Sources of Motivation: Internal Versus External in ‘The Joy Luck Club’  Essay Sample

Amy Tan’s novel, The Joy Luck Club, is a story about the relationships between Chinese immigrant mothers and their American-born daughters. The novel explores the ways in which the daughters struggle to find their identities as they grow up in a new country. In the novel, Waverly Jong, a chess prodigy, is driven by her passion for the game in order to become successful. However, as she becomes more well-known, the pressure from others to continue to win causes her to break under pressure. When Waverly is first introduced to chess, she is motivated to learn more about the game because of her interest in it. She loves the secrets she finds within the sixty-four black and white squares, and