The Imagery of Chinese Table Etiquette (“Fish Cheeks)
The Chinese’s table etiquette offers a contrast of the American table decorum. In “Fish Cheeks”, Amy’s Chinese family eats using chopsticks which are an equivalent of forks and spoons in America. Furthermore, muttering while eating is tolerable among the Chinese. What is more, audible belching after eating connotes graciousness among the Chinese. Conversely, the Americans burps silently. Amy is ill at ease with the Chinese manners as she has a penchant for American ways.
The Imagery of Waverly Jong’s Trophies (“Rules of the Game”)
Waverly Jong recalls: “The Chinese bakery downstairs from our flat displayed my growing collection of trophies in its window, amidst the dust covered cakes that were never picked up.”The trophies signify Waverly Jong’s accomplishment in the chess game. The presentation of the trophies on the bakery’s window is homage of Waverly Jong. What is more, trophies stand out from the cakes even though, ordinarily a bakery is the domain for cakes. The trophies in a bakery are suggestive Waverly Jong’s propensity for distinctiveness in America, despite being a Chinese.
The Imagery of the Wind (“Rules of the Game”)
During Waverly Jong’s first tournament, where she competes with a “fifteen-year-old boy from Oakland,'' She says, “A light wind blowing past my ears. It whispered secrets only I could hear.” The wind motivates Waverly Jong to overthrow her opponent through the things that it murmurs to her. She associates the wind’s voice with her mother’s Chinese saying: “Strongest wind cannot be seen”. The obscure wind is transcendent, and it personifies the intrinsic forte that Waverly Jong uses to maneuver all through the competition Also, the stimulus of the wind is featured in the denouement, when Waverly Jong retires to bed and the wind gives her impetus she needs to sail through in the imaginary contest.
