Get I Was Six When My Mother Taught Me The Art Of Invisible Strength

As she wiped each piece with a soft cloth, she said, "Next time win more, lose less." "Ma, it's not how many pieces you lose," I said. "Sometimes you need to lose pieces to get ahead." "Better to lose less, see if you really need."

Waverly's mother uses the art of invisible strength as a "strategy for winning arguments, respect from others, and eventually.. chess games". Tan uses the symbol of chess to express the theme of invisible strength. Amy tan expresses Waverly's life to be similar to a chess game with many rules and decisions.

From her mother, Waverly inherits her “invisible strength”—her ability to conceal her thoughts and strategize. Although she applies these to chess as a child, she later turns them on her mother, Lindo, as well, imagining her struggles with her mother as a tournament.

Lindo's daughter Waverly Jong says that when she was six, her mother taught her “the art of invisible strength,” a lesson that helped her to become a child chess prodigy.

How did Waverly's mother demonstrate the art of invisible strength? Waverly's mom demonstrates the art of invisible strength by showing self-control. She gives the daughter the kind of candy she wants instead of what the daughter wants. How did Waverly learn to play expert chess?

The "art of invisible strength" is self-control. Waverly likens it to the wind, invisible yet powerful beyond belief. The wind can whip up fierce storms and flatten entire communities, yet leave no trace of its presence. In its power and invisibility, it is the strongest of opponents.

Waverly, however, is young; she has not realized that as her mother teaches her the "art of invisible strength," Mrs. Jong is equipping Waverly with the very tools she needs to win the battles of life that she will encounter when she grows up. The "art of invisible strength" is self-control.