The Joy Luck Club Waverly Jong Quotes

Waverly Jong

Quote 10

In my head, I saw a chessboard with sixty-four black and white squares. Opposite me was my opponent, two angry black slits. She wore a triumphant smile. "Strongest wind cannot be seen," she said. (II.1.76)

Waverly conceives of her mother as an enemy.

Waverly Jong

Quote 11

And my mother loved to show me off, like one of the many trophies she polished. She used to discuss my games as if she had devised the strategies.

"I told my daughter, Use your horses to run over the enemy," she informed one shopkeeper. "She won very quickly this way. And of course, she had said this before the game – that a hundred other useless things that had nothing to do with my winning. (III.2.12)

Lindo is very proud of her daughter and likes to feel as though she had a hand in her daughter’s success – and likely she has. Waverly, however, doesn’t appreciate her mom’s claims on her success – she wants to feel like her victories are completely her own.

Waverly Jong

Quote 12

And looking at the coat in the mirror, I couldn’t fend off the strength of her will anymore, her ability to make me see black where there was once white, white where there was once black. The coat looked shabby, an imitation of romance. (III.2.34)

Waverly is looking for comfort and approval from her mother, not guidance or opinions. Lindo, however, seems to feel the need to provide brutal honesty.