Two Kinds By Amy Tan

"A mother's love for her child is like nothing else in the world. It knows no law, no pity, it dares all things and crushes down remorselessly all that stands in its path " (Christie). Mothers want their children to be the best they can, but at what cost? For Amy Tan, the cost was her happiness. Amy Tan, an American born citizen, conceived from two emigrated Chinese parents, was burdened at a young age. As a young girl, both her father and brother died of brain tumors which caused her mother to retreat into her Chinese roots and religious beliefs by believing that their house became cursed. After moving and finding a new home, over time, Tan's mother developed an unrealistic standard for her daughter's future. With changing her major in college and switching

This summer, I chose to read A Thousand Pieces of You, a science fiction novel by Claudia Gray. The book is full of interesting ideas and unexpected twists, but there is one moment in particular that stands out to me most, as both a game changer, and a good life lesson.

Amy Tan's short story "Two Kinds" tells of the conflict between a Chinese-American girl named Jing-mei and her immigrant mother due to cultural differences. Throughout a portion of Jing-mei's childhood, her mother recognized her potential and was stricken with the belief that she should've used whatever natural talent or ability that she might've had to become a child prodigy. Jing-mei's mother tried a handful of things in hopes of discovering her talent, including acting, intellectual tests, and the piano, where most of her time was dedicated into attempting to turn Jing-mei into a piano virtuoso. Initially, Jing-mei struggles to decide whether she should fulfill her mother's wishes or stay true to her own identity, but after a disastrous

As a kid the most important question we will be asked is who do we want to be when we grow up? Some of us will say I want to be an astronaut, a professional athlete, a police officer, or an actor and etc. But as we grow older, and are filled with these questions of what I want to be in life when I’m “older” that we seemed to forget we are children unknowingly living in the most simple and carefree years of our life. Which we will take for granted because we anticipate to the time where we are finally teenagers having more fun and doing things that we as kids always looked upon as being mature and cool. I look back at the last couple of years in my life and I realize that when you get older, you start having more responsibilities that you ever imagined as a young kid. I remember my twelfth grade english teacher asking the class one day what's the difference between growing up and growing older? She answered before

The short story “Story of an Hour”, by Kate Choplin, is about Mrs. Mallard, and her heart condition. She is in critical condition that everyone treats her carefully. When her family discovers her husband, Mr. Mallard, got killed in an accident, they approach the bad news to Mrs. Mallard in a gentle way. Mrs. The devastating news leaves Mrs. Mallard heartbroken, depressed, and non-empathetic.

Every Secret Thing, released in 2014 and directed by Amy Berg, opens with the kidnapping and murder of an infant. The plot of the film revolves around this initial murder, as well as a second kidnapping that occurs years later. The syuzhet uses flashbacks as the primary method of constructing this initial fabula event. Each flashback of the initial murder and its ensuing consequences gives new insights of the second kidnapping, that the protagonist Alice Fanning commits. Through the majority of the film, the syuzhet points to the guilt of the secondary character Ronnie Fuller. It suggests that she has committed the initial murder and the second kidnapping by presenting her as a suspicious character. For the first half of the film, the flashbacks

There are two ways the readers will interpret Amy Tan's emotional story, “Two Kinds”. The first way: readers can sympathize with Ni Kan – the young protagonist little girl who always seemed to be pressured by her mother to be extraordinary. The readers, especially those of younger ages, will understand and relate to Ni Kan's position in the story – themselves trying to please their parent(s) and to not disappoint them. The second way: readers will sympathize with the mother. The readers, especially those of older ages (who themselves have children), will understand where the mother was coming from – trying to raise her daughter's self-confidence and trying to teach her to always try to do her best.

Two kinds by Amy Tan is a short story that you could pull many themes from. The main and most obvious theme I pulled from the story is that everyone is responsible to choose their future.

