in a pink frilly dress?  No wonder he’s sweating!  The author compares Waverly to a girl on a bus, as if she has nothing in the world to worry about but getting where she is trying to go. 

Another example of how a simile is used to create the mood is when Waverly has had a fight with her mother, and she uses a simile to describe the lights shining out of her apartment.

The alley was quiet and I could see the yellow lights shining from our flat like two tiger's eyes in the night.

In this case, she is imagining the difficulty of coming home.  She has told her mother that she does not want to be used as a trophy any more.  She does not want to be her mother’s tool.  She knows that things will be difficult between them, and she does not know what awaits her, but she knows it will be unpleasant.  This is why her imagination gets the better of her, and the author expresses this in a simile.

Figurative language can create a world of images for the reader, and really help immerse the reader in the story.  As you see, they help create the mood, and help characterize the people too.  We learned a lot about Waverly and her mother, and their relationship, from these two similes.  There are other similes in the story also!

Similes are phrases that an author uses to compare one thing to another. They're typically used to create imagery or a sense of lyricism within the writing, and they can often be identified by the author's use of like or as. This distinguishes them from metaphors, in which one concept is expressed as a direct stand-in for the other.

In "Rules of the Game," Amy Tan uses similes to evoke her vivid memories of her childhood. A subtle example appears early in the narrative:

Personification is a literary device used to give human characteristics to something that is not human. Writers use this technique for variety of purposes, from irony to imagery to tone.

After her brother receives a chess set for Christmas, Waverley learns how to play and becomes quite good. When her brother will no longer play with her, she finds opponents outside her home and gets even better. Eventually, she decides to participate in a local chess tournament, but her mother, concerned that Waverley will fail and bring shame to the family, warns her that she will be shamed if she "falls down [and] nobody push[es]" her.

As Waverly is called to compete, she notes that "the color ran out of the room." In this example of personification, the abstract concept of color is given the ability to flee from sight. This sets a tone that reflects Waverley's primary objective: to move black and white chess pieces strategically. No other colors matter. This world of winning and losing is only black and white.

Later Waverly faces an opponent who is an old man. She says that "his sweaty brow seemed to weep at my every move." In this example of personification, the man's brow is given the human ability to cry. This implies Waverly's masterful control of her situation: she is a little girl who can make old men "cry" through her masterful control of a chess board.

Personification is the use of figurative language in which something nonhuman is described using human traits or characteristics. This is similar to anthropomorphism. The main difference is that, with anthropomorphism, the nonhuman entity (animal, object, idea, etc.) actually takes on the human attribute. (A good example of this is in Animal Farm, in which the animals actually speak.)

The wind is the key symbolic element being personified in this story. Note that at the beginning, we get the first lesson from Waverly's mother:

Strongest wind cannot be seen.

Waverly will learn to be silent and strong like this wind.

As mentioned in a previous answer, the wind whispers secrets only Waverly can hear. In this, her first tournament, she wins her first match. After saying Check, "the wind roared with laughter." The wind is personified as laughing with Waverly's victory. This is the same wind whispering chess secrets and strategies to her. The wind is on her side.

At the end of the story, Waverly goes to her room and imagines a chessboard. Her mother sits across from her and utters the same phrase:

Strongest wind cannot be seen.

Waverly personifies her white chess pieces:

My white pieces screamed as they scurried and fell off the board one by one.

As her mother's chess pieces continue to advance, Waverly feels like she's losing. Then she notes feeling lighter and is pushed up by the wind away from everything below. She uses the wind to escape, a metaphorical tactic she might use in chess or with her mother in the future. The story ends with Waverly pondering her next move, and this undoubtedly refers to her mental chess game with her mother.

