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Jing-Mei In The Short Story 'Two Kinds' By Amy Tan

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Jing-Mei, in the short story “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan, is indistinguishable to anyone because every individual has a sort of relationship with their mother, but in this case, she is predominately similar to those with parents who are immigrants. In this short story, there is tension between a mother and daughter interconnection due to the fact that an immigrant wants her daughter to live the “American dream.” Her characteristics allow the reader to comprehend and connect to the way she is growing up in her home because every individual has a particular connection with their parents. In her case, she is an American, but her parents are Chinese immigrants. Due to Jing-Mei’s mother having an immensely painful past, she decided to relocate in the …show more content…

“America was where all my mother’s hopes lay” (Tan 308). This indicates that her mother has ambition about living a better life in America. However, she decides to live her young life vicariously. She pressures her daughter into attempting to find a talent so that she can become the next prodigy in America. These activities consist of having Jing-Mei becoming a “Chinese Shirley Temple” by attending beauty training school, she tests anything that Jing-Mei should know, and she forces Jing-Mei into playing the piano. These events, as Jing-Mei grows up, leads her to become resentful towards her mother because she believes that she could not be someone who she is not. Even though Jing-Mei does not have any interest in what her mother forces her do, she still decides to follow along. Notwithstanding, she believes that her mother is never pleased with her attempts to enjoy these activities. She believes her mother is never going to be able to accept her for who she is. Jing-Mei becomes an impatient, annoyed, resentful, and rebellious person towards her mother due to the way her mother leads her to grow up to. As Jing-Mei begins to grow older, she begins to realize who she is and she knows that she is not the person her mother intends for her to

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