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Cultural Conflict In Amy Tan's Short Story 'Two Kinds'

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Jaden=Orange Justin=Blue Qylan=Green intro Family is a part of our culture that can also affect the way we view things. In the short story, “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan, Jing-Mei is facing cultural conflict with her mother causing Jing-Mei to see the world differently with different morals. “For unlike my mother, I did not believe I could be anything I wanted to be, I could only be me.” (Tan 24). With this statement you can see that she does not agree with her mother. Jing-Mei’s Mother was raised in Chinese culture, therefore she is very strict and demanding to Jing-Mei to do what she wants. From doing a chore, to hobbies or even Jing-Mei’s passion. on the other hand Jing-Mei is America born and has more of an American culture mind set, which cause her to seem rebellious to her mother. Said by Jing-Mei’s Mother, “only two kinds of daughters!” she shouted in Chinese “those who are obedient and those who follow their mind! Only one kind of daughter can live in this house. Obedient Daughter!” (Tan 24). through this it can be said that Jing-Mei’s mother has a very different culture compared to …show more content…

All cultures have different appearances. In the story “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan she wrote this story to be a documentary to be an informational story about cultures. In the short story “Two Kinds” the mother and the daughter “Jing- Mei” have a conflict about appearance in their cultures. In the story the mother says to her daughter “Jing-Mei” “You look like a Negro Chinese” (Tan 18). In the story the daughter made a comment to that and said “If I had done this on purpose”. In the story the mother is saying it's her daughter's fault that she looks like a Negro Chinese person. When the real truth is it's not her daughter's fault she looks like a Negro Chinese person. The way you look is all part of your culture appearance background. Than she made a comment about how she looked like a boy with curly really short

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