Final+Draft+Joon+Lee+JLC

Waverly and Lindo Jong from Amy Tan's novel Joy Luck Club seem to be at war and do not seem to have any connection with each other. However, that is not the case. Waverly and Lindo are separated by differences in ideas due to generation gap and different backgrounds; however, the mother and the daughter are very similar because both Lindo and Waverly possess competitive natures and the skill of playing psychological "games" with people.

Firstly, through the competitive attitudes that both the mother and the daughter possesses, we understand that Waverly is the "American Translation" of Lindo. We can see the mothers competitive mind set through Lindo's change in attitude. Lindo changed from "When we got home, my mother told Bincent to throw the chess away," (Tan, 94) to "My mother would proudly walk with me, visiting many shops, buying very little." (Tan, 101) Her change in attitude to Waverly playing chess shows Lindo's competitive mind set. The mother purposely goes to market without the intention of buying but with an intention to show-off her daughter to her neighbors. Lindo is obviously competitive because she wants to be superior to those of her town. She thinks her daughter is the tool for a higher reputation above everyone else. But most importantly, Lindo wants to show-off her daughter because she wants to have a better reputation than her rival, Suyuan. Similarly, Waverly shows her competitive attitude in playing chess. When a man on a bench says, ''Little sister, been a long time since I play with dolls,' (Tan, 97), Waverly feels teased, and challenges the man to a match. "I[Waverly] quickly put the box down next to him on the bench and displayed my retort." (Tan, 97) This shows how competitive Waverly is. Waverly despises losing. Despite losing many games to the man on the bench, she does not give up. In fact, she even takes lessons from the man to improve on chess and beat him. Waverly's perseverance is what makes her the best chess player. She starts chess because she hates losing, and incessantly continues until she becomes the best. It takes extreme character and perseverance to continue after many failures as Waverly did after losing numerous times to the man on the bench. In addition, Waverly's hate-to-lose instinct is also shown when she is arguing with Jing-mei in the chapter "Best Quality." At first, Waverly teases Jing-mei about her barber. Jing-mei responds by saying that Waverly hasn't paid her so Jing-mei can't afford a good barber with "a teasing grin." (Tan, 230). Humiliated Waverly, retaliates by saying Jing-mei's work is not good enough to be paid. Jing-mei and Waverly has been rivals in her town. Their mothers Suyuan and Lindo always compare the two see who is better off. Waverly who starts the argument ends the quarrel by winning. The beginning and the end of the arguments are far-fetched. This verbal quarrel between the two young girls shows how stubborn and unwilling Waverly is to lose. Waverly and Lindo alike have to better than others and can not stand losing to rivals. Such attitude was passed down from mother to daughter, making Waverly a American translation of her mother.

Not only is Waverly and Lindo personality alike, but the two female characters share a trait in being adept in playing psychological "games."Both the mother and daughter deal with situations by manipulating people. Firstly, Lindo's manipulating powers were shown in the chapter "The Red Candle." Lindo escapes from an unfavorable marriage by maneuvering her mother-in-law with a false dream that "foreshadows" the marriage going wrong. She tweaks the situation to her advantage by blowing out the candle that represents the eternity of the marriage. "I sacrificed my life to keep my parents' promise." (Tan, 42) Lindo uses sly motives to keep her family's honor. Lindo does not confront the situation directly, but instead takes advantage of her mother-in-law's thinking and makes the promise of marriage. Lindo transfers the liability of breaking the marriage from herself to her mother-in-law. Without a doubt, Lindo is adroit in manipulating the situation and playing the mind "game." Likewise, Waverly, hating the fact that her mother is using her for reputation, attempts to manipulate her mother. "I knew this strategy, the sneaky way to get someone to pounce back in anger and fall into a trap." (Tan, 187) She uses her chess moves on her mother. Waverly quits and "boycotts" chess as a way to "teach her mother a lesson". Lindo is definitely a challenge for her: "I realized my mother knew more tricks than I had thought," (Tan, 189) Yet, Waverly continues on with her ability and ends up bringing change."But after I got well, I discovered, that really, my mother had changed." (Tan, 190) Lindo no longer polishes Waverly's trophies, and does not look over her shoulder when she is practicing chess. Lindo shows lack of care for chess; however, Waverly's successes in tournaments decline. Waverly is able to win her mother at the price of her chess career. The "battle" between Waverly and Lindo is equivalent to Harry Potter fighting Voldemort. Although Lindo proves to be better at playing psychological "games" and manipulating the situation, Waverly demonstrates that she has inherited the "power" from her mother. Therefore, Wavely's intuitive power of manipulation advocates that she is an American translation of Lindo.

Genetics cannot be hidden. Although Lindo and Waverly grew up in totally different backgrounds and generations, Waverly raised in America and Lindo in China, they both are very similar in their competitive attitudes and their ability to play psychological “games” to manipulate the situation.