“Your Only Shame is to Have Shame”

The American Dream is “a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position” (Adams, 1931). It is the guarantee that with hard work and passion anyone can achieve upward mobility regardless of their origin. Many Americans believe in this promise, hoping that one day their first circumstance will not dictate the outcome of the rest of their lives. However the American Dream can be elusive without any real he American Dream eludes The novel Ragged Dick; or, Street Life in New York with the

Tan shows that she is embarrassed in her family for their lacking of proper American manners. Although at the time she felt ashamed, the words spoken by her mother, “Inside you must always be Chinese. You must be proud you are different. Your only shame is to have shame” became better understood later in life. In Amy Tan's work, the strong use of description of both the event that are occurring and Amy’s feelings about them, draws the reader in and makes them feel as if they are part of the action. Tan's Chinese-American culture and life stories are imprinted in her writing which gives the reader an opportunity to gain knowledge about the way of life in her family, friends, and even the Chinese culture. Tan's main purpose of writing is to inform and educate people about growing up as a minority in the American society.

By using the word “Chinese” a numerous amount of times, she “shines bad light” on it. In other words, the emphasis of the word “Chinese” gives a negative feel to the whole concept of Chinese culture. “When I found out that my parents had invited the minister iver for Christmas eve dinner, I cried. What would Robert think of our shabby Chinese Christmas? What would he think of our noisy Chinese relatives who lacked proper American manners? What terrible disappointment would he feel upon seeing not a roasted turkey and sweet potatoes but Chinese food?” (paragraph 2) Tan is really embarrassed and really cares about what Robert will think about her house, her food, and her family. Theses three things all have one thing in common, which is, the Chinese culture.

The main reason for the huge crack in the mother-daughter relationship is due to the joint culture that they share and their conflicting opinions on their joint cultures (Parini 294). Communication problems with their mothers, in Tan’s writings, are due to the daughters of Chinese mothers wanting to be more American than Chinese (Tan The Opposite of Fate…. 22). Mothers who have immigrated to America face language barriers and feel the pressure of their new culture (Wiener 22). To a Chinese American daughter, not only does the Chinese mother humiliate the daughter, but traditions that tie back to their past are also humiliating to them (Parini 292). After the death of her father, Tan’s relationship with her mother decreased and caused her to become more rebellious to her mother’s good intentions (Angel 26-27).

The American dream is an ideal that every immigrant strives to attain. It's the promise of wealth, security, and a future for one's family. The pursuit of this dream isn't always why people come to America; some people come because they are fleeing danger or poverty in their home country. The U.S, with it's tempting opportunity and freedom, then becomes the best place to escape to. These people leave everything behind to travel abroad and start a new, more opportune life. They risk their lives when they make the often perilous journey to America and, upon arrival, face struggles that they've never even heard of. Struggles such as cultural assimilation, discrimination, and identity. In the book The Gangster We Are All Looking For, by Le Thi Diem Thuy, a Vietnamese refugee recalls her experience as a young girl when she first arrived in the U.S. In it she tells of various struggles her and her parents, her dad is called Ba and her mom is called Ma, had while living in America. The Vietnamese girl's name is never told in the book, so she will be

In the story Tan brought up how people in america could not fully understand her mother. “Yet some of my friends tell me they could understand 50 percent of what my mother says. Some say they understand 80 or 90 percent. Some say they understand none” (Tan 1013). The lack of understanding her friends had on her mother did show that americans only know their own mother tongue and this lead to problems for her mother. Tan brought up a few occurrences where she would have to pretend to be her mother while speaking so she would be treated right. “Then she began to talk more loudly. “What he want, I come to New York tell him front of his boss, you cheating me?’” (Tan 1014). Tan understood exactly what her mother said and had to translate it accordingly in order for her mother to get fair treatment. Another story Tan used another story that gave her purpose a very strong

Gish Gen and Barbara Ehrenreich’s works outline the struggles and challenges that the Americans undergo today in their pursuit of the American dream. Gen points to a Chinese family that is weaved between maintaining ties with their traditional Chinese way of life and culture, and adopting the American dream (Gen 107). Through this rather humorous and attention catching treatise, Gen confirms the struggles the American immigrant population face in order to streamline their thought, actions and philosophy with what the American dream represents. A majority of immigrants survives on low wages and struggles to put food on the

In the story "A Pair of Tickets" by Amy Tan, talks about the story of Jing-Mei, the narrator, going to China to fulfill her mother's dream. This story was based on Tan's life experiences when she went to go learn more about her background and see her sister in China. Going to China for the first time made her feel as she was "transforming" and feeling the Chinese in her that she never knew she has. She later finds out how much she cherishes her family and learns how important her culture is to her. Knowing who she is and where she comes from is an important aspect of her inner self.

