Amy Tan Two Kinds Literary Analysis

Incompatible Interracial relationships are difficult to maintain in the United States because of differences in cultural upbringing as well as racism and xenophobia. The book The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan focuses on four Chinese mothers who describe their past hardships and adjustment to the United States as well as their relationships with their American born daughters. The mothers try to save their children from experiencing the same things that they have been through. In the book, there are a few interracial couples such as Rose Hsu and Ted, Waverly Jong and Rich, and Ying Ying St.Clair and her husband Clifford. They all have trouble loving and understanding each other.

Differences between people have been around since the begin of mankind, they have started great disasters such as every war ever started, deaths, and sometimes disappears. In the nonfiction passage Confetti Girl, by Diana Lopez, and the nonfiction text from Tortilla Sun, by Jennifer Cervantes, both the narrator's point of views differ from those of their parents, therefore creating conflict between each other. In Confetti Girl, the narrator is the little girl that feels her father is ignoring her because he cares too much about literature. In Tortilla Sun the other little girl feels her mother cares only about getting her degree and is not concerned about the needs of the girl. In Diana’s story the tension is created when the girl is not treated the way she was used to, and when her father is not listening to her conversation, in Jennifer’s story tension rises when things don't go the right way, and when bad news is given.

“Divergent perceptions and absence of a common language of communication ... they fail to fathom each other’s feelings and likes and dislikes” (Priya). Miscommunication between people creates rifts and lays pretense for tension and dispassion. Without communication, people become impatient and disassociate. “They see daughters who grow impatient when their mothers talk in Chinese, who think they are stupid when they explain things in fractured English”(Tan 31).

Troy is controlling and often verbally abusive to his family members because he lacks a sense of control in other areas of his life, he is unable to achieve his dream of becoming a pro-baseball player or advance in his career and this makes him feel inadequate. Troy’s wife Rose represents a stereotypical mother and dutiful wife role. Rose has two disadvantages in her life because she is not only African American, she is also a woman and in some ways she is the wife you would expect during the 1950s era. Rose however, is not weak minded because she recognizes how times have changed and this what makes Troy and Rose so drastically different throughout the play. Their contrasting ideologies represent two different aspects of the “African American Experience” by showing a major question many African Americans faced during the 1950s and that is: “are times really changing?.”

This caused her to alienate herself since her mother asked her to keep a part of herself hidden from the world by binding her and making sure no one found out she menstruated ealy (Anzaldúa 1983, 221). This will later isolate her further but ultimately lead her to reflect on the racism that surrounds her. In addition, Anzaldúa’s identity also suffer because she denied her heritage and the traditions that with it. She mentions that she felt ashamed of her mother and her loud tendencies, it is an archetype that most Hispanic mothers are loud by nature, and the fact that her lunches, or “lonches”, consisted

She is not proud of her life in America because she is forced to do things that her mother warned her against. She lives with a man with whom they are not married, and she hates it that the practice goes against the values that her mother taught her. On the other hand, in the story “Silver Pavements and Golden Roofs” a girl from

She has a strained relationship with her family. She does not get along with her mother or sister because she feels that they are jealous of her beauty. Because of this, childhood and adolescence are depicted as times of tribulation, innocence and terror in “Where Are You Going? Where Have You Been?

“I couldn't possibly tell anyone the truth: how worthless and ugly Niang made me feel most of the time…” (54). It is important because it supports the belief that Adeline feels despised by her family. This proves that Niang is seriously affecting her stepdaughter's feelings. Adeline is treated unfairly by her family, especially by her parents. In Chinese Cinderella, Adeline Yen Mah’s story about her childhood experiences, she suffered and she wasn't happy, but she always knew things would get better someday.

She simultaneously loves and resents her children because, while she is their mother, she feels that they have taken away her freedom and self-purpose. As Edna journeys in her awakening, she strives to find meaning for herself as Edna, not her children's mother. To prove she is more than just a mother, she distances herself from normal motherly responsibilities. “He reproached his wife with her inattention, her habitual neglect of the children. If it was not a mother's place to look after children, whose on earth was it?”(Chopin, 15) Edna's neglect of her children stems from others expectations for her to submit to and look after her

Mother Knows Best Often times in literature, character relationships change and evolve. “Two Kinds” written by Amy Tan, is a story about a daughter’s uncertain feelings toward her mother. Overtime, the mother-daughter relationship gets ruined when the daughter does not believe in her potential to be a child prodigy as strongly as her mother does. After an attentive analysis of the story, the reader is aware of how Jing-mei’s feelings toward her mother changes, why they did so, and how those changes affected the entire story.

Regardless of the efforts to blend into American culture, the girls realize that they do not seem to fully fit the mold of either culture. Specifically in “The Rudy Elmenhurst Story”, Yolanda states that “I saw what a cold, lonely life awaited me in this country. I would never find someone who would understand my peculiar mix of Catholicism and agnosticism, Hispanic and American styles.” (99). This passage is a pivotal moment in Yolanda’s life because it establishes the moment when love no longer has the same meaning as it did before.

Because of this, Yolanda is stuck in the middle. She does not know whether or not she should become completely American, or stick to her roots. She loves when she is called her real name instead of the “bastardized”, American version, but on the other hand, she hates the patriarchy that is part of the Dominican culture (81). The same goes for other many other things. Yolanda both hates and loves both of her cultures, but trying to fit in with both of them at the same time is too much for her, especially because she sees herself as secondary compared to Americans.

At first Josie hated her father Michael for what he did to her mother, but then ends up opening her heart to him and accepting him into the family. She also didn’t get along with her Nonna that well at the start, but after realizing what her Nonna went through when she was her age, Josie and her Nonna started to see eye to eye. The reason Josie didn’t get along with Katia (Nonna) that well was because of the way she treated Josie’s mother. If Christina (Josie’s mother) or Josie ever did or wanted to do something Katia will always say “people will talk” and that really annoyed both of them. Josie’s relationship with her mother is a love hate relationship, one minute they love each other to bits and the next they’ll be screaming and throwing stuff at each other.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The main theme throughout The Bonesetter 's Daughter is the importance of communication in relationships, and how without communication, relationships suffer. Tan shows us this in several different ways, through: Mothers, daughters and spouses. She shows us how concealing our past, feelings and intentions lead to misinterpretations of actions and the weakening of relationships. Tan focuses mainly on mother daughter relationships, and how damaging miscommunication is to both mother and daughter and their relationship.

Bell says ' ' “My desires were often made to seem worthless and stupid.” Also, she says , ' ' learned to mistrust and silence them” ( Hooks, 1) in these quotes , Hook 's mother would make her wants “seem worthless and stupid . This is