The Twenty-Six Malignant Gates

What is Amy Tan's purpose behind this introductory piece? What thematic elements, characterization, or plot foreshadowing connect it to the stories that follow, particularly "Rules of the Game" and "The Voice from the Wall"?

There are a lot of things that Amy Tan foreshadows in her introductory piece. In the introductory piece, a little girl is told by her mother to not do something, but the girl is too headstrong and does it anyway. Because of that, they girl got hurt and has to learn things the hard way instead of the easy way. In the story “Rules of the Game”, Waverly Jong acts like the girl in the introductory piece. In the beginning of the chapter, she does almost everything that her mother tells her to do, 

“The next week, I bit back my tongue as we entered the shop with the forbidden candies. When my mother finished shopping, she quietly plucked a small bag of plums from the rack and put it on the counter with the test of the items.(Pg 89). 

This was a time when she listened to her mom, and so she did not get hurt and she got treats for what she did. However, later on in the story, she disobeys her mom and things get bad for her. For example, in the later parts of the story, she decided to run away from home because she is so angry about how her mom controls everything that happens in her life. Later during the day, she eventually decided to come back come and meet her family again. 

“Standing there waiting for my punishment, I heard my mother speak in a dry voice. “we not concerning this girl. This girl not have concerning for us.” Nobody looked at me. Bone chopsticks clinked against the insides of the bowls being emptied into hungry mouths.” (Pg 100) 

However, the damage had already been done to her family relationships and she had to learn the hard way that there were some things, if they happen, then they will hurt your life and your relationships irrevocably, and your life will never be the same again.