Personification is a type of figurative language in which a writer gives a nonhuman subject human characteristics. In the story "Rules of the Game" (an excerpt from the novel The Joy Luck Club), Waverly, the first person narrator, often speaks figuratively in the description of her life growing up in San Francisco's Chinatown. For example, she uses personification when she describes the pigeons which she sees in the playground near the alley where she lives: "old country people sat cracking roasted watermelon seeds with their golden teeth and scattering the husks to an impatient gathering of gurgling pigeons." Impatience is usually a quality reserved for humans so by describing the pigeons as impatient as they wait for food is personification. Another example of personification occurs when Waverly is describing the chess board which her brother Vincent received as a present at the church Christmas party: "The chess board seemed to hold elaborate secrets waiting to be untangled." Again, holding secrets is definitely a human endeavor so Waverly is again personifying a nonhuman object, in this case, the chess board. 

First things first: in order to answer this question, we need to define personification. In a nutshell, personification is giving human attributes to nonhuman entities. For example, if an author refers to "trees dancing in the breeze," we know that trees do not actually dance. However, their movement in the breeze is being described through personification.

One of my favorite examples of personification in "Rules of the Game" is when the protagonist is watching Vincent and Winston play a game of chess.

The chessboard seemed to hold elaborate secrets waiting to be untangled.

Of course, a chess board is an inanimate object that cannot hold secrets. However, the use of personification makes the chessboard immensely interesting. As it is now a holder of secrets, the reader naturally wants to read on to find out what happens.

A second example of personification can be found when the protagonist plays her first tournament. As she takes on her opponent, a light wind picks up.

It whispered secrets only I could hear.

It goes without saying that a breeze cannot actually whisper secrets. This figure of speech helps to create an exciting atmosphere and engage the reader in the story.

Shortly after the wind "whisper[s] secrets," there comes another example of personification involving the wind.

"Check," I said, as the wind roared with laughter.

Wind, of course, cannot roar with laughter, but this use of personification helps to increase the levels of excitement in the story as the protagonist moves towards victory, both in the game and in the tournament.

A metaphor is a type of figurative language where two unlike things are compared by saying that one is the other.  Metaphors are used by authors to add color to the story and to better help the reader understand what the author is trying to say.

"Strongest wind cannot be seen"

Waverly’s mother tries to teach her the value of being quiet and strong to get what you want.  She teaches her this lesson by not buying her treats when she asks for them, but only when she is quiet in the store. 

"Bite back your tongue," scolded my mother when I cried loudly, yanking her hand toward the store that sold bags of salted plums. At home, she said, "Wise guy, he not go against wind. In Chinese we say, Come from South, blow with wind-poom!-North will follow. Strongest wind cannot be seen."

It is a lesson that also applies to chess.  Waverly’s mother tries to help her psych out her opponents by being quiet and studying their moves.

"I bit back my tongue"

Another example of a metaphor is a common idiom, or figure of speech.  An idiom is a common expression used by many people.

The next week I bit back my tongue as we entered the store with the forbidden candies.

To say that you bite your tongue means that you do not say anything.  The image is of biting your tongue so that you won’t talk.  This phrase is related to the metaphor above.  Waverly bit her tongue by not asking for treats.

"The alley was crammed with adventures"

Another example of a metaphor is used to describe the fun that Waverly and her siblings have playing in the alley by their apartment.

The best playground, however, was the dark alley itself. It was crammed with daily mysteries and adventures.

Of course “mysteries and adventures” are not actual things, and so they cannot cram the alleyway.  What Waverly means is that they had a lot of fun in the alley because there were interesting shops around it. The alley was fun to play in.

Personification is a literary technique in which a written word provides non-human entities with human characteristics.

Waverly describes how her mother would twist her thick black hair into two tight pigtails before school each morning, using the hard comb to brush through her "disobedient hair." Here, Tan is giving human intention to Waverly's hair; it provides the hair with the agency to resist being combed to indicate how tough it is to brush.

When Waverly's brother Vincent receives the used chess set for Christmas at the church party, their mother instructs Vincent and Winston to throw away the set. Waverley then describes her brothers as having "deaf ears" to indicate that they did not listen to their mother and kept the set.

