Rules of the Game

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response to one of the topics below, using the  bulleted items to organize your ideas. Cite details from the text throughout your response to provide examples and support.

1. Waverly says her mother teaches her a strategy for winning arguments and chess games called Invisible Strength.

• Define the term invisible strength. (topic sentence)
• Explain the ways that both Waverly and her mother show invisible strength.
• In your closing sentences, discuss who wins the argument between mother and daughter, and why.

2.  Like many of Amy Tan’s stories, “Rules of the Game” is more a story about Mother-Daughter Relationships than it is a story about chess.

• Based on her status as a Chinese American immigrant, explain how Waverly’s mother defines the mother-daughter relationship. (topic sentence)
• Discuss the ways Waverly adopts or rebels against her mother’s definition of the mother-daughter relationship.
• In your closing sentences, discuss what each character learns about mother-daughter relationships by the end of the story.

3. In “Rules of the Game,” chess is a metaphor for the Mother-Daughter Relationships.

• Discuss the ways the mother-daughter relationship is like a chess game. (topic sentence)
• List three to five characteristics of chess and then describe them in terms of the mother-daughter relationship between Waverly and her mother.
• In your closing sentences, discuss who the real “chess” champion of the story is and why.

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by text details, and a conclusion.

1. Gender roles have a subtle but constant influence within the story. Cite examples from the text to examine how the characters are shaped by gender roles and shape them in return.

2. Waverly describes herself in the following scene as “sly” and “wicked”: “Chinese people do many things […]. Chinese people do business, do medicine, do painting. Not lazy like American people. We do torture. Best torture.” Using story elements as support, explain the dynamics of this scene.

3. Waverly says her mother imparts daily truths. Using story elements as support, explain Waverly’s mother’s meaning when she says, “This American rules […] Every time people come out from foreign country, must know rules. You not know, judge say, Too bad, go back. They not telling you why so you can use their way to go forward. They say, Don’t know why, you find out for yourself. But they knowing all the time. Better you take it, find out why yourself.”