Amy Tan portrays Suyuan as having a strong belief in the American Dream. Two Kinds starts out with “My mother believed you can be anything you wanted to be in America. You could open a restaurant. You could work for the government and get good retirement ” (Tan 543). The American Dream is the idea that every single person in the United States has an equal opportunity to become successful with hard work. Jing-Mei’s mother believes intensely in the American Dream because she left everything behind in China and came to America. Fo Suyuan the American Dream is opportunity and success. In America Suyuan is able to give Jing-Mei opportunities that Suyuan never had access to. Suyean believes her daughter can be a prodigy if she works hard especially in the United States where talent can help elevate a person’s status regardless of a person’s race. “”Who ask you be genius?” she shouted “I only ask you be your best.”(Tan 546). Even though Jing-Mei falls short of her expectations Suyuan still believes in her daughter’s abilities. If Jing-Mei is achieves the American Dream by becoming a prodigy

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”.

“The Legend” by Garrett Hongo was written in 1951 and “Mexicans Begin Jogging” by Gary Soto was written in 1995. For a short background, in the 1950’s, America is at its peak. The economy is booming larger than ever before. This was the time where the American dream starts to grow for the American people, and also for immigrants that tries to make a better living in a great country. A few decades later, in the early 1990’s, America was starting to enter one of the greatest economic recession ever, but immigrants still rushing into the United States in the hope of achieving the great American dream, to go after the wealth that the United States promised to give for those who work hard for it. These two poems does complement each other. Both of these poems, and poets, tries to resemble the view of the American society of those who try to pursue the American dream, as an immigrant or the son of immigrants that lived in the United States, but no one cares about their identity and hard work to achieve the American dream. Both scenarios reveals the view of the dark side of the American dream, of how difficult it is to have the opportunity to achieve the American dream, as well as alienation.

She has a crush on the minister's son and she is embarrassed about her family's culture. My favorite quote from “Fish Cheeks” is “what would Robert think of our shabby Chinese Christman”(Tan)? “What would he think of our noise Chinese relatives who lack proper American manners”(Tan)? “What terrible disappointment would he feel upon seeing not a roasted turkey and sweet potatoes but Chinese food”(Tan)? These are all of the concerns running through Tan’s mind the minute she found out about the holiday dinner her family was hosting. Personally, I feel this is a story that many of us can relate to. Growing up I think a lot of people feel unsure or have insecurities when they feel different from other people. However, I think theses insecurities only make us grow as people. At the end of the essay Tan states, “For Christmas Eve that year, she had chosen all my favorite foods” (Tan). Her mother knew she was nervous about this dinner so in result she cooked all her favorite foods to make her feel more comfortable. Even if the context is different we have all been in situations where we have felt embarrassed about something. Whether it has to do with a crush, school, family, work etc. We have all had anxiety about what people may think of us no matter how old you are or what stage you're going through in life right now we have all been there

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.

Primarily, Tan establishes the theme of the story through characterization. The protagonist, Jing-mei, finds it difficult to live up to the high expectations her mother has set for her. After seeing so much disappointment in her mother’s face, Jine-mei “look[s] in the mirror above the bathroom sink and when [she] saw only [her] face staring back – and that it would always be this ordinary face – she began to cry” (Tan 2). This bring Jing-mei and her mother into conflict with Jing-mei eventually screaming at her mother that “‘[she] wish[ed] she were dead. Like them’” (Tan 8). As she matures, Jing-mei becomes a little more level-headed; she then understands her mother only wants the best for her. Through diction and language, the author creates a character that is

In the short story “Two Kinds”, by the author, Amy Tan intends to make the readers understand the real purpose behind the story by illustrating what is the real problem between her and her mother, she doesn’t speak out as an authority she is using her own point of view as a narrator to explained what she has experienced by living in The United States when her mother culture is from a different country. The daughter tried to explain her feelings and events of her childhood and how frustrated she is feeling for failing her mother expectations giving the story a bittersweet relationship between mother and daughter but a good sign of forgiveness end. The young Chinese American “June” in the story is going through a lot of pressure by living under her mom different lifestyle, Suyuan is the name of the mother she was born and raised in Asia but then she moved to the united states wanting the best for her family because she always said The United States was the country of opportunities but deep inside she was living with sadness and depression after having to left her twin baby girls in China in 1949. Suyuan the mother wanted her daughter June to be an American prodigy she was still applying the Asian culture on her and wanted June to just obey her orders by doing what she wanted not what she was really good at.