Question

read the excerpt below from the joy luck club by amy tan and then answer the question.

excerpt:
\in her hands, i always became the pawn. i could only run away. and she was the queen, able to move in all directions, relentless in her pursuit, always able to find my weakest spot.\

which literary device does tan use to enhance her narrative?

personification
metaphor
allusion

Explanation:

🆕 New Concept Discovered: Literary Devices
Comparing two unlike things directly without using "like" or "as".

Step 1: Analyze the excerpt

The excerpt reads:

"In her hands, I always became the pawn. I could only run away. And she was the queen, able to move in all directions, relentless in her pursuit, always able to find my weakest spot."

In this passage, the narrator directly compares herself to a "pawn" and her mother to a "queen" (chess pieces) to describe their power dynamic.

Step 2: Define the literary options

• Personification: Giving human characteristics to non-human things. (Not present here, as both subjects are human).
• Metaphor: A direct comparison between two unrelated things by stating that one thing is another (without using "like" or "as"). Here, the narrator states "I always became the pawn" and "she was the queen."
• Allusion: An indirect reference to a well-known person, place, event, or literary work. (While chess is a known game, comparing oneself directly to the pieces functions primarily as a direct symbolic comparison).

Step 3: Match the device to the text

Because the text directly equates the characters to chess pieces ("I... became the pawn" and "she was the queen") to explain their relationship, the author is using a metaphor.

Answer:

Metaphor