Essay on Two Kinds - 1194 Words

The story â€Å"Two Kinds,† written by Amy Tan, has a plot that many people can relate to while growing up as a child. The theme of the story is that there are two kinds of people: the one the mother wants her to be and the one Jing-mei (the protagonist and narrator of the story) strives to be. Both mother and daughter in the story have a very complicated relationship. The mother believes that you could become anything you wanted in America. The author emphasizes that Jing-mei’s mother tries to dominate and control her life in every possible way you can imagine. For example her mother’s persistent ways in trying to make her into something she’s not a â€Å"prodigy†, as well as making her take piano lessons so she can win against one of her mother’s†¦show more content†¦Jing-mei’s mother wants her daughter to have every advantage in this growing land of opportunity by reinforcing her to try harder in school so she could have ac ademic excellence as Liz Brent states â€Å"The tone of this opening paragraph introduces an element of irony in the narrators attitude toward her mothers vision of America as a place where you could become anything you wanted to be. Everything sounds too simple and too easily achieved†(Overview 1).Once again America is referred as the country of opportunities and where dreams come true while working hard and being dedicated to chores and the development of activities that involve a highly paid or talented future. At first the mother thought the daughter was able enough to be the next Chinese Shirley Temple, by making her watch old movies as if they were training videos. So she took her to a beauty training school to get her hair done like Shirley Temple but instead looked like Peter Pan. Not only acting was involved in this situation. Memorizing capitals and states, multiplying numbers, finding the queen of hearts in a deck of cards, standing on her head without hands, predicting daily temperatures in certain states, reading three minutes from the bible and restating a summarize, were simple choresShow MoreRelatedTwo Kinds2009 Words   |  9 Pagess story Two Kinds is a battle of wills between the narrator, a young Chinese American girl, and her mother, a Chinese immigrant. Two Kinds is a coming-of-age story, in which the narrator, Jing-mei, struggles to forge her own sense of identity in the face of her strong-willed mother s dream that she become a prodigy. Jing-mei is caught between her C hinese mother s traditional ideas about how to raise a daughter, and her own development as a Chinese American girl straddling two cultures. Read MoreTwo Kinds822 Words   |  4 PagesID# 1723801 English 103-276 January 17, 2011-01-17 Two Kinds Amy Tan In the short story â€Å"Two Kinds†, Amy Tan uses the narrator’s point of view to share a mothers attempt to control her daughters dreams and ambitions. Tan`s short story is an example of how differing personalities cause struggles between a parent and child. Children often fall victim to a parent trying too hard or expectations being too high, and in the case of Two Kinds, we see Jing Mei’s mother trying to live her life throughRead MoreTwo Kinds1095 Words   |  5 Pages Two Kinds is a wonderful little short story about a immigrant Chinese woman in the mid 1950’s to early 1960’s that moved to Chinatown in California to give herself a better opportunity to make it in America. In the story we see the Amy’s mother as a woman who already has dealt with her fair share of pain and disappointment. Jeng-mei mothers entire family seemed to have been wiped out before she came to America from China Jeng-mei explains â€Å" she had come to S an Francisco in 1949 after losingRead MoreTwo Kinds1409 Words   |  6 PagesThe story starts off with the daughter narrating the story talking of her mothers tragedy in China; The mother who lost her mother, father, husband , and her two twin babies was trying to start over and give her child the American dream. The daughter the one telling the story was very as the story began about becoming famous. The mother on the other hand goes to all lengths to try to find her daughters talents. The characters in the story are the mother who played a huge role, although her nameRead MoreTwo Kinds of Interpretations in Amy Tan’s Short Story Two Kinds1285 Words   |  5 PagesOften times mothers can be pushy, annoying, and a bit overbearing but in the long run they always just want what is best for their child. Everyone wants their child to be the best, most popular and overall number one. In Amy Tan’s short story â€Å"Two Kinds† we see this type of fame hungry mother. The short story is about a Chinese family who lost everything. The mother had lost her entire family full of children except for the one in the story. With the belief â€Å"you could be anything you want in America†Read More`` Two Kinds By Amy Tan1460 Words   |  6 Pages  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   â€Å"Two Kinds† by Amy Tan is a story that shows a battle that starts with the narrator and her mother, for control over the narrator’s life. Her mother wanted her t o become a prodigy, but she wanted to be anything other than that. So, throughout the short story â€Å"Two Kinds† she’s determined to not quit the fight. â€Å"Two Kinds† is filled with different forms of conflict which allows for the narrator to realize that her mother’s crazy antics were to help her find what she was good at. Which leadsRead MoreThe Two Kinds By Amy Tan1272 Words   |  6 Pagesimmigrants, experience a cultural conflict between that of their parents and that of mainstream U.S. society† (Wikipedia 1). Amy Tan the author of â€Å"Two Kinds†, and the young character in the story both are a second generation immigrants, who have struggled in their life with parents, about the culture they assimilating and their real culture. In the â€Å"Two Kinds† story the author illustrates the struggle between her American cultural identity, and her mother’s Chinese culture, as like the characters inRead MoreTwo Kinds by Amy Tan968 Words   |  4 PagesTwo Kinds The story Two Kinds by Amy Tan represents the theme that parents cannot control their children, but can only guide them. A Chinese mother and daughter Ni Kan are at odds with each other in story. The mother pushes her daughter to become a prodigy of some sort, her daughter does try to follow her mother s orders but has she gets older she realizes she wants to find her own self and not to be what her mother wants her to be. They both have conflicting values, which is the theme of theRead MoreTwo Kinds Point of View637 Words   |  3 PagesThe short story, â€Å"Two Kinds†, written by Amy Tan, is written from the point of view of the character named Jing-Mei. There are three experiences which demonstrate her viewpoint. In the first experience, Jing-Mei is being told by her mom about the â€Å"American dream†. At first, she strives to pursue this prodigy. Her mom would test her every night after dinner. Through Jing-Mei’s eyes, she starts to realize that it was not the life she wanted to live. Lines in the story illustrate this when he says â€Å"IRead MoreTwo Kinds By Amy Tan859 Words   |  4 PagesEssay on â€Å"Two Kinds† Type your essay on â€Å"Two Kinds† below: Title The short story â€Å"Two Kinds,† written by Amy Tan, focuses on the struggles of a young protagonist named Jing-mei trying to find herself without the influences and pressure of others. Aldous Huxley once said, â€Å"One believes things because one has been conditioned to believe them.† This relates to the story in significant ways because when Jing-mei’s mother moved to America in hopes of a better future, Jing-mei is pushed to be the