Lindo no longer polished Waverly trophies, and she stopped hovering over her as she practiced. Waverly lost her next tournament, and other defeats followed her once steady confidence vanished, hand she felt as though the wind had gone out of her sails, at age fourteen, Waverly ga

46、ve up chess entirely. Because chess is a game of focuses on self-reliance. Waverly thinks that her success is depending on herself .In fact, Waverly gives up chess for she depending on her mother not her talent. So we consider that chess is an independent game. Waverly fails to play chess also becau

47、se she does not realize the feature of independence of the chess. 3.3 Waverly and the Spirit of Fairness Chess is a game of fairness. In the game of chess, the two players are equal. No matter they are male or female. The two players are equal to each other. So in the game of chess there is not the

48、distinction of sexual. Chess in western is a game of fairness also because there is not distinction of social status. The two opponents are equal to each other. They are the same people who have to obey the same rule on the chessboard. Chess also is a game that ignore race. Everybody is the same on

49、the chessboard. There is not racial discrimination .So the game of chess has the character of fairness. No matter the sex or status or race of the two adversaries, they are the same when they are playing the chess. Waverly has influenced by this spirit of fairness. Waverly is a girl that eager to pu

50、rsue fairness. Waverly experienced resistance when she asked to play chess with the older men in the park in Chinatown: they tell her they do not want to play with dolls and express surprise at her skill in a game at which men excel.According to the analysis above, we find that the rule of chess fai

51、rness affected the character of Waverly. Under this kind of thought Waverly deal with things fairly.3.4 Waverly and Her Opponents3.4.1 The Attitude to Competition of Waverly In The Joy Luck Club, chess players have an attitude of competition. In the game of chess, for the two players only one can sc

52、ore the success, then another one have to lose the game. Competition is a main character of the game of chess. Chess is not a team work that everyone can help each other. On the contrary, chess is a kind of individual game that one has to depend on himself. It is a kind of competition. One has to ga

53、in the game in case of losing the game. Although it is a feature of chess, yet it is also the key or the meaning of the game. So Waverly, the chess player, expresses openly her desire to confront and crush her adversaries. At the title from another perspective, in the story Four Directions in The Jo

54、y Luck Club, chess is portrayed as a game that encourages open confrontation between the players. “I love to win. Their faces would fall when my seemingly simple and childlike strategy would reveal itself as a devastating and irrevocable course.” Once in game, the two sides are permanent enemies and

55、 are planning ways to defeat the adversary from the beginning to the end. Like in chess, competition and confrontation is valued and welcomed in every corner of American society. From presidential elections to cowboy duels, individual competition, especially one-on-one confrontation, is the American

56、 way of solving a dispute or disagreement. Even in entertainment industry, the PK rounds of talent shows were originated from the US and are always the best part for American audiences.3.4.2 The Struggle for Control Between Waverly and Her Mother Waverly and her mother struggle for control. Waverly

57、thinks of her mother as an adversary: I could see the yellow lights shining from our flat like two tigers eyes in the night, she says. To Waverly, her mother is like a tiger, waiting to pounce. Predatory, the older woman can destroy with one swipe of her powerful claws. Waverly clearly imagines hers

58、elf the victim in their struggle. When she reenters the apartment, she sees the remains of a large fish, its fleshy head still connected to bones swimming upstream in vain escape. Waverly sees herself as the fish, stripped clean by her mothers power, unable to break free. Waverly, however, is young;

59、 she has not realized that as her mother teaches her the art of invisible strength, Mrs. Jong is equipping Waverly with the very tools she needs to win the battles of life that she will encounter when she grows up. The art of invisible strength is self-control. Waverly likens it to the wind, invisib

60、le yet powerful beyond belief. The wind can whip up fierce storms and flatten entire communities, yet leave no trace of its presence. In its power and invisibility, it is the strongest of opponents. The strongest wind cannot be seen, Waverlys chess opponent tells her. Like the human will, it cannot

61、be seen or traced. In another sense, the art of invisible strength represents female power. Women who have been denied conventional paths to power traditionally use their ability to persuade, to shape, and even to control events. If a woman cannot sit in the boardroom, she can shape events from her

62、homeeven though a man holds the reins of power. This force is even recognized (and sometimes derided) in the cliche The woman behind the man. The art of invisible strength is also the power of foreigners, those considered ignorant because they cannot communicate fluently and effectively in the domin

63、ant language. For example, Mrs. Jongs fractured English is amusing. When Waverly fears that she will lose a chess match and shame the family, Mrs. Jong says, Is shame you fall down nobody push you. Under the humor of her syntax, however, her words are powerful and bitingthat is, Waverly has no one t

64、o blame for her failure but herself. There is nothing humorous in her final comment to Waverly: We are not concerning this girl. This girl not have concerning for us. With these blunt words, she demonstrates her mastery of the art of invisible strength. It seems that Mrs. Jong has won this roundor h

65、as she?The struggle for control between Waverly and her mother is symbolized in the dreamlike chess game in the final page of the section. Waverlys opponent in this game is two angry black slits. When Waverly confronts her mother during their shopping expedition, Mrs. Jongs eyes turn into dangerous black slits. In the final line of the section, Waverly thinks, I closed my eyes and pondered my next move. Her mother has taught her to use her will to shape events.