Jing-Mei's Self Identity

Under the influence of different cultures, different identities are formed. Jing-Mei Woo (June), similar to Waverly, also lives in between two worlds. June, since young, is accustomed to two sets of culture and beliefs. Jing-Mei’s mother has lost everything when she comes to the United States, and she has all her hopes on her daughter, therefore she wants to train her daughter to be a genius. As the mother presses all the homeworks on June, June loses heart and cries “I won’t let her change me, I promised myself. I won’t be what I’m not” . By crying and shouting out loud, June wants to declare her self identity, which ultimately reflects on the American individualism, which is one of the most integral parts of the U.S. value. Being raised in

Towards the middle, Jing-mei knows she isn’t been doing well on the tests, but her mother persists by giving her harder tests and begins quizzing her on anything from predicting the weather of cities halfway across the world to finding the queen of hearts in a deck of cards. Thoughts such as, “[...] she wasn't good enough,” (2) start to occupy Jing-mei’s mind. Her focus on her future fame suddenly disappears as she no longer wants to be famous, or anything special for that matter, in fear of ‘not being good enough’ at a growing list of things. Her fear of failure significantly contribute to her self-doubt.

Jing-Mei can 't deny who she is because it 's in her DNA. Suyuan, her mother, told her "Once you are born Chinese, you cannot help but feel and think Chinese" (Tan 139). Her mother said that to her because Jing-Mei is Americanize and knows little about her heritage. Tan is pretty much describing herself that she was born in America and knows little about her background. Jing-Mei tells her mother about her and her friends "I was about as Chinese as they were" (Tan 139). Jing-Mei means that she knows as much about Chinese as her white friends in America would know. But her mother claims that she knows more because she is a nurse and keeps telling her that no matter what, she is Chinese and it 's in her.

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.

"It’s not showoff." She said the two soups were almost the same, chabudwo. Or maybe she said butong, not the same thing at all. It was one of those Chinese expressions that means the better half of mixed intentions. I can never remember things I didn’t understand in the first place. (I.1.6). Here we can see that Jing-mei does not fully comprehend the Chinese culture. She doesn't understand what her mother is saying and therefore missing the the intended message her mother was giving her. In this quote code switching is used Tan uses this to establish the character of the mother to the audience and again emphasizes the linguistic barrier. This concept of a barrier is an extremely important part of why the mothers and daughters seem to always misunderstand each other. The mothers are all immigrants from china and therefore speak broken english. Whereas the daughters were born in the US and speak the language fairly well. [Quote] These barriers also exist between the mothers and their daughters husbands and boyfriends which creates a strained relationship with the in-laws. One of the main conflicts is formed from this theme in the first section of the book Jing-me says that "In me, they see their own daughters, just as ignorant, just as unmindful of all the truths and hopes they have brought to america. They see daughters who grow impatint when their mothers talk chinese, who think they're stupid when they explain things in fractured english. They see that joy and luck do not mean the same to their daughters, that to these closed American-born minds "joy luck" is not a word, it does not exist. They see daughters who will bear grandchildren born without any connecting hope passed from generation to generation." . This one but long quote explains the main conflict of the book is that the mothers are afraid of being misunderstood and forgotten due to in no small part ethnic and linguistic

Jing-mei originally believed that in order to “be Chinese” one must live in China and abide by the stereotype of Chinese people; after her visit to China, she finds that “being Chinese” is accepting the Chinese DNA in her blood and understanding the culture. In the beginning of A Pair of Tickets, Jing-mei does not feel Chinese. She repeatedly denies being Chinese saying, “… and all of my Caucasian friends agreed: I was about as Chinese as they were” (Norton 179). She had never experienced the culture first-hand and never truly connected with her true heritage. She sees China in her visit. This is the first opportunity she has ever had to interact with other Chinese people. Coming from a social group of all Caucasian friends, first-hand interaction allows her to understand the Chinese people in a much more advanced manner. They seem less

Even the hotel she stays in looks like "a grander version of the Hyatt Regency" and the Chinese feast she had envisioned was replaced by "hamburgers, french fries, and apple a la mode." It is not until she finally meets her twin sisters, in modern Shanghai, that she realizes that she is Chinese because of "blood" and not face or place. Within this story, however, is her mother's story, set in another time and place. Fleeing from the Japanese invasion, during World War Two in 1944, Jing-Mei's mother is forced to abandon her twin daughters on the road between Kweilin and Chungking. Upon hearing her mother's story Jing-Mei Woo is able to understand a great deal more about her mother and their relationship, as well as her own past.

