Amy Tan truly typed a masterpiece with this short story. There is an elegent plot, a fine level of detail throughout, and a marvelous ending. This is the type of thing I enjoy reading. Meimei is such a wonderfully vivid and believable character. She starts out a respectful young girl, learning the tactics and moves of life. When her brother receives a chess set for christmas, her tactical studies alter their basis to this new challange. Swiftly discovering she has a knack for this pastime, she does everything in her power to further develop her skills. Along the way however, whe loses the social skills that she had begun to attain. She forgets her earliest tactics as she reaches for more advanced ones. Finally, she alienates her family in her all-consuming desire for chess and importance.
It is so easy for me to connect with Meimei. Chess is such an easy game to get caught up in, and it is quite capable of centering a life. It is sad that she forgets those who put her on the path to greatness, but this is a trend that is seen all too often in real life. Allowances were made for her to develop her skills to the max, and her arrogance developed apace. The moral of the story is to remember your beginnings, and respect those who give you a start.
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3 comments:
I didn't agree with how her parents were running the show though. They kept like pushing her and pushing her into tournaments and even let her skip out on chores and stuff just to be able to go study chess. I totally disagreed with them allowing this and I think it sort of made the boys feel worthless. I agree with you that she should remember her brothers becasue they were the ones who showed her how to play the game in the first place, and should give them a hand with their chores.
I agree with you to an extent, but I don't think that I could blame it all on Meimei. She was only six, which I forgot quite often while reading this story. She was still a child, and that's what was important. Her mom shouldn't have gotten so caught up in her daughter's talent and realized that she still had to raise her daughter. As for Meimei being arrogant, she, again, was only a child. What kid doesn't think they can do whatever they want whenever they want. I really can't put much, if any, blame on her because she was only six and her mind was still developing and I don't think it's fair to say she should just know how to act. That's supposed to be her parents' job.
I really liked this short story because like you Dan, I like to play chess. I also agree to an extent that Meimei got to caught up in chess. You can not really blame a young child for being arrogant because thats just what they do. If they are better than you at something believe, they are going to let you know. I also did not agree with how she did not have to do anymore of her chores. I believe that chores help someone grow more mature. I do though believe that she could of been nicer to her brothers because they are the ones who got her started playing chess. The least she could do for them is help them out with their chores. Though overall, this was my favorite short story.
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