Two Kinds By Amy Tan Literary Devices

Mustafa Alam
Mr. Dwyer
English 2 Honors
February 17, 2023

Undermine the Norms
Every year thousands of immigrants come to the United States looking to fulfill a thing known as the American dream. Many newcomers see endless opportunities for success in the United States. They all have the same aspirations, to succeed and have a better life than they ever had in their home country. Parents who come to America want their kids to succeed in any way possible, leading them to create unrealistic and unreasonable expectations for their children. This leads to differences and problems among immigrant families whose kids grow up in a new place and have to live, being expected to succeed without failures along the way. They go through conflicts between

In Amy Tan's "Two Kinds," the author uses various literary and stylistic devices to comment on the struggle between mother and daughter. Differences of opinion between different communities and people lead to struggles with the ones involved. Through the use of multiple stylistic devices, Tan explores the conflict between individual identity and societal expectations affecting an individual and their choices.
One literary device that Tan uses is characterization. Through her vivid portrayal of Jing-mei's mother, Tan reveals the complex relationship between a parent and child. Jing-mei's mother is determined to mold her daughter into a prodigy, while Jing-mei desires to have the freedom to choose her own path in life. “I won't let her change me, I promised myself. I won't be what I'm not”(Tan 2). Jing-mei’s mother’s only goal is to mold Jing-mei into a prodigy of some sort so that she can succeed, but she wasn’t looking at the effect it was taking on her daughter. Jing-mei is creating new views of herself in her mind as different versions of herself and didn’t like

The piano is a symbol of the tension between Jing-mei and her mother. Jing-Mei’s mother buys the piano after seeing a little girl play the piano on the television. She sees the piano as a means to transform her daughter into a prodigy, but Jing-mei sees it as a burden that symbolizes the pressure she feels to meet her mother's expectations, "Why don't you like me the way I am?" …"I'm not a genius!” (Tan 2). The piano is another one of Jing-mei’s tests to see how successful she can be and if she can be a prodigy playing the piano. Her mom expects Jing-mei to play and be devoted to the piano so she can succeed. Jing-mei is tired of trying to meet the high expectations of her mother and just wants to do things on her own accord. This conflict over the piano is representative of the struggle between individual identity and societal expectations. The piano also symbolizes the effect of societal norms that go against one’s beliefs. Jing-mei practiced the piano by cheating her way through the lessons. She didn’t learn how to properly due to her not being interested and being forced by her mother to play. So when Jing-mei’s mother enrolls her in a talent show and forces her to play in front of an audience it doesn’t end well, “ I hit the first wrong note. And then I hit another and another”. Jing-mei doesn’t like playing the piano because it is forced upon her by her mother. She is expected to exceed the already