Two Kinds By Amy Tan

For Jing-Mei in the story “Two Kinds” acceptance is not something often found in their family. Jing-Mei has this mother who lost her husband and twins back in China and is now trying very hard to get a fresh and better start on her new life with her child. Now this could mean many different things to different people, but

The theme of opposing desires that arises between mothers and daughters affects the storyline. Mrs. Woo believes

The American Dream is something all immigrants dream of achieving when arriving to the United States. But what exactly is the American Dream? Some believe it to be the long-term achievement of a goal through hard work, while others see it as a new opportunity to redo life. The emphasis and interpretation of the American Dream changes between generations because it evolves with a sense of individuality in the new era of citizens, as they lack the background that deprived older generations their rights, which made them crave success and achievement when arriving to America, as illustrated by the relationship of Suyuan and Jing-Mei Woo.

One of the difficulties between Jing-Mei and her mother is their different cultural backgrounds, which is supported by two points from the story. Firstly, Jing-Mei and her mother both disagreed on the opportunities that existed in America. According to Singer, Amy Tan uses “two entirely

In “Two Kinds”, Amy Tan uses visual imagery to reveal the true tension in of mother-daughter relationships, when parents push their children to their limits, they truly want the best for them to succeed and have no regrets about what they did or did not do in their childhood years. All relationships have their ups and downs, however parent and child relationships have some of the toughest challenges when it comes to pushing their child to be the best they can. Jing Mei and her mother have a hard altercation with one another when Jing Mei cries in frustration about her future and her mother “shouted. “Only ask you be your best. For you sake. You think I want you to be genius? Hnnh! What for! Who ask you!”” (Tan 7). This shows visual imagery

“After losing everything in China…She never looked back with regret.”(Chunk 1 ¶3). Jing-Mei’s mother is a Chinese immigrant with the typical ‘everything is better in America’ mindset. Jing-Mei, being raised in America, had more of an American mindset. “You want me to be someone i’m not…I’ll never be the daughter you want me to be!” (Chunk 6 ¶10). Jing-Mei feels as if she will never be able to please her mother because of their cultural differences. This causes cultural conflict between the two because they will never be able to please each other because they both have different mindsets, which they cannot see past.

Jing-Mei then decides to reunite with her sisters in China, anxiously stating, “I lay awake thinking about my mother’s story, realizing how much I have never known about her, grieving that my sisters and I had both lost her“ (271). At this point in the story, it becomes evident Jing-Mei no longer despises her mother for her distasteful tendencies. Instead, she aspires to see her mother one last time. Remorseful of her incapacity to connect with her mother on a deeper level, Jing-Mei feels inept to fill in for her mother at the mahjong table. Michelle Gaffner also notes the tension put on relationships due to cultural indifferences in her article “Negotiating the Geography of Mother-Daughter Relationships in Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club” when she writes, “The mother-daughter relationships in both China and the United States represented in The Joy Luck Club not only provide a link between the past and the present but also suggest how the ability, or the inability, for mothers and daughters to share geographically informed cultural stories influences both mother-daughter relationships and individual and cultural identity” (83). The

stands out to her. The two character's point of view on the world are very unlike, Jing

In the book “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan, it’s about a little girl who is pressured by her mother to become something she doesn’t want to be. Jing- mei , the daughter, is forced to become a prodigy(child actress), by her mother, and she doesn’t want to be one. In the story, Jing- meis’ mother uses allusions such as Shirley Temple to push her into becoming a prodigy. Although at first Jing- mei is excited to become a prodigy, she later realizes its something she just doesn’t enjoy doing. Consequently, the uses of allusion in the story help Jing- mei discover to not be a prodigy and that what her mother wants for her is not always important. However, some of the things her mother showed and did got her excited to become this.

"Two Kinds" by Amy Tan is a complex representation of an unsteady mother-daughter relationship. The focal point of the story is oftentimes troublesome yet inescapable and uncovers clashing values. The relationship between Jing-mei and her mother stretches throughout the story. Conflict rises as opposite standpoints in connection with identification surface. Living in America as a Chinese immigrant, Jing-mei 's mother plants her dreams of American success on the shoulders of her daughter. On the other hand, being born into this country, Jing-mei is against wanting to live up to the expectations her mother sets on her. Two kinds reveal two different sides of the cultural spectrum, and their opposing view towards their values. Jing-mei 's mother felt like an outcast existing in a dominate population. Grasping the same idea, she held onto her hard time back in her home. Jing-mei is her last hope to prove that her homeland can be just as talented as Americans. To follow through with this objective, her mother bends over backwards in search of the "right" kind of prodigy for her daughter. Although Jing-mei determinedly upsets her mother 's desires to make her a prodigy, it was as if it were decades afterwards in life that she picks up the understanding into her mother 's basic motives. This exposition will endeavor that "Two Kinds" is a compelling story to bring to light on the issues of identity.

