The Child Prodigy

2. Rules of the Game

3. I really loved the beginning of this chapter. I loved the way Tan described where Waverly lived. It seemed so exciting and interesting. All the shops and sights made me really want to just travel there and spend a day exploring; even though I don't think just spending one day will allow me to soak in all the things that alley had to offer. I liked the idea of having a special place for under-privledged children to go and recieve presents during Christmastime. The fact that being smart and not greedy got the children the best presents made me smile. In the scene where the boy gets slapped by his mother made me smirk because that's what greedy children deserved. It was cute how Waverly thought of the idea of replacing the missing pieces with lifesavers. The chapter started getting confusing when Waverly's mother started talking in her broken English. I had to re-read the paragraph a couple times to get a faint idea of what she was trying to say. This might be the reason why Asian immigrants tended to get made fun of. Waverly must've been very intelligent to become a chess champion at the age of 9. I could really relate to Waverly when her mom showed off that she was a chess champion. My friends' parents always compared me to their kids. I'd be really embarassed if my mom bragged about my accomplishments to my friends and relatives.

4. The relationship that Waverly and Lau Po have is one that a teacher and a student may have with each other. Waverly learns a lot of Lau Po and he tests her skill and knowledge. He doesn't go easy on her and she learbed from experience. He teaches her skills in the game of chess and she learned to become a much better chess player. Not only did she learn skills but she learned manners in the game of chess. Lau po really made an impact on Waverly because she becomes a chess playing prodigy. She would never have been as good if she never met him, just as all good teachers influence their students.

5. A writing technique Tan uses is word choice. The words she uses are very powerful and impact the mood and setting in which the story takes place. The word choice is not only powerful, but it really helps the imagry of the story. Everything in the story is more exciting and interesting because of the superb word choice. Word choice makes any story more memorable and worth reading, including this chapter.

6. The main conflict in this chapter is human vs. human. The conflict is between Waverly and her mother showing off the fact that she's a chess champion. Her mother isn't so obvious about it at the beginning, but as time goes by, she doesn't maintain her modesty and tells anyone who would listen. Waverly confronts her mother about what she thinks, but her mother doesn't understand what she means and becomes angry. This leads into another conflict which is also human vs. human