Through Tan's stunning use of character, however, readers are left to question Waverly's metaphor and her conclusion that her mother is her opposition. One reason for this is Waverly's mother's stunning wisdom. Although she speaks in Asian-flavored broken English, Waverly states that her "mother imparted her daily truths so she could help my older brothers and me rise above our circumstances" (Tan 1). Furthermore, it is clear that Waverly's mother's words were often filled with wisdom. Indeed, Waverly credits the women with imparting to her the rules of chess, the secret for winning chess when her mother taught her "the art of invisible strength," what was "a strategy for winning arguments, respect from others, and eventually…chess games" (Tan 1).
Like the ying and the yang, however, Waverly's mother's positive characteristic of wisdom is balanced by a negative characteristic of pride. The woman is fiercely prideful, demanding that her sons give back the charity, second-hand chess set, introducing everyone to her daughter, the chess champion, and demanding that her daughter not loose pieces in addition to winning. Told in the first person in the style of a fictitious memoir, however, Tan's short story emphasizes both the positive characteristics of Waverly's mother -- the wisdom -- and her negative ones -- the pride -- in harmony with one another. Neither...
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