Rules of the Game | Cultural Identity

Poquette has a bachelor’s degree in English and specializes in writing about literature. In the following essay, Poquette discusses Waverly Jong’s struggles with her cultural identity during her coming of age as a Chinese American in Amy Tan’s ‘‘Rules of the Game.’’

One of the primary themes in Tan’s The Joy Luck Club is the conflict in identity that Chinese Americans face when growing up with influences from both cultures. In a review in Newsweek, Dorothy Wang writes that Tan’s ‘‘insights into the complexities of being a hyphenated American, connected by blood and bonds to another culture and country, have found a much wider audience than Tan had ever imagined.’’ The other major theme in the novel is the conflict between mothers and daughters. As Denise Chong notes, ‘‘These moving and powerful stories share the irony, pain,...

[The entire page is 2747 words long]

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