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Definition of Motif
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of related symbols, help develop the central themes of a book... read full definition
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of related symbols, help develop the... read full definition
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of... read full definition
Part 3, Chapter 2: Four Directions
Explanation and Analysis—Strategy:
Strategy is a fixture of The Joy Luck Club, in which mothers and daughters wage tactical warfare against each other. In Waverly’s narrative, a donated chessboard from church changes her world. She falls in love with the “secrets” contained in the squares, triumphs over one adversary after another, and carves a growing reputation for herself. Chess vaults her to the front page of Life magazine, just as it escalates tensions with her mother. Lindo’s pride becomes obnoxious. Waverly’s annoyance comes across as arrogance. What follows is a strategic struggle—when Lindo gives Waverly the silent treatment, she turns to the chessboard for answers in Part 3, Chapter 2:
And after staring like this for many hours, I actually believed that I had made the white squares black and the black squares white, and everything would be all right.
Chess becomes less a literal game than a loose metaphor for the scheming that Lindo and Waverly engage in. Lindo holds her peace and Waverly quits chess. Waverly stumbles in her chess matches to her mother’s smug satisfaction. One side plots and the other counters in a conflict that soon spills into the realm of haircuts, marriage, and lifestyle. “I always became the pawn,” Waverly explains, while Lindo “was the queen.”
More broadly, this dynamic of scheming and retaliation applies itself beyond Waverly’s own narrative. Almost every mother-daughter relationship seems to resemble a game of chess: Jing-Mei resists her mother’s proddings by dropping piano practice and, later, college. Lena tries to sidestep Ying-Ying’s prophecies by starving herself, tactfully disclosing her relationship with Harold. The Joy Luck Club members’ situations may vary from one narrative to the next, but the basic squares—and struggle—remain the same.
Related Themes:
