Jing-Mei Two Kinds

Through this insight, Jing-mei for the first time articulates her determination to live by her own self-definition, rather than those ill-fitting "selves" her mother continues to impose upon her: "I won 't let her change me, I promised myself. I won 't be what I 'm not." As the story progresses, Jing-mei becomes more and more openly defiant against her mother 's wishes. One night, she bursts out at her

Now throughout my life, being the oldest son, and brother I have always felt that I needed to set the example for the rest of my family. I’ve felt that I needed to be the pillar of strength to carry my family, my parents always made me believe that if I was strong then everyone else around me would benefit. Emotionally as a child I felt shut off from the world because I would be struck/scowled for crying, or even if I’d show the slightest bit of what my parent’s called “overconfidence”, which is basically any type of trying to feel good about my accomplishments in any form. But of course I was always expected to perform at the peak and be above everyone. For this type of upbringing I was “isolated” from the rest of my peers, emotionally detached, and felt as if I was an unwanted enigma. As it says in “Mirrorings” on page 729, “I felt that I was the only one walking about in the world who understood what was really important.”

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.

In the novel excerpt “Two Kinds”, Amy Tan uses central conflict between Jing-mei and her mother to develop the theme that with perseverance, good decisions and having faith in oneself, you can be whatever you aspire in a land where nothing is impossible. The main conflict between the two is Jing-mei going against her mother's American dream. The mother believes that there are greater opportunities in America because of her previous, sorrowful life in China. This then leads to her high expectations for her American-born Chinese child and, moreover, causes pressure for Jing-mei to change. In the beginning of the story, Jing-mei goes along with her mother's dream of having a child prodigy. But as she constantly notices her mother's disappointed

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

Jing-mei reacts extremely negatively to this pressure. As any child would when they are forced to do things they do not want to. It is only strengthened when she states “I won’t let her change me, I promised myself. I won’ be what I am not.” (pg 1220). Jing-mei feels uncomfortable with her mother putting so much pressure on her. She is on a continuous struggle with herself to find who she really is. She is forced to take a stance against her mother and she uses hurtful memories from her mother past by stating ‘”Then I wish I’d never been born!” I shouted “I wish I were dead! Like them.” (pg 1225). This refers to the death of her twin baby daughters that died back in China. Jing-mei feels she must become her true self, a person whom she feels her mother is not determine for her. She is constantly distraught over the torn feelings of wanting to become her true self and making her mother proud. Still as time goes on it proves to be better to go against her parental advice and her mothers wishes as stated “And after seeing my mother’s disappointed face once again, something inside of me began to die. I hated the tests, they raised hopes

Throughout the story, Jing-mei’s feelings toward her mother change in dramatic ways. When Jing-mei was a young girl, she idolized and looked forward to impressing her mother. Eagerly, Jing-mei retorts,

In Amy Tan's short story "Two Kinds," the events surrounding Jing-Mei can be closely related to my own personal experiences. Parents will often see other children and compare them to their own child. This puts a lot of pressure on their child, expecting them to mirror the other children, whilst becoming furious when you disobey them. This was evident throughout the short story and throughout my life.

Jing-mei sees her mother in a better light and tries to understand her way of thinking, repairing a

"After seeing [her] mother's disappointed face once again, something inside of [her] began to die. [She] hated the tests, the raised hopes and failed expectations" (Tan 350). At this point in the story the protagonist, Jing-Mei, slowly comes to the realization that "[She'll never be the kind of daughter [her mother wants her] to be" (Tan 356). With the thought of not letting her mother change her Jin-Mei began to try to make her mother "Give up hope" (Tan 350). "[She] pretended to be bored" so that she would not have to take the tests. And it worked she was finally able to be herself, there was no "mention of [her] being a prodigy" (Tan 351).

Eventually Jing Mei stood up to her mother and shouted, “ ‘You want me to be something that [I am] not!’ [Jing Mei] sobbed… ‘[I will] never be the daughter you want me to be!’... ‘Then I wish I [was not] your daughter!’ ” (Tan, 142). At the start, Jing Mei does not appreciate all that her mother does for Jing Mei leading to anger and

evidently shows her mother’s desire for Jing-mei to be submissive to her; it is certainly clear that Jing-mei’s mother is not impressed at her defiance. Jing-mei’s mother obviously wants Jing-mei to be a “super-girl” with improbably numerous talents taken from other young children she saw on television or on magazines, which is undoubtedly hopelessly beyond the bounds of possibility. As one can see from this argument in particular, unfortunately, Jing-mei’s mother does not allow Jing-mei to make her own decisions, adversely affecting her own relationship with her

In the short story “Two Kinds” the author, Amy Tan, suggests that when a pleading child chooses to do something rather than being forced to do so he or she often becomes perfectly content with it. In the story, Jing-Mei’s mother believes that she is a prodigy and, therefore, forces Jing-Mei to take several tests other prodigy students had taken. After failing most of them, Jing-Mei’s mother has given up hope, until she hears a child prodigy playing the piano. She enrolls Jing-Mei in piano lessons with Mr. Chong, who is deaf. Feeling she can get away with not trying her hardest, Jing-Mei does not bother to practice the piano. As a result, she ends up failing terribly at a talent show. She becomes angry when, afterward, her mother still insists

The article also relates too many of the experiences I go through in my life. For example, it talks about the need of individuals receiving recognition. As a young child I always felt more satisfied when my parents let me knew that they were proud of me and they made sure I knew that. It could’ve been the smallest of things such as learning how to tie my shoes and the enthusiasm they had for that made me feel I could do anything. Also when I was young I wouldn’t do well on my math tests even though I would study very hard for them. When I would come home sometimes I would be scared to see the reaction of my parents. However, even though it wasn’t the mark they necessarily wanted they realized that I worked hard for it and knew it would come eventually and let me know firmly that the end result must be good. So the ability of being recognized made me feel really good and kept me away from the negative thinking. As well the article talks about being a professional and not letting emotions getting the better of you. As a young child, I used to act on my emotions rather than thinking about it first. I let people’s words get in my head and that made me feel a certain way about myself. However, as I got older I got stronger mentally

In the story “Two Kinds”, Amy Tan portrays the growth of Jing-Mei by shifting her character multiple times throughout the story. In the beginning, Jing-Mei is hopeful and eager to find the prodigy side in her, but as time goes on and war erupts between her and her mother, she begins to realize she never had to be what and who she wasn’t; she was perfectly content with just being Jing-Mei. In the beginning, when Jing-Mei’s mother was trying to make her a “prodigy” and find her talent, she was “just as excited as [her] mother, maybe even more so . . . [she] was filled with a sense that [she] would soon become perfect”, but with every new test, her expectations fell short due to her failures.