"So different yet so alike". We tend to hear that phrase a lot, but what does it mean? I means, let us take two different characters. Luis and Jing-Mei. They have totally different live but they are similar and mirror each other's conflict. Our first character is Luis Cintrón. Luis is a teenager and lives with his father.l Two years prior to the present setting, Luis lost his mother. In one flashback Luis remembers her telling him she is proud to have him as a son. Since her passing Luis has formed a "gang" called the tiburón, grown apart from his father, and spent 6 months in juvenile hall. Our second character is Jing-Mei. Jing- Mei lives with both her mother and father. Her mother wants her to be a child prodigy, "a Chinese Shirley
The story “Two kinds” introduces the protagonist 's as young Jing-Mei, and antagonist as her mother. The story’s physical setting takes place in San Francisco, the city Jing-Mei’s parents resided after immigrating from china.
Luis was growing up into the life of gang banging, gaining a reputation in San Gabriel by being scouted into bigger gangs in the area. Increasing his involvement in the gang by stealing form stores, to eventually being part of premeditated arson and murders. Luis was well on his way to a life in prison or worse, death. By growing up during a time of racial discrimination, options were limited to becoming a factory worker or gangster. Luis met
Jing-mei is representative in other ways also. She believes that her mother 's constant criticism clearly shows a lack of feeling of love, when in fact her mother 's seriousness and high expectations are expressions of love and faith in her daughter. All of the other mother-daughter pairs experience the same mistake in understanding, which in
This connection begins with the comprehension of her name and her sisters’ names. “Jing” means pure and “Mei” means little sister. Instantly Jing-mei feels more Chinese because she sees the connection she as to the language through her name. “Suyuan” means long cherished wish. With the understanding of her mother’s name, her feeling of connection to her Chinese heritage dramatically expands (Norton 190). She begins to piece the puzzle of her heritage together. By understanding the meaning of their names she begins to understand and accept her Chinese heritage. Her connection to her mother’s Chinese past is now much stronger than she had once realized.
However, her mother sees it as a way for her daughter to be the best. Meanwhile, Jing-mei decides to rebel against her mother’s wishes. During piano lessons with Mr. Chong she realizes easy ways to get out of practicing.
Early in childhood Jing Mei dreamed of finding her prodigy and being a famous Chinese American, mostly because of the views and actions her mother placed on her. Her mother believed you could be anything you wanted to be in America. (pg 405) Her mother was always pushing new tests and talents on Jing Mei. She even went as far as having her daughter Jing Mei models her physical appearance and actions after a child-star Shirley Temple. Her other was always testing her with many different things trying to discover Jing Mei’s talent. Later Jing Mei started to feel like her mother was just trying to make her into someone she was not and started to just fail and not try to do anything right hoping her mother would give up. When her mother died she had realized what her mother had been trying to do. Her mother had only wanted her to do her best. She had then to realize what her mother had
Another approach which is deemed appropriate to the story is the Marxism. It is concerned with labor practices, class theories, and economics, especially as concerned with the struggles of the poor and oppressed. It examines literature in its cultural and political context; it explores the relation between the artist/character and the society. Jing-mei's mother, a Chinese immigrant, feels that she has to prove something to the society. There is a need to elevate one's economic and social status. Also, the mother believed that you could be anything you wanted to be in America. The domestic dispute, on the other hand, was caused by the cultural differences. It focused on a mother from China and her American-born daughter. In Chinese culture, children are expected to be obedient.
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 The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, Jing-Mei and her mother have a very rocky relationship. Tan develops a relationship between Suyuan and Jing-Mei that is distant in the beginning due to culture differences and miscommunication, but gradually strengthens with time and understanding. Both of them have different backgrounds and have been influenced by two different cultures. Suyuan grew up in China and behaves according to the Chinese culture and her American-born daughter Jing-Mei is influenced by the American culture that surrounds her and wants to become part of it. Their relationship is also shaped by the pressure Suyuan puts on Jing-Mei. She wants her to be a perfect
Some may see the mother trying to live her life through her daughter. She invests time trying to make her daughter a prodigy because she was her last hope. The mother lost two children in China and moves to a new country. Coming to America, she felt that immigrants have to prove that they are as talented as or more talented than Americans. This belief is supposed to be the basis for the determination, that the mother has, for Jing-mei to become a prodigy.
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.
Jing-Mei finds a new person that was determined to fight against her mother. Moreover, Jing Mei
Currently 74 years old, MeiYing Yang was born in September 1941 and lives in Hangzhou, China. Yang grew up in an apartment which was about 40 square meters in the suburban area of Hangzhou. She was the youngest child in a family of five, with one sister and one brother. Due to difficulties of the family’s economic and social condition, Yang did not receive any higher education after sixth grade. Knowing only how to read and write, she is able to speak the local dialect but not mandarin. Yang’s father was a blue-collar worker at the local factory after he returned from the Second World War, and her mother ran a local grocery store. Yang’s older sister became a teacher at the local primary school after nine years of education, and her brother
The story is around an American-conceived Chinese lady, Jing-mei, who goes to China to meet her twin stepsisters that her mom was compelled to relinquish numerous prior years. Since her mom had passed away just a couple of months prior, the meeting is full of vulnerability and bitterness. Jing-mei battles with self-character issues and what it truly intends to be Chinese. En route, she takes in reality about the reasons her mom deserted her sisters and the significance behind their names. At last, she at last associates with her sisters and makes the passionate association with her Chinese legacy.