Perfect Chinese Children: Love And Sacrifice

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.

In Amy tans short stories Rules of the Game, Fish Cheeks, and Two Kinds part of the novel the Joys Luck Club uses topics concerning the limits and connections in the relationships between mothers and their daughters. In an Asian society, especially Chinese society assumes a vital part in every one of the three short stories, giving the primary conflict an interesting plot. Amy Tans short stories for the most part depict the inconveniences and strain between Chinese immigrant moms and their Americanized daughters through their common experiences in a captivating way. The daughters disregard the Chinese part of their heritage and personality and grasp the American side. They ponder their adolescence up with solid order and desires that the greater part of them have not met prompting future blame. Presently as developed ladies with their own particular families, the Americanized daughters mirror the past with contradictions they had with their Chinese society. Every daughter in the story’s in the long run perceives how their tradition and generation had huge influence in forming their characters making them grasp their Chinese legacy.

A person's sense of individual identity is always changing in response to the experiences in life. How we feel, how we act and how we perceive ourselves and our surroundings can influence change in identity. Identity can be defined as a set of personal or behavioural characteristics by which an individual is recognized or known as by a group. The horrific and heart breaking story of what my friend experienced is a perfect example of how our circumstances and experiences can alter our identities. About two years ago, my friend began to change. Not just how she acted but her appearance too. She looked upset all the time, was skipping school, drifting away from friendships and spent a lot of time in one of the teacher's offices. It took a while

The generally accepted way in which children in a society are raised, constitutes its philosophical and social child rearing practice. Child-rearing research has focused on understanding differences in parent’s beliefs and values, characteristics of cultural socialization, and the implications of such variations. “Chinese parents traditionally stress their authority over their children and expect unquestioning obedience from them” (Chiu 1987). In America, a parent’s main focus is what they should do for their children to help them succeed in life; Chinese parents raise their children to do what is best for their parents and society. Significant differences were found in Chinese,

Her family was old-fashioned and well-mannered. When her family’s English was mocked, they kept their mouths shut and laughed along. When her family was ostracized from the rest of the neighborhood, they pretended not to notice, not to care. Her family taught her how to exercise caution, how to be afraid, how to categorize events as either blessings or lessons.

In a different story and a different life, the same connection that responsibility to one’s family is important. From the eyes of a school aged girl who came with her family to america from the Dominican Republic, it is clear to see that family is always important. When the girl and her family came to America, all her mother wanted to do was invent. Her mami wanted to just do something great. But her home and job needed her first. She would work full day then come home and run her home. Only once her house was settled down for the night, would she think. With her husband asleep next to her, she “in her lighted corner, like some devoted scholar burning the midnight oil” (Alvarez 1) would the devoted mother invent. She would do her duties to

An oppression is when people are governed under unfair and cruel way and have no freedom or opportunities. There are different types of oppression, such as racial and religious conflicts, conflicts between dictatorial governments and their citizens. Also, the battle between sexes, conflicts between management and labor, and conflicts between heterosexuals and homosexuals.

As America being such a diverse country, we come across the differences between cultures of immigrant families. Each culture having their own beliefs and values to what they think is right. Cultural diversity is seen everyday where there are different expressions or views from any person. Everyday cultural differences show society how each person has their own way of doing things. Amy Chua writes an excerpt called “Why Chinese Mothers are Superior,” on her way parenting her two daughters following the chinese culture. She explains how western parents are much more lenient than chinese parents with their children and education. Chua gives examples of how she raised her daughter Lulu and Sophia leading them to success. She makes comparisons between western and chinese parents throughout the essay and concludes that both type of parents want the best for their children just do it in different ways (Chua 52). In the article, named “Chinese vs Western Mothers: Q&A with Amy Chua,” is an interview with the author Amy Chua where she clarifies her chinese way of parenting did not hurt her children the way the audience thought it did. Chua explains that her relationship with her two daughters is very strong and believes there are many good ways of parenting not just the chinese way (Luscombe, par.17). Reading Amy Chua’s essay has shown the chinese immigrant way of parenting where people gain knowledge on how they do things and answer their questions on how chinese people are so

Certain events can affect the way a person acts or feels towards a person or an object. In the novel The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros makes sure that the audience understands the struggle that comes with a single parent with several children. Cisneros says,“They are bad those Vargases, and how can they help it with only one mother who is tired all the time from buttoning and bottling and babying, and who cries everyday for the man who left without even leaving a dollar for bologna or a note explaining how come.”(29). The fact that the mother struggles from the workload of two parents is demeaning. It makes it easier for the lonely parent to fantasize about how much better their lives would have been with that one person instead of stopping to take the time to think about how their life is presently stopping to take the time to think and about how much they are needed by someone else.

