The Prodigy

The Decline of a Prodigy Evident in this culture, immense amounts of pressure often cause dissatisfaction in one’s self, many times leading one to the misconception of attaining perfection. After losing everything in China, Jing-mei’s mother, inspired by Shirley Temple, gives her daughter peculiar tests as part of “becoming a prodigy.” Being fed up with the tests, displays of her boredom allow Jing-mei’s mother to give up for a while. One day, her mother sees a little Chinese girl playing piano

how to play and become a prodigy at the piano. Mrs. Tan traded cleaning house with Mr. Chong their deaf neighbor who used to teach music. Amy starts to slack because her music teacher was deaf and not able to truly hear what Amy was playing. This was reflected in the recital and utterly bombed in front her parent, family, and friends. Amy’s mother was disappointed but when Jeng-mei felt that this would be her escape and her mother would not bother her about this prodigy thing she was sadly mistaken

to do something rather than being forced to do so he or she often becomes perfectly content with it. In the story, Jing-Mei’s mother believes that she is a prodigy and, therefore, forces Jing-Mei to take several tests other prodigy students had taken. After failing most of them, Jing-Mei’s mother has given up hope, until she hears a child prodigy playing the piano. She enrolls Jing-Mei in piano lessons with Mr. Chong, who is deaf. Feeling she can get away with not trying her hardest, Jing-Mei does

“Two Kinds” by Amy Tan is a story that shows a battle that starts with the narrator and her mother, for control over the narrator’s life. Her mother wanted her to become a prodigy, but she wanted to be anything other than that. So, throughout the short story “Two Kinds” she’s determined to not quit the fight. “Two Kinds” is filled with different forms of conflict which allows for the narrator to realize that her mother’s crazy antics were to help her find what she was good at. Which leads to the

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strong-willed mother's dream that she become a prodigy” (Brent). Throughout the story, Amy Tan describes the struggles that Jing-Mei faces between her

his life. The love life of Colin Singleton, and the road trip he embarks on in An Abundance of Katherines, demonstrates his character development from an underdeveloped child prodigy to a lively teenager. The character development of Colin Singleton is a complex adventure, but it began with a self-centered former child prodigy who had recently broken up with his nineteenth girlfriend, Katherine. “When it comes to girls (and in Colin’s case, it so

Club, by Amy Tan, Jing-mei’s mother believed that her daughter could become anyone that she wanted. Jing-mei only wanted to become herself. Jing-mei’s mother forced Jing-mei to become a prodigy. At first Jing-mei was excited to become a prodigy, however, as time went on Jing-mei started to hate trying to become a prodigy. It never stopped her mother from trying to make Jing-mei into a prodigy.Jing-mei’s perspective of her own cultural identity, her role as daughter, and how she sees American life was

childhood and the impacts of her mother’s high expectation for her life. The mother pressures Jing-mei to exceed in America where everything is possible. However, they come into a conflict when her mother becomes determined to make Jing-mei into a child prodigy. The mother forces her daughter to take piano lessons; however, when it comes time for the talent show, she fails unhappily. Her contention with her mother goes unsettled for quite a long time. Thus, Amy Tan illustrates the difficult connection between

tells her mother that she wished she were dead. We discover Amy's mother has had other babies that have died. This part explains a lot about why her mother is so hard on Amy. After Amy hurts her mother, her mother finally gives up on Amy being a prodigy. It was an issue of power one the mother’s side and compliance on the daughter’s part.