Amy Tan Two Kinds Summary

Jing-Mei was immersed in American culture as she attended school every day, as opposed to her parents who were both born and raised in China. As a young adult who experienced two cultures, the barrier (including language and culture) between Jing-Mei and her parents contributed to “vigorous [denial] that [she] had any Chinese whatsoever below [her] skin” (Tan 147). Still, her mother was convinced that Jing-Mei would eventually come to “feel and think Chinese” (Tan 147). Although she disagreed with what her mother said, Jing-Mei knew deep inside that she was right, frequently realizing the tendencies she had that were so alike to her mother. She listed that “haggling with store owners, pecking her mouth with a toothpick in public, being color-blind to the fact that lemon yellow and pale pink are not good combinations for winter clothes” were some of the things that her mother did that the naive fifteen-year-old Jing-Mei identified with being Chinese.

Her father told her it meant the youngest sister. She had never questioned what her name meant and now it has come together that her mother 's dreams were for all three of her daughters to be together. Jing now realizes that she has upset her mother by not accepting herself as being Chinese in the beginning. Now Jing realizes her Chinese roots. At the end, the three sisters take a picture together and Jing says, Together we look like our mother.

Although she was unhappy no one in her family knew she wanted to leave until she was already gone. In a letter she was writing to her family Marilyn said, “I have kept all these feelings inside me for a long time”. This inward questioning about whether she should stay at home and become the perfect housewife, or if she should chase her dream of becoming a doctor is what defines Marilyn as a character. She has all of these aspirations however, due to the social norms around her she is forced to choose between two separate lives. This decision and specifically the letter relates back to the title where it hints at secrets kept by characters in the novel.

Language allows citizens to communicate in an educated and understandable way through a conversation. In “Mother Tongue” Amy Tan indicates different types of languages. Her mother’s language consists of Chinese and when she speaks in public or over the phone, Amy translates her mother’s sentences in a more respectful way. When she speaks to her mother or her husband, her conversations are simple. While speaking about her book, she communicates through educated language until her mother entered the room.

Writer, Amy Tan, in her biographical essay, “Mother Tongue”, conveys her message on her and her mother past experiences when she was a child. Also expressing her feelings about the situations and how it opened her eyes now as an adult. In this essay Amy accounts for all the hard times her and her mother endured because of “Broken English”, which is poorly spoken or ill-written English. The purpose of the essay is to make the reader analyze not what someone is saying but the meaning of it. The intended audience is anyone who is trying to make those who discriminate against those who speak in broken English identify with not what is being said but what the thing being said means.

The mother grew up with a Chinese cultural background, while the daughter grew up with mostly an American cultural background.Amy Tan writes about the battle of cultures between a first-generation Chinese-American daughter, Jing-mei, and her mother, Suyan, a Chinese immigrant. People have different cultural backgrounds which are very special to them. Usually families’ tradition and thoughts are affected by their cultural backgrounds.In the story “Two Kinds” the relationship of the mother and

This is the classic story between parent and child in Amy Tan’s “Two Kinds.” The theme of this story revolves around a mother who wants nothing but the best for her daughter. Mrs. Woo, the mother of Jing-mei, is a struggling immigrant who had lost everything in China and believes in the American dream by stating, "My mother believed you could be anything you wanted to be in America” (639). She puts Jing-mei into various activities to figure out what she could be good at. The universal theme is conflict between a mother’s desire for her daughter to achieve greatness and a daughter’s personal yearning to find out who she is.

How to Save A Life Mandy kalinowski grow up unwanted, raised by a mother who never intended on having kids. Mandy was determined to create a better life for her baby. But giving up a child is not that easy. Mandy faces many challenges along the way, she learns what it fells like to be loved, what it fells like to love, and most of all how to trust. Jill MacSweeney wanted more than anything to go back in time to before her dad was dead.

Onyango and Edna supported Elizabeth Sera through the rough times. Her own family abandoned her seeing that she was supposed to wait till marriage to have children and take on the responsibility of a mother. Isaac Masaaba, the father of Elizabeth Sera’s future baby neglected her as a consequence of him being irresponsible and not having the right funds to support the baby’s future. Since the publication of “Memoirs Of A Mother” in 1998, the book has portrayed worldwide problems that have had a bigger impact on how the new generations have been treated through their lives. Problems occurring have varied from teen sexual intercourses to children being made orphans and not being given much care.

The life of this ordinary housewife in a conservative family changes forever when she is engulfed by intense desire to read a particular Vaishnav text. However, what complicates matter for us further is whether Rassundari’s tone of confession is to be taken as her contemporaries understand it or, going against the grain, is there much more than what meets our eyes? Amar Jiban: A Voice of Protest? Rassundari’s childhood was an unusual one when she flowered under the protective gaze of her mother. However, quite shy and apprehensive in nature and interestingly, as an amulet her mother taught her to invoke the family deity Dayamadhav, at any moment of anxiety.

Rukmani’s dilemma may not posses a language barrier like Suyuan’s, yet Rukmani and her children still fail to see eye to eye especially when her children abandon and forsake their parents wishes. The generation gap outlined in both novels shows the increasingly large ravine

However, while Jeannette is having this conversation with her mother, she is reminded that her story is not over. The words Rosemary says can be bypassed as her normal, quirky self, but her daughter looks at them as a wake up call. This is the point where Jeannette realizes she doesn’t need to change her family, that the influence they had on her life molded her into who she is. This is when Jeannette lets go of the anger she was holding on to her