The most interesting element in the short story “Rules of the Game” by Amy Tan is the characters. The story is completely focused on Meimei and how her life changes when she discovers the game of chess. Meimei´s mother is the architect behind Meimei’s success, although she does not know how to play chess. Meimei is the chess player, but her mother is playing a far more serious game, using Meimei as a puppet to prove the superiority of the Chinese people.

Even though the reader gets to know Meimei, there are very few references to her physical appearance. As to her mother, there is only one reference to her appearance at the end of the story.

There are a lot of other characters in the story, but you never get to know them. They seem like diffuse phantoms moving around in an inspired and detailed description of San Francisco’s Chinatown.

Throughout the story the author avoids describing the minor characters, which leaves them as anonymous as chess pieces. In this way the reader cannot expect any of them to interfere with the plot and the relationship between Meimei and her mother, which enables the author to tell the story at a faster pace. The author conce

The author’s effectiveness in painting the portrait of Meimei’s mother is striking. We do not have the slightest idea what she looks like, her age or how she dresses. Thus it is almost impossible for the reader to visualize her while reading the story.

The author uses very few words to describe the characters. In this way the author can concentrate on the plot, which enables her to carry the story forward at a faster pace. The only thing of importance is the main characters, Meimei and her mother, and their relationship. Actually not even the game of chess is of any importance. The author could have used just any game, for example Chinese checkers.

ntrates on the two main characters. She only uses the minor characters when it’s necessary to bring the story forward.

Some topics in this essay:
Church Meimei, Lau Po, Chinatown Throughout, Meimei Chinese, San Francisco, Amy Tan, , chinese community, Hopalong Cassidy, game chess, story forward, play chess, story meimei, invisible strength, minor characters, meimei’s success, learn play, meimei’s mother, art invisible strength, superiority chinese people, chinatown section san, section san francisco, play chess meimei,