The story Four directions by Amy Tan has a very interesting theme.

This theme, which is

expressed through the life and development of a young girl. When first reading this
storynitially, the reader might thin! that it is about a girl who has lost the gift of playing chess
li!e a prodigy. but Aafter reading the whole story, the reader reali"es that the focus is not on the
the girl does not only loose lost her gift but on something more profound and meaningful# , her
the transition from an innocent child to an adolescent., the actual focus of this story. This essay
will analy"e the conflict between a mother and a daughter $,narrator% whowho is the narrator of
the story and considers how employs chess is used as a metaphor. Finally, the way in which
coming of age is revealed as the ma&or theme will be examined.
The plot of Four 'irections is centered on a the conflict and power struggle between the
mother and daughter. The mother brags about how well her daughter plays chess, she and is
proud of how easy it is for her daughter(s to win dexterity. The mother thin!s that by being
eager, )he says these things so she can be involved in her daughter(s life. *owever, the The
daughter ta!es this the wrong way and + she says that believes her mother is &ust trying to ta!e all
the credit when she says. told her she didn(t !now anything so she shouldn(t show off, shut
up $Tan ,.-.%. The mother then stops tal!ing to her daughter, treats her as if she ishad become
invisible and implies that the daughter is tal!ed about a rotten fish she had thrown away, but
which had left behind its bad smell $Tan ,.-.%.
The author uses this the metaphor of the rotten fish and the bad smell to show illustrate the
that the daughter is upset about the conflict. The use of rotten fish and bad smell ergo,
emphasi"inge the negative feelings the daughter has about her motherboth have at this point.
The daughter usesthen uses a chess strategy as she would in chess to try to get her mother to tal!
to her, but fails as a lot of time passes elapses and they are still not tal!ing to each otherspea!ing.
The daughter refuses to play chess, thin!ing this will ma!e compell her mother to tal! her out of
sacrificing a tournament. )he shows independence from her parents and in the end, accepts the
barrier her mother has createds a barrier against her daughterby saying+ she no longer hovered
over me as practiced different chess games. )he did not polish my trophies everyday $Tan
,.-,%. The protective and caring mother that was always there for her daughter is no longer
there.has disappeared and Tthe daughter thought thatreali"es that her mother has changed, but it
is really the narrator $daughter% who through this experience, is growing up and developing.