Hope In Amy Tan's Two Kinds

To most girls, the most important opinion of them comes from their own mothers. The text talks about how much a mother’s opinion can really impact their daughter. The smallest comments from a mother means so much to their daughter. The text also mentions how just a gaze from a mother says it all, and can lead to an upset and hurt daughter (Tannen, 1978). Personally, I always want my mom to be happy with my choices. Whenever there is a special occasion and I want a new dress for it, I always want my mom to come shopping with me, not just because she may offer to pay for it, but I want her to see my options. Even when my mom isn’t able to go shopping with me, I still want to get her thoughts

This type of upbringing would lead one to believe that her life would not amount to anything and torn by the fact that she was not residing with her family. However, subconsciously, when she needed reassurance, her paternal mother’s words to her would always surface in her mind, “Sunshine, you’re my baby and I’m your only mother, but you must obey the one taking care of you but she is not your mama”.

There is a common theme of hope throughout the stories of The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan. Even in the face of immeasurable danger and strife, the mothers and daughters in the book find themselves faithful in the future by looking to the past, which is only helped by the format of Tan’s writing. This is shown specifically in the stories of Suyuan and Jing-Mei Woo, Lena and Ying-Ying St. Clair, and Lindo and Waverly Jong. The vignette structure of The Joy Luck Club allows the stories to build on one another in a way that effortlessly displays both the happy and dark times in each mother’s life, which lets their experiences act as sources of background and guidance to their daughters in times when they need it most.

In the short story “Two Kinds”, Amy Tan uses the narrator’s point of view to share a mother's attempt to control her daughter's 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 through that of Jing Mei. The outcome of her mother’s actions soon leads the narrator into feeling tension within herself, and between herself and her mother.

Our parents often play an important role in shaping us into the type of people we will eventually become. In the short story “Two Kinds” written by Amy Tan, Tan portrays a mother daughter relationship through the daughters eyes while she struggles with her mother trying to make her into prodigy. Although I was never thought to be a prodigy, I was very good at soccer, and therefor I was forced to play it. Like Jing Mei, I played soccer because I wanted my parents to be proud, I wanted to be socially accepted, and

Although the daughter’s shame in her mother is evident, she is also prideful of her as well. The strong love that the mother and daughter share is pervasive throughout the story. The story is being told by the daughter after she is all grown up. The fact that Jones uses such vivid detail on the mother’s preparation for her daughters first day of school shows that the daughter loved her mom and all that she did for her. The daughter recalls that her mother spent a lot of time preparing her when she says, “My mother has uncharacteristically spent nearly an hour on my hair that morning, plaiting and replaiting so that now my scalp tingles.” (Jones) She also remembers that her “pale green slip and underwear are new, the underwear having come three to a plastic package with a little girl on the front who appears to be dancing.” (Jones) The daughter having remembered details like these illustrate that she has an immense love and takes pride

The daughter did not like the idea of playing the piano. “Why don’t you like me the way I am? . . . I am not a genius! I can’t play the piano. And even if I could, I wouldn’t go on TV if you paid me a million dollars!” (492-493). Here, Tan is conveying the fact that parents and children have disagreements on what the child should do, and who the child is to become. For example, parents may have an idea where they want their child to attend their college education. The child, on the other hand, may want to go to a different college as suggested. Ultimately, it is the decision of the child. We cannot live how others want us to live. It is the path of our own making that truly makes us happy.

In her short story "Two Kinds," Amy Tan utilizes the daughter's point of view to share a mother's attempts to control her daughter's hopes and dreams, providing a further understanding of how their relationship sours. The daughter has grown into a young woman and is telling the story of her coming of age in a family that had emigrated from China. In particular, she tells that her mother's attempted parental guidance was dominated by foolish hopes and dreams. This double perspective allows both the naivety of a young girl trying to identify herself and the hindsight and judgment of a mature woman.

The article, the book, and I, talk about how daughters feel their mothers don’t know them and that they don’t know their mothers. They talk about how a daughter listens to her mother, but there is a certain point in a young woman 's mind where they decide they want to see and explore new ideas. In conclusion, they all talk about the point in a daughter 's life where she and her mother don’t get along very well and the daughter tries to take charge of her life.

The mother, truly wants what is best for her daughter, but refuses to acknowledge that her daughter does not want to be a prodigy or play the piano. Her daughter only wants to live her own life and does not understand the success her mother is trying to push on her. Every mother and daughter relationship is different, but the most classic type is the “mother knows best trope.” Of course, if the story was presented in China, rather than America, the daughter may have fallen into her mother’s life path, “"Only two kinds of daughters," she shouted in Chinese. "Those who are obedient and those who follow their own mind! Only one kind of daughter can live in this house. Obedient daughter!" (Tan pg #). However, since her daughter was born in America, she was given an opportunity to be who she wanted to be, because of America’s new dream of independence and

In the countless lessons about washing clothes and handling food, she reveals something about herself: that to her, there is no life outside of the one that she has, and she approves only of the same life for her daughter. That as a girl, her daughter must know these things, because her daughter’s only lot in life will be the same one that she has now. The mother’s worldview isn’t the only thing affecting the teachings of these lessons, though. Another strong influence behind these lessons revolves around the mother’s personal

In being her daughter she doesn't see her mother like everyone else does. To Tan her “English is perfectly clear, perfectly clear, perfectly natural. It’s my mother tongue. Her language, as I hear it, is vivid, direct, full of observation and imagery. That was the language that helped shape the way I saw things, expressed things, made sense of the

But she shows no intention of behaving differently, but rather, shows an increased desire and ability to do a man's job a thought that disturbs her mother. Her relationship with her mother is not typical and at times she would feel that her mother “was not to be trusted”(154). She had always thought her mother was “plotting” against her but in reality her mother was trying to prepare her so that she can face the gender stereotypes she is going to face as she grows older. As the story progresses the protagonist realises that she has to become a girl; "A girl was not, as I had supposed, simply what I was; it was what I had to become" (155). Here, the protagonist realises that there is no escape from the fixed duties that go along with the child into being a girl and a girl into a

"My mother believed you could be anything you wanted to be in America. You could open a restaurant. You could would 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. ‘Of course you can be prodigy, too,' my mother told me when I was nine. ‘You can be best anything'" (141).

From the piece “The Eye” the narrator as the daughter feels like she exists separately from her mother’s expectations of her. The relationship between the mother and daughter in the story has significant tension because her mother believes it's her duty to tell her daughter about how she should feel, almost like controlling her. It's almost like the daughter feels trapped like the "Alice and Wonderland" movie quote she had made.