The Dream Is Not Dead, By Amy Tan

Four Chinese mothers have migrated to America. Each hope for their daughter’s success and pray that they will not experience the hardships faced in China. One mother, Suyuan, imparts her knowledge on her daughter through stories. The American culture influences her daughter, Jing Mei, to such a degree that it is hard for Jing Mei to understand her mother's culture and life lessons. Yet it is not until Jing Mei realizes that the key to understanding who her

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

Mostly, Jing-mei 's fears echo those of her peers, the other daughters of the Joy Luck Club members. They have always identified with Americans (Jing-mei also goes by the English name"June") but are beginning to regret having not paid attention to their Chinese history. Her fears also speak to a two-way fear shared by the mothers, who wonder whether, by giving their daughters American opportunities and (the ability to survive with no outside help), they have abandoned them from their Chinese history.

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.

To me the American Dream is something in the past, and it no longer applies to the present American society. The American Dream fueled our nation from the beginning. The American dream was in the mind of immigrants coming to America in search of a new and better life, a new beginning where you can start fresh and reinvent yourself and become successful. But now the Dream no longer exist in our nation, but it still exists in the mind of immigrants. America was a place where immigrants came to seek a brighter future not only for themselves but also for their children. The dream is still believed to exist by immigrants but their expectations are not met once they arrive here in the United States. The land of opportunity for everyone is now the land with opportunity for the few. So I personally do not believe that the “American Dream” still exists in this country, it is just a memory now.

“Two kinds” is a story, a Chinese girl whose life is influenced by her mother. Her mother came to America after losing everything in China. Jing-Mei’s mother was immigrated early to America from China who has “American dream”. Her mother had high expectations on her daughter and did not care how it could affect her. It made Jing-Mei become a stubborn and rebellious person. “In the years that followed, I failed her so many times, each time asserting my own will, … for unlike my mother, I did not believe I could be anything I wanted to be, I could only be me. (104) She expressed her anger by going against her mother's expectations in ‘who I am’, it inferred that such tendency come from her childhood experiences. Jing-Mei was frustrated because she could not satisfy her mother.

"I think the American Dream says that anything can happen if you work hard enough at it and are persistent, and have some ability. The sky is the limit to what you can build, and what can happen to you and your family" expressed Sanford I. Weill. The American Dream is still alive and obtainable. Many people have a definition of what the American Dream that is obtainable in their minds. People all have unique individual lives.

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

The American dream has changed drastically thru our history. Back in the 1950 and 1960 the American dream was to have the house with the white picket fence and the 2 ½ kids. Now the dream for a lot of people is to be able to pay their bills and maybe have enough money to go out for a nice little dinner that you did not have to cook yourself. The American dream is dead, it is because the concept has changed from the idea that everyone can improve their life through hard work to the idea that everyone can become a millionaire through virtually no work. The United State at one point used to have everything you needed to make this dream happen. But since jobs have been moving over sees we have lost all of that. The American Dream is so

2. Although Jing Mei is too young to know what was her mother’s real thought, she gives a clear description of what her mother said, did, how she did it. Some

Nowadays, a large number of people migrate to the United States to work and achieve the American Dream. According to the Article “What is the American Dream?” by Kimberly Amadeo, “The American Dream was first publicly defined in 1931 by James Truslow Adams in Epic of America. Adam’s often-repeated quote is, ‘The American Dream is that dream of land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement.’” There are many people that can have different perspectives when it comes to the topic of the American dream. Even though many people assume the American Dream is dead, it is a very controversial topic. The American Dream may have many different points of views, but it really does exist, after all, it takes an ambitious person to strive for success through hard work, dedication and determination.

The American Dream, once a symbol of success that was obtained through hard work and dedication, now doesn’t have much of a symbol of all. Some who are living this so called dream didn’t do anything to get it, while others strive for something they may never get. Obtaining this dream is harder than ever, and there is no guarantee you will ever achieve it. When you ask most people what they think the American Dream is they will say something about wealth or happiness, however once they obtain that they may realize it isn’t all what it is talked up to be.

Jing-mei realized that she was an ordinary individual and that she would not let her mother’s expectations change that. She no longer believed that she “could be anything [she] wanted to be, [rather she] could only be [herself]” (Tan 44). In using a limited, first-person point of view, Tan is able to show Jing-mei’s emotional progress of following her mother’s dreams to finally realizing her own dream.

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 parallel of being successful and famous is symbolized in the character Shirley Temple, a 1960’s white television child that became popular from her acting and cute appearance (ENG 114). The pianist to Mrs. Woo becomes the perfect representation of her American dream and assurance that it is possible for immigrants to become prosperous. Jing-mei is seen in the story rebelling against her mother by invoking her “own will, [and] right to fall short of expectations” (240). This characterization is equivalent to American individualism that employs the principle of favoring freedom of action for the individual over the collective, or in this case for Mrs. Woo. These opposing values continuously clash and create distance within the mother and daughter relationship. The immigrant expectations of success for a better life in America coupled with American values of freedom and individuality provokes and sustains the rift in the family’s bond.