Character Analysis
We don't actually learn Waverly's mom's name in this story, but if you read the rest of The Joy Luck Club, you'll be properly introduced. Plus you'll hear a whole bunch of details about what happened to her when she was a girl in China. For the purposes of "Rules of the Game," though, she's just Mom, and her traits are limited to what we read here.
Tiger Mom
Mom's basically a well-meaning control freak. In the interest of preparing them for the big world, she manipulates her children into doing what she thinks is best. Her daughter, Waverly, tries to give Mom the benefit of the doubt:
My mother imparted her daily truths so she could help my older brothers and me rise above our circumstances. (3)
That's right—Mom's dropping truth bombs "daily," which means she doesn't exactly have a light touch. Generally, Mom spends a lot of time putting down her children, like when "She sat proudly on the bench, telling my admirers with proper Chinese humility, 'Is luck'" (34). Even when Waverly wins, her mom tells her, "Next time win more, lose less" (41)—winning alone isn't good enough.
Mom even begins to treat Waverly's accomplishments as something that reflects on her own value, like when they go out shopping and she introduces her daughter to total strangers. The miscommunication that follows creates a schism between Mom and her daughter, one that drives Waverly into the loving arms of the nearby trash-strewn alleyway.
Let's face it—Mom's micromanaging pretty much drives the story forward. Her actions give Waverly's life some conflict, as well as both causing her to gain and lose some very important things.
Mom "encourages" her daughter by first ignoring Waverly's skills, even though the kid is clearly awesome at chess. When Waverly continues her winning streak, Mom finally boards the Waverly train, only to tell everyone except Waverly how awesome Waverly is. The pressure finally gets to Waverly and she snaps, running off. But when she returns home, instead of greeting her with kindness, Waverly's entire family—at Mom's instruction—ignores her. Remember that Waverly is only nine.
The Non-Communicator
Tan has a clever way of giving Mom some character while stressing the lack of communication between her and Waverly. Mom speaks in broken English, and sometimes it's hard to tell exactly what she means, such as when she dismisses the "American" (24) rules in chess. Is she saying that chess has different rules in America than China? Perhaps she means that the tournament rules are different? It's muddled, and that's kind of the point: Mom isn't American.
Mom's immigrant status means she may be having trouble coping with life in the U.S. Her control over her daughter might even be a way of coping with this reality—if she can control her American daughter, perhaps she can control her American experience. Importantly, though, Mom's broken English reminds us of the space between her and Waverly, space that is partially created by Mom's manipulative ways, but perhaps also stems from different socio-cultural perspectives and experiences.
The lack of communication definitely throws up walls between mother and daughter. Mom's broken English becomes a sign of her troubled communication with her daughter, and by extension, highlights the differences between an immigrant and a child born to that immigrant. It's hard enough to communicate across generations; for Mom, she has just that much more turf separating her from her children.