The Rebellious Daughter: Analyzing the Theme of Amy Tan’s “Two Kinds” The story “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan explores the deep familial emotions between a mother and her daughter. Jing-Mei’s mother had left China to come to America after losing her family, and had been raising Jing-Mei in America with her second husband. Despite her mother’s grand hopes for Jing-Mei to become successful in America by becoming a child prodigy, Jing-Mei did not share the same opinions. This disagreement quickly became a source of resentment and anger for both of them, but Jing-Mei and her mother were unable to resolve this conflict because of their different backgrounds and experiences. The story showcases how relationships between mothers and daughters can be strained because of differences in culture and a lack of communication. 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 …show more content…
Jing-Mei’s American upbringing hindered her ability to understand her mother’s perspective – which was based on Chinese heritage – resulting in strong differences of opinion that led to arguments. In addition, since Jing-Mei and her mother failed to communicate effectively about their different perspectives, they became frustrated and upset with each other. The relationship between Jing-Mei and her mother was harmed by their emotional distance from each other. The absence of verbal affection between them translated to increased resentment and disappointment. Positive emotional connection between a parent and child proves vital in maintaining a healthy relationship in the face of
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.
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.
Everyone's culture is different, that's why the majority of people have different opinions on certain subjects. Even though everyone goes through different experiences, the way they were taught growing up effects how they will be in the future. One's culture has a very big impact on how they view others and the world. In the essay, "Ethic Hash" by Patricia J. Williams, She is explaining how people's culture affects the way they see others.
A thought provoking observation was expressed by Kirsten Dinnall Hoyte regarding Amy Tan’s Two Kinds, “Like many immigrants, the mother both wants her child to be American and fears her daughter's Americanization and the accompanying cultural changes" (165). But why would June's mother immigrate to the United States if she feared the influences of another culture? What historical circumstance could have sway June's mother to have left her homeland and everything in her life behind? After relentless research, I hypothesized that World War II propelled the story of Two Kinds because it provoked the Japanese to invade China and promoted the influx of Chinese immigrants to Chinatown around the 1950s. This in tune, would lead to the mother’s infatuation with making June a prodigy as well as the ongoing misunderstanding among June and her mother.
place and supports her opinion on Jing-Mei’s lack of style and poor writing skills; Suyuan agrees that her daughter is not sophisticated enough as Waverly who is a very successful tax attorney (Tan 197-207). As it can be seen, Amy Tan felt that she was not sophisticated enough because she did not become a neurosurgeon like her mother wanted. In the story, all Chinese mothers wanted their Chinese-American daughters to become doctors or businessmen and to be better than others. When Jing-Mei and Waverly were little, Suyuan wanted her daughter to be like Waverly, and there always was competition between them.
“Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior” Parenting is an eternal and debatable topic seeing that everybody has their own opin-ion on how their child should be raised. In the article “Why Chinese Mothers Are Su-perior” Amy Chua explains how she thinks children should be brought up and speaks well of the Chinese methods. She is convinced that if you provide a harsh setting for your child, he or she will end up being a successful, independent and in particular confidant human being. Nevertheless, Amy finds it difficult to live in a country where people find her methods to strict and this especially ends out in conflicts with her husband. Amy has a credible ethos, as she writes in an intellectual and quite academic way.
This peculiarly specific list showed that as a first-generation American, she was constantly scrutinizing the small actions that her mother demonstrated, and she was embarrassed, although it is not likely anyone else ever noticed. However, as she got older, Jing-Mei realized the fact that she was “becoming Chinese.” She still did not truly understand her mother or the beauty of Chinese culture, but her acceptance was the first step of the long excursion of
Throughout the entire novel, the mothers and daughters face inner struggles, family conflict, and societal collision. The divergence of cultures produces tension and miscommunication, which effectively causes the collision of American morals, beliefs, and priorities with Chinese culture which
The daughters were all born in the U.S., while their mothers are Chinese immigrants who barely speak english whatsoever. Due to this, in all four cases, communication barriers exist between the mothers and the daughters’ love interests and overall livelihood, resulting in several strained relationships. The daughters don’t even put forth an effort to comprehend their mothers’ traditional Chinese culture, and it is clear that the mothers often find themselves baffled and confused by their daughters’ mindset and modern American lifestyles. The barriers that exist between the mothers and the daughters are often due to their inability to communicate with one another. The daughters think their mothers are uneducated because of their fractured English, while the mothers are impatient with their daughters who don’t understand the cultural aspects of their chinese
Determining to rebel, she makes a decision with twofold significance. Her shift into disobedience provides an escape from the confines of her mother’s strict directions. Guided only by her mother, Jing-mei feels unable to unearth her own aspirations. By determining to disobey her mother, Jing-mei finding a path for herself in the only way she can: through directly opposing her mother. Furthermore, Jing-mei’s resistance illuminates a deeper psychological issue she experiences.
The conflict between Jing-mei and her mother was the result of their individual cultural
Diagnostic Writing Mother-daughter relationships are filled with love, care, and support. They might be testing at times, but in the end they possess a stronger bond. The excerpt from Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mom by Amy Chua portrays these qualities in a tough-love manner. However, the excerpt from The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan provides the opposite atmosphere due to the lack of these characteristics.
On the other hand in the story Tan, Amy. Two Kinds a woman moved to the San Francisco for a better chance at life for her and her daughter Jing-Mei after losing everything back in China. She told her “Only ask you be your best. For you sake. You think I want you to be genius?
After a careful analysis of the story, the reader understands how Jing-mei’s feelings toward her mother changed, why her feelings changed, and how those changed feelings affected the entire story. In the beginning of the passage, we learn that Jing-mei’s mother, has moved to America because she lost it all in China. We know this by the narrator reciting, “She had come here in 1949 after losing everything in China: her mother and father, her family home, her first husband, and two daughters, twin baby girls” (Tan 220). This information lets the reader realize that Jing-mei is all her mother has left.
The mother descending from Chinese culture was raised believing in being obedient, modest, and dedicated, while on the other hand, the daughter has more of an American culture to her, she wants to be herself. These differences are responsible for most of the conflict in the story, it's what stirs around the messages and interprets them differently to each character. " Why don't you like me the way I am?" I cried. "I'm not a genius!