Waverley then describes how fascinated she is with the chessboard, which she claims "hold[s] elaborate secrets waiting to be untangled." Waverley is giving the chess set human characteristics, namely, the ability to keep secrets; it is not merely a toy or game to her but something that seems to possess some measure of agency.

When an author personifies something, she's giving human qualities to something that isn't human. (Saying that the rain is screaming, for example, is personification: rain can't really scream; it's something that humans do, but by saying that it is, you're adding interest and imagination to your description.)

Tan's use of personification, in particular, is one of the tools that brings her stories to vivid life. Let's check out some examples from "Rules of the Game."

“A light wind began blowing past my ears. It whispered secrets only I could hear.”

Here, Tan personifies the wind, saying that it whispers secrets to Waverly. In this passage, this use of personification conveys the excitement and magic of Waverly’s chess victory being described.

“Seated across from me was an American man, about the same age as Lau Po, maybe fifty. I remember that his sweaty brow seemed to weep at my every move.”

In this description, Waverly’s grown-up American chess opponent has a sweaty forehead that “weeps.” This use of figurative language helps us see not just the visual image of the sweating forehead, but also the sad distress of the chess player who’s being beaten by a little girl.

“Her lips would be sealed tight, and after each move I made, a soft ‘Hmmmmph’ would escape from her nose.”

Waverly describes her mother in this way, saying that the disapproving sound would “escape” from her mother’s nose. By presenting the sound of annoyance and criticism as something that can, like a person, work its way free from restraint, Tan not only characterizes Waverly’s mom as a deeply controlling person but also artfully touches on the theme of the need for personal freedom and escape.

Personification is a literary device in which human attributes are applied to an animal, idea, or inanimate object. Authors utilize personification to help readers relate the actions of nonhuman objects to our own feelings and emotions. Personification also contributes an aesthetically pleasing element to the writing and can capture readers' imaginations.

Amy Tan employs personification several times in her short story "Rules of the Game." Waverly Jong, the protagonist of the story, is a local chess prodigy who is renowned throughout her community. During Waverly's first chess tournament, she competes against a fifteen-year-old boy from Oakland and utilizes the art of invisible strength to defeat her opponent. During the chess match, Waverly recalls Lau Po's strategies and mentions,

"A light wind began blowing past my ears. It whispered secrets only I could hear" (Tan, 4).

The light wind is being personified as it whispers into Waverly's ear. The wind is an inanimate object, which is given the human attribute of speech. Later in the story, Waverly competes against an older American man and says,

"Seated across from me was an American man, about the same age as Lau Po, maybe fifty. I remember that his sweaty brow seemed to weep at my every move" (Tan, 4).

The man's brow is being personified as it seems to weep with every move he makes. Her opponent's brow is given the human attribute of emotional expression, which is why its actual function—sweating—is envisioned as weeping. By personifying the brow, Tan is able to describe the man's perspiration in a way that is personally significant to the protagonist.

A simile is a comparison between two things. Similes most often use the words "like" or "as." If you're looking for similes, look for these two words. 

When Meimei is learning how to play chess, she says "tactics between two adversaries are like clashing ideas." When two people play chess, each person has a strategy (tactics). Meimei imagines the two strategies as ideas battling it out. The best idea, or the clearest strategy will win. Part of Meimei's strategy will be her "invisible strength." That is, she will not reveal what her strategy is in words, gestures, or mannerisms. 

In discussing her mannerisms while playing a tournament game, Meimei explains that she would "swing my patent leather shoes back and forth like an impatient child riding on a school bus." Although playing in a chess tournament, she would behave like a child on a bus. This is all part of her strategy of keeping her opponents guessing. 

A simile can also use "as if" in making a comparison. Meimei notes that she would "twirl my chosen piece in midair as if undecided." 

When Meimei runs away from her mother, she is upset and out of breath. She narrates, "My breath came out like angry smoke." It is cold outside, so she can see her breath. She compares it to angry smoke because she is upset. Possibly, she is comparing her icy breath to the smoke from an angry dragon.