The Game is a novel written by Teresa Toten in 2001. The novel examines the affect of abuse and the feeling of inadequacy on a young person and how they cope with it, in this case the young girl develops a fantasy world in which she battles the evil with her sister. It also shows how a person’s mind tries to protect them from the realization of events that have happened that at the time they may not be able to cope with. The game was invented by two young sisters, Danielle and Kelly. Danielle is the older sister that suffers from a tumultuous relationship with her Father which includes physical and emotional abuse. Dani takes a lot of blame for things that her sister does wrong, to protect her. She wants to be loved and respected by her Father, just like her sister is and you find that she has memorialized one memory where her Father was actually proud of her. There is also the realization that there are many more memories of when he was disappointed and angry at her. Bearing in mind that she is also taking responsibility for her sisters mistakes you can imagine a childhood filled with misery and fear and the need for respect and love. Dani initially invents a game with her sister representing good versus evil and as you read the book you realize that Dani’s entire life is a game. She reverts to her childhood game in her mind when facing difficult conversations and situations. Now that she is older, she uses alcohol and drugs to help take away the memories of the

Two Kinds by Amy Tan in my opinion is a story about problems and struggles that may happen between a mother and daughter. The other thing that I discovered in the story was that the daughter is Asian American while her mother is an Asian immigrant, which caused the cultural diversion between them. The story is narrated by Mei “June” Woo. June has done so much for her mother out of guilt because Mrs. Woo lost her parents, family home, first husband, two daughters, and twin baby girls back in China in 1949.

America is recognized profusely as the land of opportunity and prosperity with a unique allurement. America has confidently obtained the title as one of the greatest locations to thrive. These recognitions of America come to light in the context of “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan. The story is primarily about the burgeoning struggle for power and the cultural difference between an Asian immigrant and her Asian American daughter, Jing-mei. The mother has high hopes that her daughter will be a great success as an american prodigy. First, she attempted to mold Jing-mei into a child actress, but that failed. Then she had Jing-mei attempt intellectual tests clipped from popular American magazines. Finally, the mother had Jing-mei take a swing at the piano.

Do you know that feeling when you and your mother fight about something and it frustrates you because you are correct. That is the feeling I have right now about the main character’s mother. This problem can be found in the novel Everything Everything by: Nicole Yoon. In this book, Madeline Whitter, the main character, has been diagnosed with a rare disease called SCID. This disease stands for severe combined immunodeficiency. Basically, she has to stay at home for the rest of her life because she is allergic to the world. When the next door neighbor moved in, the boy caught her eye. As days goes by, they have been texting each other at night until one of them falls asleep. One day, the boy visits her and they out of the to do what

If you moved to a new country with a different language and no friends; what would you do? In the story “Rules of the Game” by Amy Tan a young girl moves to America with her mother struggles to survive in America. The young girl is name Waverly and she is a intelligent girl but she does know everything about life. The mother is a controlling mother and boss around Waverly. In the story Waverly mother finds out how to be a true family in america, and Waverly learned the way of invisible strength.

Many years ago, in order to find the definition of the word "Jentacular", one would have to find a dictionary, search for J, then find the guided word with the first three letters of JEN, a couple of rows down there is the definition, "adj. -pertaining to breakfast". In this present time, a student would be asked to find the same definition, they would simply pull out their phone, and ask Siri. The recent and modern generations don't know how to navigate and find a word in a dictionary. You can conclude that the world and our daily practices are evolving; some would say for good, while others would disagree and say its for the worst. The technology in today's world has had an effect on the human day to day functions. Sherry Turkle, the author

What exactly is the American dream? For many individuals the so-called American dream might vary. In “two kind” by Amy Tan the mother whom is a Chinese immigrant wishes that her first generation American daughter accomplish everything she couldn’t and even wishes that her daughter becomes a prodigy. This hope to acquired the American dream bring tension in the mother and daughter relationship and she in between these two kind of dreams her mothers dream for her and her own dreams. Also, this writing emphasizes the relationship of an immigrant mother and her Chinese American daughter and the tension cause by the American culture that clashes with mother Chinese culture and leads into miscommunication.