Two Kinds by Amy Tan - Grade: B+ PDF

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The story portrays the diverse sides of the immigrant’s life that are both relatable and powerful. Hence, it is essential to understand the way unreasonable expectation placed on a child by the immigrant’s parents might prove dangerous and result in opposite outcomes than the intended aspects....

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Surname 1 Name Institution Two Kinds by Amy Tan Introduction Briefly, Amy Tan in the novel “Two Kinds” details a struggle between a mother and a daughter embedded within twisted idealism and expectation in the American dream. Amy explains the relationship between a Chinese mother with great hope from her daughter, Jing-Mei, to become a prodigy and the rebellious attitude she had towards her mother. The story follows through an American born Jing-Mei, and her traditional Chinese mother Mrs. Woo set in Chinatown in Sacramento. It was during 1940 when Jing-Mei’s mother moved to the United States from China for the same reason immigrants leaves their respective countries for a better life than they had before. Mrs. Woo believes the United States is a land of opportunity and a place where a person decides own fate. These beliefs made her turn Jing-Mei into a prodigy. The story portrays the diverse sides of the immigrant’s life that are both relatable and powerful. Hence, it is essential to understand the way unreasonable expectation placed on a child by the immigrant’s parents might prove dangerous and result in opposite outcomes than the intended aspects. In searching the best area Jing-Mei would excel, Mrs. Woo tried to lead her daughter to be a Chinese Shirley Temple (Tan 1). After the idea failed, she placed Jing-Mei through a couple of knowledge test and discovered it was not a robust suite for her. Jing-Mei mother settled that her daughter will be a piano prodigy. She was excited at first but later realized her failure in each new endeavor placed by her mother and her perspective started to change. The latter is illustrated when Woo daughter says that “And after seeing, once again, my mother's disappointed face,

Surname 2 something inside me began to die” (Tan 1). It implies that Jing-Mei’s self-esteem had lessened making her doubt herself and capability as she told her mother that she would never be a genius as she expects. The reaction and disappointment of Mrs. Woo make Jing-Mei internalize a defeatist attitude leading her to fail in the following years. Hence, the pleasure that Mrs. Woo places to her daughter to excel yields the opposite effect. A defeatist attitude and the tendency of falling short brought by the parent great expectation for her daughter creates a mixture of unreasonable expectation in the view of life. Out of rebellion, Jing-Mei declared she would fail in each thing her mother puts her through and to put no effort into her mother dreams of being a piano prodigy. Due to her unwillingness and laziness to learn the piano lesson from her deaf Chinese teacher, she embarrassed herself along with her mother during the community talent show by playing the piano terribly. She expected her mother dreams to be a pianist to die, but Mrs. Woo indicates there are two kind of daughters “those who are obedient and those who follow their mind” (Tan 5). Mrs. Woo says only the obedient daughter can live in her house. It was until Jing-Mei’ mother died when she recognized her mother desire that she might be obedient through listening or following her own instincts and decide for her prodigy in life. Jing-Mei’s mother is boastful about her daughter’s talent. It appears not like such big issue that she is proud of her daughter achievements and wishes she will be better by being a piano prodigy. In consideration of understanding, she had a tough life in the past in China and it did not appear as any realism crisscross to Jing-Mei. Tan wants to show that it is important to have a child with average ability, but Mrs. Woo expects great things from her daughter who has become rebellion (Tan 4). Jing-Mei disapproved her mother expectation and desires, but by doing so, she was distancing from her own identity and family. In distancing away from her pain

Surname 3 of the past, Jing-Mei’s mother understands the only thing to forget it is forcing Jing-Mei to be something she is not (Gale np.). The expectation of the American dream makes their relationship to strain since Mrs. Woo wishes Jing-Mei to be famous and a piano prodigy. Tan wants to show the pressure put on Jing-Mei to be obedient in reality caused her to be the opposite toward her mother. The unrealistic expectation of the society and her mother makes Jing-Mei have the certainty that in case she might not be a prodigy or find a path to fantasy life she will become nothing. Jing-Mei creates a form of identity that drives her to be out of reality and decide anything about her life. Jing-Mei could see her mother was not going to back down so she decided to hit back in a way that would show her mother that she would never be the respectful, obedient daughter that her mother wanted her to be (Tan 2). She became angry and felt secluded by the vigorous efforts of her mother that left her with no choice to decide on herself or choose her own career. By doing so, she neglects the respect of life as she often ignores the possibility that she might play the piano successfully and enjoy playing. Furthermore, it is attempting in believing in the American dream, in expecting that being famous, wealthy and prodigy will give a new perfect life and encourage a person that it is the path to fulfill the future. The kind of life encourages a person to do something and be something but not to be someone. Jing-Mei says that “unlike my mother, I did not believe I could be anything I wanted to be, I could only be me” (Tan 5). Jing-Mei is preoccupied with the obsession and expectation of her mother. Her mother wants her to become extraordinary and famous an idea that leads Jing-Mei to lose sight of her morality. Jing-Mei is consumed with anger in herself for being decided on her future and becomes a rebellion against any notion that she is perfect.

Surname 4 The disbelief of the American dream shattered Jing-Mei and her relationship with her mother due to the obsession of her mother expectation from her. Conclusion Eventually, “Two kinds” by Amy Tan shows the relationship of a mother and a daughter and their different expectations through their life. It shows that immigrant parents such as Mrs. Woo, come to America seeking a better life, and because of struggles they may have faced in their previous country, they put a large amount of faith in the cliché “American dream” and the belief that those in America can be whoever or whatever they would like to be. This can lead to unreasonable expectations placed on the children of these immigrants because they want a better life for them. Tan shows an excellent example of how these expectations may have the opposite effect than intended and prove to be harmful to an immigrant child’s self-esteem. Works Cited Tan, Amy. “Two kinds.” The joy luck club. 1989 accessed https://www.rtsd.org/cms/lib/PA01000218/Centricity/Domain/319/TwoKindsfulltext.pdf Gale, Cengage L. Study Guide for Amy Tan's "two Kinds.". Detroit: Gale, Cengage Learning, n.d.. Print....