Two Kinds By Amy Tan Literary Analysis

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

She was my mother,” (31).  Jing-Mei says this to her aunts after her mother had died, and she had to take your position in joy luck.  She felt like she never really knew her mother because of their miscommunication.  Suyuan Woo, Jing-Mei’s mother, had many hopes and good intentions for her daughter. While Jing-Mei wanted to be herself and still please her mother, Suyuan wanted her daughter to be a child prodigy. Always wanting the best for her daughter, Suyuan hoped Jing-Mei would one day become an extraordinary pianist.  Although Jing-Mei played the piano, she never put forth much effort into the music because her best was not good enough for her mother.  Nonetheless, she stopped playing the piano.  “I could only be me,” (154).  She could not be something that she was not; she could not live up to her mother’s expectations.  This symbolized one of Jing-Mei’s songs, “Pleading Child.”  Suyuan continues to put all the pressure on Jing-Mei so that she will not become like her mother for all the reasons she had come to America; hopes for a better life.

According to the short story “Two Kinds,” by Amy Tan, Mrs. Woo (Jing Mei’s mother) said that “you can be anything you wanted to be in America.” Mrs. Woo believes that her daughter Jing Mei can be anything in the United States as long as she puts her mind to do it, so she tries to help her daughter to discover her talent. The ideas of Mrs. Woo are to rule and control her little girl's life, and her Chinese culture view tends to make her children become obedient children rather than to let her children follow their own minds. The narrator Jing Mei has a very complex relationship with her mother, and it leads her to create her own identity apart from her mother. Jing Mei believes that she can be successful through her own efforts and determination. When Jing Mei begins to understand the forces of her mother that drive her to belong to Chinese culture, she develops her own identity to be Americanized and personal insight apart from her mother.

Over there nobody will look down on her, because I will make her speak only perfect American English.  And over there she will always be too full to swallow any sorrow!  She will know my meaning because I will give her this swan- a creature that became more than what was hoped for.”  (Tan 1)  The culture in China the mothers of Joy Luck dealt with was unlike anything their daughters could ever imagine or appreciate. Between the mothers Lindo, Suyuan, An-mei and Ying-ying, the Chinese culture forced them into being married by a matchmaker, giving up babies, witness desperate attempts to save loved ones, and having an abortion.  In many ways the Chinese culture scared each woman, although they were proud of their heritage, their daughters deserved better.  These four mothers had very high hopes for the better lives that they wanted to give their daughters by raising them in America.  They didn’t like or want to have their daughters looked down upon, just because they were Chinese women.  From each of their own experiences, they learned that they wanted to improve the lives of their following generation.

If Ni’kan used her temper for talent, she would’ve become famous. Ni’kan is fighting her mom while mom just wants her daughter to put forth her best effort. Ni’kan can’t see this because she no longer wants to try to do anything for her mom. Not realizing that her mom is only trying to bring out who she already is. Ni’Kan’s rebellion to her mom caused her to not live out her full potential as a child and throughout her adult life.

At first, the daughter was to become a Chinese version of Shirley Temple. When that didn’t work, her mother told her that she would be attending piano lessons.

Both stories investigate the difference between American and Chinese parenting styles from two women’s point of view – Hanna Rosin and Amy Chua.

Early in childhood Jing Mei dreamed of finding her prodigy and being a famous Chinese American, mostly because of the views and actions her mother placed on her. Her mother believed you could be anything you wanted to be in America. (pg 405) Her mother was always pushing new tests and talents on Jing Mei. She even went as far as having her daughter Jing Mei models her physical appearance and actions after a child-star Shirley Temple. Her other was always testing her with many different things trying to discover Jing Mei’s talent. Later Jing Mei started to feel like her mother was just trying to make her into someone she was not and started to just fail and not try to do anything right hoping her mother would give up. When her mother died she had realized what her mother had been trying to do. Her mother had only wanted her to do her best. She had then to realize what her mother had

In the “Two Kinds” story the author illustrates the struggle between her American cultural identity, and her mother’s Chinese culture, as like the characters in the story. The author shows what is the struggle and the conflict that cultural differences creates. The author also uses symbolism, to address the conflicts between the characters in the story.

