Amy Tan Two Kinds Literary Analysis

Jing-mei did not want to have anything to do with her mother's plans for her to become a child prodigy, but goes along because she can't quite say no to her mother yet.

She was my mother,” (31).  Jing-Mei says this to her aunts after her mother had died, and she had to take your position in joy luck.  She felt like she never really knew her mother because of their miscommunication.  Suyuan Woo, Jing-Mei’s mother, had many hopes and good intentions for her daughter. While Jing-Mei wanted to be herself and still please her mother, Suyuan wanted her daughter to be a child prodigy. Always wanting the best for her daughter, Suyuan hoped Jing-Mei would one day become an extraordinary pianist.  Although Jing-Mei played the piano, she never put forth much effort into the music because her best was not good enough for her mother.  Nonetheless, she stopped playing the piano.  “I could only be me,” (154).  She could not be something that she was not; she could not live up to her mother’s expectations.  This symbolized one of Jing-Mei’s songs, “Pleading Child.”  Suyuan continues to put all the pressure on Jing-Mei so that she will not become like her mother for all the reasons she had come to America; hopes for a better life.

Further, Tan depicts Jing-me as defiant in the face of her mother’s expectations for her. This defiant attitude can be seen when Jing-me finds out that she will be taking piano lessons from Mr. Chong. She throws a fit and asks her mother “Why don’t you like me the way I am?” (597). While at the piano lessons she further shows her defiance of her mother’s expectations when she learns that she can “be lazy and get away with mistakes, lots of mistakes” (598). Jing-me is upset with her mother for forcing her to take lessons, so she gets back at her by making a minimal effort to learn. Also, Jing-me displays her bold attitude a few days after she completely embarrassed her parents with a miserable performance at a talent-show. For example, she thought that after her poor performance at the talent-show, she “never had to play the piano again” (601). She further shows her defiant attitude when her mother reminds her that it is time to practice. Jing-me replies “I’m not going to play anymore” (601). All of these actions clearly shows Jing-me’s defiant nature, which results in a strained relationship between mother and daughter.

However years later, she was grown up enough to understand and realize her mother's love for her. In the last sentence of story, she wrote ,“[a]nd after I played them both a few times, I realized they were two halves of the same song” (105) Jing-Mei understood and rediscovered why her mother gave pressure on her.

Also, their relationship is shaped by the pressure Suyuan puts on her daughter. When Jing-Mei was growing up, her mother had the need for her daughter to be smart, talented, and a respectful Chinese daughter. This pressure put on Jing-Mei resulted in misunderstanding between mother and daughter. Jing-Mei constantly believed, “that she was disappointing her mother,” because she felt as if she failed at everything her mother wanted her to do. She believed she could never be as perfect as her mother was. Therefore she doesn’t think she is worthy enough to take her mother’s place at the Joy Luck Club “They must wonder now how someone like me can take my mother’s place” (Tan, 27). Jing-Mei does not understand that her mother wanted the best for her; Suyuan wanted Jing-Mei to challenge herself because that is how one builds up character. Suyuan thinks her daughter could do anything she proposed to do but never put enough effort into anything “Lazy to rise to expectations” (Tan 31). Furthermore, Suyuan forced Jing-Mei to learn how to play the piano and then perform at a recital. Jing-Mei rebelled against her mother and refused to learn how to play the piano well. So, at the recital she ends up forgetting the music notes. Jing-Mei blames her embarrassment on her mother and states,

The mother in the story tries everything in her power to make Jing-mei famous in some way. Yet Jing-mei was content to being herself.

She had failed her mother in many ways and felt terrible for it. She had stayed away from her parents for years because of it until one day. It was her thirtieth birthday and her mother reached out to her asking if she wanted the piano that they had bought her so many years earlier. She thought it was like a forgiveness offering something to get rid of the burden but was oddly surprised by what her mother had said to her. Her mother had encouraged her to play the piano again but this time try hard not like the last time. Ni kan decided not to take it at first she was very proud of it like it was a shiny trophy. She sent of a tuner one day to tune the piano for sentimental reasons but when she went over to pick up some things at her parents house she began to play the piano again. She played pleading child the song she had learned for the talent show and then saw on the right hand side a piece called perfectly content and realized it was the second half of the song. Two pieces of one

Jing-Mei feels differently though, “Unlike my mother, I did not believe I could be anything I wanted to. I could only be me,” (359/80) and she was correct for she had no natural musical talent. Jing-Mei has a desire to please her mother, but an even stronger one to choose her own life. She pacifies her mother by going to piano lessons but puts in no effort. Jing-Mei is “…determined to put a stop to her blind foolishness,” (356/48) but her mother’s desire to create a prodigy to compete with Aunt Lindo’s daughter, keeps her focused on the impossible. That is, until Jing-Mei escalates this conflict to its breaking point in rebellion. Stunning her mother, she shouts “Then I wish I’d never been born! I wish I were dead! Like them,” (359/77) referring to the twin daughters her mother lost in China. Sadly, the mother’s desire to have Jing-Mei conform to her expectations creates a constant battle between mother and daughter, and, in rejecting those expectations, seeing disappointment in her mother’s face all too often causes Jing-Mei to feel, “something inside me began to die” (353/18).