By ignoring their mothers, these daughters do not see the similarities between themselves and their mothers, for their mothers have also rejected Chinese traditions, particularly those that repress women. After witnessing her mother's tragic fate, An-Mei has come to America determined to raise her children to have choices. Lindo's early arranged Chinese marriage has taught her to value America where "nobody says you have to keep the circumstances somebody else gives you" (254). Jing-mei's mother "believed you could be anything you wanted to be in America" (132). Ying-ying belatedly realizes that her lifetime of keeping her mouth closed "so selfish desires would not fall out" (67) has meant that she has lost herself. In all four cases, it is when the daughters recognize these similarities that they start to understand not only their mothers, but also themselves.

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

The differences between Jing-Mei and my life lie in the motherly relationship. Jing-Mei’s mother brings tests and obstacles to her everyday life, yet Jing-Mei “hated the tests” by “raised hopes and failed expectations” (717). Unlike her mother, my mother is never disappointed and does not expect much from me. Jing-Mei’s mother does not care about the way her daughter feels; when Jing-Mei asks her mother about why she does not like the way she is, her mother’s first response is a slap (719). On the other hand, my mother is easygoing with who I want to be. Jing-Mei

Jing-Mei's mother is a determined Chinese immigrant with high ambitions for her daughter but little practical idea of how they can be achieved. While everyone has conflicts with their mothers at some point, Amy Tan is able to make this particular conflict interesting because the mother is such a comic, tragic, determined, and foreign character. The mother's comic and tragic traits are shown through her attempts to make Jing-Mei into Shirley Temple; the mother's determination is shown through her awful past in China and the resurrection of her life in America; and her foreign nature is shown by her obvious lack of understanding of United States culture. An example of the mother's ridiculous dreams for her daughter comes when the mother has Jing-Mei

conflict is the major theme of this story because Jing Mei's mother lived an extremely difficult life in China so she pressures Jing-Mei to excel in America where its easier for a girl to be successful. The problem is that Jing Mei's mother says success for her daughter is being exceptional at something. Jing-Meis mother makes her take piano lessons in order to become a protegee. So she can grow up and become famous like her mom's expectations for her. The title of the book refers to Jing Mei's mother's statement that there are two kinds of daughters in the world those who obey and those who rebel and when her mom pushes her too far she rebels. Jing-Mei as an adult, she can see a little bit of both in herself and is now mature enough now to

The story Two Kinds is about a young Chinese American woman recalling her past with her mother, when she was still alive. Jing-Mei’s mother has migrated from China in 1949 after losing everything, including her two twin daughters. Her mother believed that better opportunities and dreams come true in the Land of America. Because of her belief, she attempted to raise Jing-Mei to become a prodigy, using every way she could find. At first, she coaches Jing-Mei into becoming a Chinese Shirley Temple, assuming that Jing-Mei has the skills and the talent to become a child actress. Jing-Mei begins to believe in her mother at first, filling herself with a sense that she would become perfect and famous, like her mother always told her. Along with becoming an actress, Jing-Mei’s mother obtained some of the magazines from the houses she cleaned and began to test her daughter to increase her intelligence, hence comparing her to the stories of the “remarkable children” (130). After being tested repeatedly, and failing, Jing-Mei grows resentful and realized that she disappoints her mother every time she fails to reach her potential.

Do you ever regret something you’ve said or done at all your life and wish you can take it back? “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan is about a young teenage girl, Jing-Mei, who is being pushed to become a prodigy. Jing-Mei and her mother's relationship took a dramatic turn after she says something so damaging and hurtful to her mother. Through the course of the story, Jin-Mei and her mother start to spread apart when her mother is constantly pushing her to be her best. Her mother was always striving for heer to do her best. After a careful analysis of the story the reader understands how Jing-Mei feeling toward her mother changed, why her feelings changed, and how those changed feeling affect the entire story.

Having lived all her life in San Francesco, Jing-mei has never considered herself as Chinese. Her background and environment has shaped her into the person who she is today, and that person is, according to Jing-mei, not Chinese. Jing-mei mentions that she is embarrassed by how her mother has acted and states, “all those things my mother did to embarrass me – haggling with store owners, pecking her mouth with a toothpick in public, being color-blind to the fact that lemon yellow and pale pink