I think the students and I both need some rest. That said, I will be spending a good many hours over the break grading their written pieces. Section 1 gave me a large packet. Sections 3 and 4 wrote about the topic below.
Long Answer Question for Rules of the Game
How do authors create characters that
readers connect with in order to learn about themselves and others?
In Rules of the Game, Amy Tan created two
characters we could relate to- Mrs. Jong and Waverly, her 9 year-old daughter.
The conflict of the story comes from the tension between the mother, who was
raised in China, and Waverly, who was born in the United States. Amy Tan presents the two characters as
opponents in the chess match of life, with the mother ultimately winning by the
end of the story; Waverly’s independence and escape from her mother is
check-mated by her domineering mother.
At
first read, it is easy to see that Waverly is the protagonist and her mother is
the antagonist: Waverly’s mother interferes with her hopes and dreams. But are the characters deeper than this? Is Mrs. Jong a bad mother? Is Waverly a good child? Could Waverly be a bad child and her mother
is simply responding to her daughter’s actions?
Question 1
(about 300 – 400 words)
Using
the character study sheets you have filled out on Mrs. Jong and Waverly, take a
position on who is causing the tension in the story. Is it all one, all the other, or maybe
both? Use multiple examples from the
sheet. Explain the characters by
discussing the actions they do, the words the say, the reactions of others, and
the descriptions given by the writer.
Question 2
(about 150 words)
What
did you learn about yourself or others from these two characters?
