“Your only shame is to have shame."
This quote by Amy Tan’s mother is compelling due to the paradox that it embodies. Even though it is paradoxical, it summarizes Amy Tan’s predicament. Portraying her Chinese ways when she is with her American friends chagrins her. Similarly behaving like an American before her family members embarrasses her. The disgrace she undergoes is double-edged , and it hampers her from fully identifying as a Chinese or American.
“It wasn't until many years later – long after I had gotten over my crush on Robert – that I was able to fully appreciate her lesson and the true purpose behind our particular menu. For Christmas Eve that year, she had chosen all my favorite foods.”
Amy Tan’s self-analysis in the resolution of “Fish Cheeks” proves that it was due to an identity crisis that she would not grasp the substance and peculiarity of the dinner that her family shared with Robert’s family. Her gratefulness of the menu suggests that she managed to surmount the identity crisis. What is more, getting over Robert is an exhibition of Amy’s sensibleness and coming of age.
“Bite back your Tongue”
The narrator’s mother admonishes the narrator with the statement “Bite Your Tongue” when the narrator depicts imprudent mannerisms such as crying for plums. The statement is typical of operant conditioning; the narrator’s mother uses the conditioning to impart “invisible strength” in her daughter which enables her to restrain herself from adverse behaviours.
“The chessboard seemed to hold elaborate secrets waiting to be untangled. The chessmen were more powerful than old Li's magic herbs that cured ancestral curses.”
This quote offers Waverly Jong Place’s assessment of chess. According to Jong, Chess is sophisticated and compelling. She is drawn into chess from the day that Vincent brings the chess set home, that is why she maintains that her brothers allow to learn and compete with them.
“Why must you always ask stupid questions?...This is a game. These are the rules. I didn't make them up. See. Here in the book."
Waverly Jong Place’s inquisitiveness about the rules that govern chess infuriates her brother Vincent. According to Vincent, asking questions is synonymous with being an embicile. This means that Vincent has a fixed mind-set whereby he thinks that following all the rules that are outlined in the guidebook without questioning them is a manifestation of astuteness.
“I learned why it is essential in the endgame to have foresight, a mathematical understanding of all possible moves, and patience; all weaknesses and advantages become evident to a strong adversary and are obscured to a tiring opponent. I discovered that for the whole game one must gather invisible strengths and see the endgame before the game begins.”
The chess game necessitates logical reasoning and fortitude. Waverly Jong Place discerns the top-secret to being an efficacious chess player by conducting a research which solves all the queries that she has about the chess game. She does not put your faith on what her brother say about the game and the guidelines in the guidebook. She goes the extra mile of unearthing keystones of the chess game independently. Waverly Jong Place’s methodology of learning chess portrays acumen and autodidactism.
