In "Two Kinds," what does Waverly's mother suggest about her expectations in the two places she appears in the story? What does the word "luck"...

Auntie Lindo Jong, Waverly's mother, is a good friend of the mother of the narrator, Jing-mei. Jing-mei's mother, Mrs. Jong, Mrs. Hsu, and Mrs. St. Clair are members of a four-person card club called the Joy Luck Club that turned into a social group. Waverly, who has become a sensation for being a grade school chess champion, stands as a challenge to Jing-mei in the sense that Jing-mei's mother feels the need to keep up...

Auntie Lindo Jong, Waverly's mother, is a good friend of the mother of the narrator, Jing-mei. Jing-mei's mother, Mrs. Jong, Mrs. Hsu, and Mrs. St. Clair are members of a four-person card club called the Joy Luck Club that turned into a social group. Waverly, who has become a sensation for being a grade school chess champion, stands as a challenge to Jing-mei in the sense that Jing-mei's mother feels the need to keep up with her friend by having a child who is a prodigy. Mrs. Jong uses a backhanded way of bragging about Waverly, saying she has no time to do anything but dust off all the trophies Waverly has won for chess tournaments. Jing-mei's mother, according to Auntie Lindo, is lucky not to have such a problem. This suggests that Auntie Lindo believes Waverly is more successful than the family can even handle--a hyperbole, of course. Nevertheless, it implies that there is no limit to Waverly's successes, especially since she has gotten off to such an overwhelming start at such a young age. After Jing-mei flubs her piano piece at the talent show, Auntie Lindo says only, "Lots of talented kids," and smiles at everyone, in a polite but pointed attempt to gloss over Jing-mei's failure. Auntie Lindo no doubt feels increasingly confident in Waverly's superiority after having seen Jing-mei's mistake-ridden performance.

The use of the words "luck" and "lucky" in the story are ironic, since Jing-mei's mother obviously believes that hard work is what creates success, not raw talent. Auntie Lindo's remarks imply the opposite, namely that success is related to talent, which comes from "luck." Whether Auntie Lindo really believes that success comes from luck or whether she is just saying so to either make Jing-mei's mother feel better or even to irk her is unclear.