Relationships are the most important part of everyone’s life and most of them start from the very beginning. Many people assume that our first relationship, especially with our mothers are very important. As opposed to, our mothers play a meaningful role of being the primary nurturer and teacher. This is a unique situation, since when a mother gives birth to a daughter she becomes her nurturer and a role model because of that child start to mimic their mother, which may lead to a complex relationship. The characters from Tillie Olsen’s essay demonstrates this kind of a sophisticated relationship. However, their situation is happen to be so because the narrator is a teen mother left alone with a newborn baby at the Great Depression time without

"A mother's love for her child is like nothing else in the world. It knows no law, no pity, it dares all things and crushes down remorselessly all that stands in its path " (Christie). Mothers want their children to be the best they can, but at what cost? For Amy Tan, the cost was her happiness. Amy Tan, an American born citizen, conceived from two emigrated Chinese parents, was burdened at a young age. As a young girl, both her father and brother died of brain tumors which caused her mother to retreat into her Chinese roots and religious beliefs by believing that their house became cursed. After moving and finding a new home, over time, Tan's mother developed an unrealistic standard for her daughter's future. With changing her major in college and switching

Author Amy Tan introduces readers to her perspective of the voracious love relationships between mother and daughters. In the story, the protagonist is a young girl called Jing Mei who is also the main character in the story with her Mother being the antagonist. Being first generation Americans set forward multiple expectations and implications for the protagonist to deliver. Young Jing Mei struggled to find the freedom to express her own identity rather then live up to her mothers standards. Both mother and daughter soon fell into conflict because of their complexities and views. Jing Mei’s mother wanted to transform her into a prodigy, as Jing Mei just wanted life and experience life as a normal american girl. As being the product of an immigrant family, as a parent, Mother Woo wanted very open opportunity for her child. Being in this country was a privilege and had much more meaning to Mother Woo than Jing Mei. Multiple barriers were experienced by both charters. Cultural indifferences,the search for identity, and self improvement were key components to the personal interoperation established to readers through out its synopsis.

In the 18th century, China was influenced by various teachings of philosophers and beliefs that the society had placed emphasis on. Filial piety (xiao) was a major practice around this period when it was strongly carried inside and outside the household. Filial piety is not only the guiding principle of Chinese ethics but it also played an affirmative role in determining the Chinese lifestyle; it was practiced daily in the family and in other areas such as education, religion and government. It was the central root of Chinese morals and the society was constructed upon the principles of xiao, which certainly became the premises of Chinese culture and the society. In Confucianism, the approach of respect, fidelity, and care toward one’s

Mothers and fathers play important roles in the growth of children’s life, with different approaches but a same goal: for the good of the children. In various publications, fatherhood complements motherhood: one represents the power that provides protections to the families while the other gives the most detailed care toward their children. However, what happens if only mothers present in the households? To the extreme, in Herland, Charlotte Perkins Gilman even depicts a utopia consisted of only female, a world operated solely on the love of mothers. This love contributes to the healthy growth and the continuation of their future generations in the absence of the fatherhood. Thorough and comprehensive, the mothers’ love delicately fruits the

As the head of the household it is a father’s duty to keep the family together whatever the situation lies ahead of them. However, this is the stereotypical view of what a father should be without taking into the fact that certain circumstances can impact each and every family. For example, both these short stories face the same tragedy in which both families lose their sons to something that is unavoidable such as a disease or simply just death at a young age. Jhumpa Lahari explores the thought that a father needs to provide for the family financially in order to give the family a good life, while Bobbie Ann Mason encourages the idea that simply presence and materialistic things will help one’s family and at the same time happiness. However, this is not always the case as both the families in this story struggle with the aftermath of the loss of their sons. One chooses to continue working to give his family a good life even without his wife’s support while the other decides to find ways such as simply spending time with his wife to make her happy. These decisions will not only contribute to how each head of the family will change throughout, but also why each of their own characteristics will affect how their wives will view them.