Analysis—Introduction, “Rules of the Game,” & “The
Voice from the Wall”
The opening parable of “The Twenty-six Malignant Gates”
presents the universal struggle between children and parents over
issues of independence—the struggle over when a child should obey
and admit her parent’s wisdom versus when a parent should let go
and allow the child to discover life for herself. The girl’s mother demands
adherence to certain tenets, but she refuses to give any justification
for her demands, merely making vague reference to a book that her
daughter cannot read because it is in Chinese. Although, to the
daughter, the mother’s warnings seem little more than superstition
or modes of manipulation used to control her, her fall on her bicycle
demonstrates the mother’s almost uncanny wisdom. At the same time,
however, because the mother put the idea of falling into her daughter’s
head, the mother’s prediction may become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Whether or not the mother’s warnings and restrictions signify a
supernatural prescience, the daughter realizes, in her fall, that
the dangers her mother fears can often be quite real. As in many
of the stories in the novel, the mother’s seeming tyranny or severity
in fact speaks to her deep love for her daughter and her concern
for her daughter’s well-being.
Like the little girl in the parable, Waverly Jong attempts
to defy her mother. She clashes with Lindo because she misunderstands
her mother’s pride in her achievements. Waverly wants chess to be strictly
her own achievement, part of her own separate identity. When her
mother hovers over her during her practice sessions, she feels invaded,
as though her mother is somehow taking credit for what Waverly sees
as her own personal strength. Moreover, Waverly is embarrassed by
her mother’s bragging and desire to show her off. In Waverly’s next
story, “Four Directions,” she continues the story of her chess playing
and relates that she eventually realized that her mother’s pride
actually functioned as an invisible support.
Although Waverly would probably be loath to admit it,
her story connects thematically with her mother’s (“The Red Candle”).
One of the most enduring things Lindo teaches Waverly is “the art
of invisible strength.” Waverly uses the wind as a metaphor for
this invisible strength, thus aligning herself with the same element
her mother had identified with when facing her arranged marriage
in China. Waverly’s success with chess owes in part to her ability
to gain strength through the strategically timed concealment and
disclosure of secrets. This same ability was what allowed Lindo,
many years before, to escape from her marriage. When Lindo learned
of the servant girl’s pregnancy she told no one, announcing the
news at just the time she could use the revelation to her own advantage. When
she lashes out at her mother, Waverly breaks her own rule. She essentially
puts herself “in check” by revealing her secret weakness, her insecurities
about her mother and her need to believe that her chess talent is
hers alone.
While Waverly’s story testifies to the strengths of hidden
truths and silences, Lena’s story demonstrates their dangers. Lena’s mother,
Ying-ying, lives in perpetual fear of unnamed dangers. She bequeaths
her paranoia to her daughter by telling her stories, such as the
one about Lena’s great-grandfather, who had sentenced a beggar to
death. According to legend, the ghost of the beggar later appeared
to him, saying that in the instants preceding death he consoled
himself with the thought that these final terrors would constitute
the worst miseries he would ever suffer. But he was mistaken, he says:
he has found that “the worst is on the other side.” With these words,
the ghost grabbed Lena’s great-grandfather and pulled him through
the wall into the land of the dead, in order to demonstrate what
he meant. Both Lena and Ying-ying live in constant fear that “the
worst” will invade their homes, snatch them from happiness, and
pull them into agony.
Lena thus always anticipates the worst from all situations.
We witness this cynicism in her story of her own wall. When Lena
hears Teresa and her mother fighting through the wall of her bedroom,
she imagines that someone is being killed, that a mother is taking
her daughter’s life. Night after night, Lena listens to the fighting
and, not knowing exactly what is happening, she imagines the worst
possibility. After Lena speaks with Teresa, she realizes that the
Sorcis’ shouting matches are their way of communicating with each
other and expressing their love. Lena learns that reality does not
always conform to one’s most terrible fears. Although Lena has always feared
what lies beyond her wall, she realizes that the worse set of circumstances
may lie on the St. Clairs’ side of the partition.
The tranquillity and silence of the St. Clairs’ household
keeps the family in a state of perpetual doubt and timidity. Lena
and her father seem to fear that by probing too deeply into Ying-ying’s
fears and sorrows they might expose some unbearable horror. Thus,
when Ying-ying lies like a statue on her bed after the baby’s death, acknowledging
no one, Lena’s father says, “She’s just tired,” although both father
and daughter know that the problem is much more serious. Similarly,
when Lena asks her mother why she constantly rearranges the furniture,
she does so only out of a feeling of duty; she in fact fears to
receive a truthful answer.
