Two Kinds Amy Tan Essay

No matter what background you come from or how you were raised, family is extremely important. According to Malinowski, “Family is a necessary institution for fulfilling the task of child rearing in society”(Conley, 2013). Society has come a long way when it comes to family and it is much different than it was in the 1950’s. Not all families are nuclear families. A nuclear family is having a mother, father, and children that are all biological (Conley, 2013). This kind of family is what some would call more “traditional.” Today in the twenty first century it is getting harder and harder to find families that have actually stayed together. There are so many different kinds of families in today’s society, and more and more families are becoming blended families. A blended family is when two families come together (Conley, 2013). Many families today have single mons, single, dads, and even same sex parents. Family is not always the people that live in the same house as you, family also consists of extended family. An extended family is a network that goes beyond the main “nuclear” family (Conley,

The definition of an underachiever as stated by Webster is “one (such as a student) that fails to attain a predicted level of achievement or does not do as well as expected.” In the short story “Two Kinds” written by Amy Tan, Ni’Kan is the queen of underachievers. She determines at a young age to become defiant to her mom. After experiencing disappointment from letting her mom down, Ni’Kan determined that she would not become a child prodigy and intentionally failed throughout her life.

In the short story, "Two Kinds" by Amy Tan, a Chinese mother and daughter are at odds with each other. The mother pushes her daughter to become a prodigy, while the daughter (like most children with immigrant parents) seeks to find herself in a world that demands her Americanization. This is the theme of the story, conflicting values. In a society that values individuality, the daughter sought to be an individual, while her mother demanded she do what was suggested. This is a conflict within itself. The daughter must deal with an internal and external conflict. Internally, she struggles to find herself. Externally, she struggles with the burden of failing to meet her mother’s expectations. Being a first-generation Asian American,

Her experience, along with other immigrant's experiences, serve to disprove the notion of the American dream being available for anyone who comes to America, and helps reveal the reality of the this dream: it is extremely difficult for any immigrant to attain it and the costs that immigrants end up paying to be able to pursue this dream usually

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.

Amy Tan was born in 1952, in Oakland, California to Chinese immigrants John and Daisy Tan. Her family eventually settled in Santa Clara. When Tan was in her early teens, her father and one of her brothers died of brain tumors within months of each other. During this period Tan learned that her mother had been married before, to an abusive husband in China. After divorcing him, her mother fled China during the Communist takeover, leaving three daughters behind who she would not see again for nearly forty years.

In the story Two Kinds by Amy Tan it tells the tale of conflict between a mother Suyuan and her daughter Jing-mei over piano lessons. Two Kinds deals with a clash between a mother’s belief of hard work and persistance and a daughter's belief that being a prodigy is unachievable. Amy Tan shows generational differences among immigrant families negotiating the mythology of the American Dream.

In the short story Two Kinds by Amy Tan, she writes about a child named Jing-mei and her experiences with her mother pushing her to become a prodigy, all while her mother deals with being a Chinese immigrant that just moved to the United States. The two countries obviously share very different cultures and this plays a part in the story as she pushes Jing-mei to live ‘The American Dream’. Her mother strongly believes that in America you can be whatever you want to be. This, to some, may not be true, however this idea is strongly pushed in the Chinese culture. This is shown when Jing-mei fails to do any prodigious task that her mother puts in front of her which leads to her mother being ultimately disappointed in Jing-mei. Her failures ends up causing a huge argument between Jing-mei and her mother. The argument could be called the climax of the story. This confrontation wouldn’t have happened if Jing-mei’s mother didn’t have the huge idea that The American Dream is a legitimate thing, and Jing-mei’s mother wouldn’t have that perception of America if the Chinese culture didn’t present the United States as such a place. Based on Chinese culture and perspectives, there are numerous fallacies concerning the American Dream, and these are displayed in Amy Tan’s short story “Two Kinds”.

In Amy Tan’s “Two Kinds” Jin-Mei mother had dreams as she was coming to America. “My mother believed you could be anything you wanted to be in America. You could open restaurant. You could work 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” (Tan 377). She is not alone. There are many people who come to America to make all these dreams come true. They all come with their children with the hope of finding a better life, to get away from the insecurities in their countries. However, parents who immigrate to America can put too much pressure on their children to fulfil the parents ‘dream, and by putting too much pressure on their children it leads the children to live a limited life with less choices.

“Of course you can be prodigy, too” (471). A mother’s wish for her daughter who believes she can be whatever she wants in America. In the story of “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan, a mother who comes from China after losing her first husband, twin baby girls and her home; comes to America having dreams for her daughter, Jing-Mei. “You can open a restaurant. You could work for the government. You could become rich…” (471). As a child of immigrant parents, I believe they too had that dream. America gives us better opportunities, a better life and numerous ways to be successful. This story shares what many parents go through; being obedient to parents wishes or following their own mind. They only want the best for their kids, especially if they didn’t have the opportunity due to lack of education.

“In 2009, 33 million people in the United States were second generation immigrants, representing 11% of the national population. The children of such immigrants in the U.S., also known as "second generation immigrants," experience a cultural conflict between that of their parents and that of mainstream U.S. society” (Wikipedia 1). Amy Tan the author of “Two Kinds”, and the young character in the story both are a second generation immigrants, who have struggled in their life with parents, about the culture they assimilating and their real culture.

Our mothers have played very valuable roles in making us who a we are and what we have become of ourselves. They have been the shoulder we can lean on when there was no one else to turn to. They have been the ones we can count on when there was no one else. They have been the ones who love of us for who we are and forgive us when no one else wouldn’t. In Amy Tan’s “Two Kinds,” the character Jing-mei experiences being raised by a mother who has overwhelming expectations for her daughter, causes Jing-mei to struggle with who she wants to be. “Only two kind of daughters,” “Those who are obedient and those who follow their own mind!”(476). When a mother pushes her daughter to hard the daughter rebels, but realizes in the end that their mothers

Like many immigrants think, America is the land of opportunity. People from all over the world,

Parents push their children to become a better person and to become better people in the future even if you dont like it now you'll be glad your parents pushed you. In the story “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan. The narrator's mother pushes her daughter to be something she wasn't. The narrator believes she has failed her mother plenty of times but its nothing really she wants to do. “It was not the only disappointment my mother felt in me. In the years that followed, I failed her many times, each time asserting my will, my right to fall short of expectations.”(Tan) The narrator feels as she never can make her mother satisfied with what she does. After the many things her mother put her through and made her do and try. she finally appreciated it when

In the quote above, Pearl S. Buck illustrates the idea that love can come in all shapes and sizes. Some mothers may show their love to their children by being very protective of them. They will always be there for them, say wonderful things about them and talk proudly of them. Other moms may be not so up front about their love towards their kids. These mothers will be tougher on their kids and discipline them more than the kissing mothers will. No matter how mothers show their love towards their children it is all still love. Jim and Phil have are in the same grade, and they both play high school basketball. They had a game one night, but the team ended up losing in a difficult overtime. Jim’s mom said that it would be alright and to just work