The First Part Last is a novel about this teenager named Bobby and how teenage pregnancy affects his life. The story goes from then to now every chapter and, and at the end of the book, the then and now meets up. Bobby Impregnates a teenage girl named Nia (his girlfriend). The story talks about how they make it through this rough time. Near the end, Nia starts to get eclipse, which girls have a chance to get when they are pregnant. At the end of the story Bobby has turned into an adult at the end of The First Part Last as he should have because Angela Johnson has all these symbols leading to Bobby maturing from then to now, and will be brought into further depth.

“Two Kinds” a short story out of Amy Tan’s book “The Joy Luck Club” is a representation of the pressures immigrant children face from their parents. In the story, we follow a young girl named Jing-Mei as she embarks down the road to becoming a Prodigy. Her mother believed that “you could be anything you wanted to be in America” (Tan). For Jing-Mei that meant her mother believed she could become instantly famous. “Of course, you can be a prodigy, too”, her mother told her (Tan). For a nine-year-old who wants nothing more than to make her mother proud this was exciting. In the beginning, we can see her excitement and desire, “in the beginning I was just as excited as my mother, maybe even more so.” (Tan). However, as we follow the story we see her excitement quickly fade to sorrow and anger. The high expectations immigrant families place on their children is still a very relevant social issue and can be witnessed throughout the United States. In this short story, we witness how a parent’s good intentions can ultimately lead to the destruction of their child’s motivation.

The novel All the Lovely Bad Ones by Mary Downing Hahn, follows two teenage siblings, Travis and Corey who are sent to an inn owned by their grandmother. The two mischief-makers accidentally awaken ghosts after what they believed to be as a harmless prank to the guests of the inn. The zodiac sign that describes the protagonist, Corey the best is Scorpio. Corey is a Scorpio because she is very bold as well as secretive. Because she is very secretive and bold, she is very good at lying and keeping secrets. As a result, she enjoys playing pranks with her brother just for kicks. According to the Scorpio zodiac sign, “These personalities are bold and are capable of executing massive enterprises with cool control and confidence…Scorpio’s can be argumentative and pack a powerful sting, but that’s simply because they see all opposition as a healthy challenge.” This fits Corey to a T in the beginning of the novel when the author writes, “She

In the short story “Both Sides of the Fence,” by Teresa Bateman, the main character, Alberto, conveys the theme that you must look on both sides of a fence in order to making decisions through his thoughts, actions, and speech. In this story, Alberto attempts to prevent people in his pueblo from benefiting from his tree that was left for him by his family. As the story progresses, he suspects his neighbor from purloining his apples, but then realizes his wrongdoings and his foolishness. Through his character transitions, Alberto helps reveal the them that he has to consider both sides of the argument in order to put up a proper argument.

As a whole, while the story was very depressing at times, it still has an underlying tone of family ideals, as the relationship between the mother and daughter still remained despite the arguments they had. In my opinion, I think the author’s message that she wished to convey was that despite any event that may occur, family members will always be there support you. This is shown in how, despite Jing Mei’s failures at becoming a prodigy, her mother still supported her and did not give up hope on helping her daughter becoming a successful person. As such, it strengthens the idea that “family will always be there for you”, no matter what hardships come their way. In addition, it helped to add a sense of togetherness in the short story, as it inadvertently revealed how much Jing’s mother actually loved her, despite her tough exterior. Also, the author was most likely trying to convey the idea that everyone has a separate dream of what they want to be when they are an adult. A parent cannot force their child to pursue a career that they do not want to be in because excessively forcing a child to follow a certain life will only make them not enjoy their future; in addition, it could also lead to them caring less about their career, eventually possibly costing them their job. To conclude, I liked the writing style of this short story because while it was depressing at times, it was never fully boring and it had a certain theme of the relationships within families that gave the