For millions of immigrants, America has been seen as the land of opportunity where anyone could become anything he or she wanted to be. A family that believes strongly in the American dream can be found in Amy Tan’s short story, “Two Kinds.” The story centers around the daughter of a Chinese immigrant who desperately wants her daughter to become successful. In the story, the author shows the difficult lives immigrants face when moving to a new culture. In this short story, the theme shows the protagonist’s conflict with her mother on the type of daughter her mother wants her to be. The author establishes the theme of how difficult mother-daughter relationships can be through characterization, setting, and symbolism.

Life in America was polar opposite from what Tan's mother had expected, Ying-Mei did not conform to her mothers prior ways, but instead took the culture surrounding her, to form her own identity. Doing so, let her mother down many times even though she strived to make her mother proud. " And after seeing, once again, my mother's disappointed face, something in me began to die"(Tan, 19). Due to the fact that the two were raised in different environments, encased with totally different cultures, they did not exactly see eye to eye. Ying-Mei's mother was raised the traditional Chinese way, where a child is meant to obey every order their parents throw at them, whereas Tan was brought up in a culture where it was socially acceptable to test the boundaries of rules.

Furthermore, Jing-mei discovers, “Old Chong’s eyes were too slow to keep up with wrong notes [she] was playing,”(472). As a result, Jing-mei performs “Pleading Child” miserably at the talent show her parents and all of the members of the Joy Luck Club attended. Jing-mei saw the disapproval and shame on her mother’s face, and decided to stop practicing piano. If Jing-mei’s mother wouldn’t have looked so disappointed and been proud of her daughter Jing-mei wouldn’t have been so discouraged. Jing-mei would’ve still had faith in herself like she did before her performance. “When my turn came, I was very confident. I remember my childish excitement. It was as if I knew, without a doubt, that the prodigy side of me really did exist. I had no fear whatsoever, no nervousness. This is it!” (474). After seeing the dismay in her parents eyes Jing-mei changed her whole outlook on the situation, which weakened Jing-mei’s pride, causing her to fully rebel from being a prodigy. Furthermore, encouraging her to be who she wanted to be.

This passage takes place in San Francisco, where a young girl lives with her mother and father . This small family lives in an apartment complex, somewhere in Chinatown. Jing-Mei the young daughter of chinese immigrants is put under pressure by her mother , who has high expectations for her. In the beginning of this story Ni-kann, which is the young girl’s nickname goes along with her mother's expectations for her . Ni-kann’s mother tries to make her become the next prodigy of their time, making her do a series of events such as trying to revise the bible from memory, being the next shirley temple , and knowing every U.S state capital.

“Two Kinds” by Amy Tan is a story that focuses on a theme of generational tension between mother and daughter. Problems of identity and community in twentieth century America are also highlighted in this text. Jing-mei Woo struggles to find her identity as someone who has ethnic ties to China, but is born and raised in America. Through this struggle, her idea of the type of person that she should become changes drastically. What this text shows us is how significant events can affect our relationships with those who are close to us and our perception of our own identity. For Jing-mei Woo, the attempts of becoming a prodigy and failing at it changes her outlook on life, up until the death of her mother which makes her realize something

I won’t let her change me”. This is where struggle rears its ugly head in her and her mother’s relationship Jeng-mei not being from China lacked an obedience that her counterpart may have had because she was an American child. You see Jeng-mei’s mother did not take into consideration her child being an American was probably not going to be as obedient as other Chinese girls were. Jeng-mei’s mother reason for coming to America was to take advantage of all America had to offer but I don’t think Amy’s mother realized that America gave her daughter her own mind.