Rules of the Game & The Voice From the Wall

These two stories differ from the ones we have read so far because they touch upon subjects we haven’t heard about yet. In Rules of the Game, we learn how Waverly became a world-champion chess player and all the ups and downs she and her family went through getting there. In The Voice From the Wall, Lena hears her very loud next door neighbors fighting, screaming, and crying. She is incredibly shocked at their outrageous behavior because her whole life all she has heard in her household was hardly anything at all. Both stories deal with young children rebelling against their parents in order to feel a sense of independence. In the first story, Waverly comes to despise her mother and her eagerness at making her the very best chess player and her incessant bragging towards her friends. In the second story, the character who seems to stick out the most is the girl next door who gets into screaming matches with her mother, gets kicked out, and then sneaks back in again. This is one of the more obvious cases of teenage defiance, but I believe Lena is going through some of that herself, just on a quieter level. Lena’s mother is not quite right in the head, and when she translates to her father, she often changes what her mother says to make her seem like a less crazy person. She also comforts herself with the idea that at least the girl next door is a little more miserable that her. Lindo and Waverly have similar issues in their childhood, being forced to do something your not sure you really want to do. Ying-Ying and Lena both had the sense of being invisible in their stories, not being noticed by anyone when they need it the most.