In being able to witness the first person narrative account, the readers are able to hear an honest view of what is happening, therefore Jing-Mei is able to build the trust of her audience. The altercation that Jing-Mei has with her mother after the talent show led to her verbal attacks as she shouts, "I wish I were dead! Like them"(200). The words spoken between Jing-Mei and her mother are realistic and throughout the story the tone is set by anger and disappointment, but nearing the ending it changes directions. The narrator's voice grows from a child into a woman. Jing-Mei's mother offers the piano that they fought over years ago as a peace offering. Jing-Mei finally realizes that her mother never lost hope for her, but only wants her to be the best she could be.

Amy Tan in her short story titled “Two Kinds” uses the character Jing-Mei and her mother’s oppressive views, to outline a story about her own personal struggle We are exposed to Mei’s struggle to pursue her own path rather than her mother’s passion for piano, ballet dancing, Ripley’s believe it or Not remarkable children, and being a modern-day Disney channel movie star. Amy Tan through imagery, character developments, and symbolism portray the true struggle of living up to your parent’s expectations all while trying to pursue your own passions.

She never realized, as a pleading child, how much her mother gave up for her, so she could have a better life than her mother did. Jing-Mei was finally ready to resolve her disagreements with her mother, but it was clearly too late for

The novel excerpt “Two Kinds”, by Amy Tan, tells the story of Jing-mei, a young Chinese girl, and her mother. Her mother left China for San Fransico, Califronia in 1949, and brought her Chinese culture with her. As the story goes on it becomes clear that he idea of raising a child prodigy consumes her. At first Jing-mei is on board with the idea of becoming a prodigy, “I was filled with a sense that I would soon become perfect” (page 19), she expresses. After some trial and error, it was decided that Jing-mei would excel in piano, or so they thought. At her first recital, Jing-mei fails miserably. “My mother’s expression was what devastated me: a quiet, blank look that said she had lost everything. I felt the same way.” (page 23). This line definitely conveys her mother’s dissatisfaction,

"Two Kinds" by Amy Tan explored the strained relationship between "Jing-mei" and her mother during formative childhood years. Through a cultural lens, the two could not be more different. The mother expected her daughter to be obedient, diligent, and talented. She wanted to her daughter to compete with her peers, and to pursue fame and the American dream. While her displays of disappointment at every failure were a psychological burden on her daughter, Jing-mei's resulting behavior was less willful than it was purely cruel. Jing-mei and her mother are "Two Kinds" of people, and yet are still part of the same whole. While Jing-mei prefers to entertain a leisurely Americanized attitude, her mother carried with her

Determination is emphasized through the entire story. This little girl is so focused on proving to her mother that she isn’t a prodigy that she doesn’t recognize the potential she has as a pianist. The story is told in chronological order starting from the main character being a little girl to when she's grown up. This is to unfold the story of her childhood and underline the goal. The story uses an anaphora by saying ”You could work for the government and get good retirement. You could buy a house with almost no money down. You could become rich. You could become instantly famous” (Amy Tan, 1). It repeats ”you could” to say with the right effort and determination you can do anything. The mother truly believed the daughter had great potential

The conflict between Jing-Mei and her mother has calmed down as Jing-Mei started taking the piano lessons; however, Jing-Mei was still determined not to become the person her mother wants her to be as she “was so determined not to try, not to be anybody different”. Even more, Jing-Mei describes the talent show as a conspiracy planned by her mother and Mr. Chong to have her play in the church hall. Through the use of the word “conspiracy”, Jing-Mei portrays her mistrust in her mother and displeasure with the talent show even before it begins. After attending the show and performing badly, Jing-Mei describes her mother’s look after the show’s fiasco as “a quiet, blank look that said she had lost everything”. Therefore, Jing-Mei’s lack of commitment to learning the piano led to her embarrassment in front of her parents’ social club but at the same time, Jing-Mei’s mother showed the first signs of defeat as her daughter has failed her once again and her dreams of being the mother of a prodigy were