In the short story "Two Kinds" by Amy Tan, the narrator of the story overcomes the duality in her life by reconciling with her mother and coming to a realization. The entire story is a concept of coming of age and maturity. Some parts of the story show a deeper meaning of the relationship between the narrator and the mother. The complex relationship of the mother and the narrator represents a cultural difference between China and the United States. The narrator disagrees with the way her mother is raising her to become. The conflict of the story begins when her mother forces her to take piano lessons. As a matter of fact, conflicts in literature are constantly explained throughout a story or an entire book. Conflict is one of the main points and the entire argument between the protagonist and the antagonist, that sparks the message of the story. The relationship between the narrator and her mother seemed to be falling apart, due to the fact that the narrator did not want her mother dictating what she wanted to do in her life. Furthermore, the narrator expresses a way of explaining the conflict with examples of how her mother treated her as a child. The context of the story shows a deeper meaning to what the actual story is about. For instance, cultural differences between the narrator and the mother is important to view in the story. The conflict of the story represents opposing opinions between the two characters and their point of view. Disagreements are involved in
The story has an external conflict between the main character and her daughter in regarding best way of disciplining Sophie but this conflict is based on the internal one. The main conflict of the story is the internal conflict of the Chinese immigrant who decides to live in the United States but carries the values of her native country with her and therefore, finds it difficult to accept other types of behavior, such as the actions of the Irish family. Her internal conflict is evident when she
Amy Tran’s story of the “Two Kinds” is a story about mother and her daughter who has complicated relationship and the relationship will deteriorate as the mother pushes her daughter to become a best for everything. At the beginning of the story ,Amy give us the impression that mother wants her daughter to become more productive and flourish in the society and to some degree to exceed everything for the best because she did not had the chance that her daughter have today. The mother was born and raised in china where she had lost her mother, her father, her first husband, her twin’s babies. It can be said the loss and tragedy has been vanished from her and she is only focused from now on her present life and the future headed of her daughter.
According to Ann Charters in The Short Story and its Writer, "conflict is the opposition presented to the main Character of a narrative by another character, by events or situations, by fate, or by some aspect of the protagonist's own personality or nature. The conflict is introduced by means of a complication that sets in motion the rising action, usually toward a climax and eventual resolution" (Charters 1782).
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 definition of an underachiever as stated by Webster is “one (such as a student) that fails to attain a predicted level of achievement or does not do as well as expected.” In the short story “Two Kinds” written by Amy Tan, Ni’Kan is the queen of underachievers. She determines at a young age to become defiant to her mom. After experiencing disappointment from letting her mom down, Ni’Kan determined that she would not become a child prodigy and intentionally failed throughout her life.
Amy Tan's "Two Kinds" expresses the most effective theme as the main character is easier to empathize with than Ben from William Kittredge's "Thirty-Four Seasons of Winter." The story communicates two halves of the same whole: "[obedience] and those who follow their own mind" (381). June must undergo much self-exploration to reconcile the two halves of herself that were separated when her passion for becoming a prodigy crumbled. The theme comes into motion when, after her mother's death, June begins to stroke the ivory keys again to have it dawn on her that the score which gave her grief before is only one part of a musical piece. June finds her missing half through combining "Pleading Child" and "Perfectly Contented"
In the passages from Confetti Girl and Tortilla Sun, the narrators have points of view different from those of their parents. These different points of view create tension. In the passage Confetti Girl, the narrator’s father ignores her interests. In Tortilla Sun, the narrator’s mother makes decisions without taking any consent from the narrator. Differences in points of view can cause conflict.
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.
In the short story, "Two Kinds" by Amy Tan, a Chinese mother and daughter are at odds with each other. The mother pushes her daughter to become a prodigy, while the daughter (like most children with immigrant parents) seeks to find herself in a world that demands her Americanization. This is the theme of the story, conflicting values. In a society that values individuality, the daughter sought to be an individual, while her mother demanded she do what was suggested. This is a conflict within itself. The daughter must deal with an internal and external conflict. Internally, she struggles to find herself. Externally, she struggles with the burden of failing to meet her mother’s expectations. Being a first-generation Asian American,
Conflict is a normal part of everyday life and is an issue that every one faces. It is defined as a state of struggle or fight caused by the actual or perceived opposition or threat of needs, values, interest, status and power. Conflict is also a very important, common and necessary element in stories. It allows the author to add excitement and suspense thus making the story entertaining for readers. In stories, conflict is classified as any difficulty or problem that involves the characters and usually takes place in the formats of a character opposing them self, a character opposing another and a character opposing an object. The “Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman perfectly depicts conflicts and exemplifies the various types
Conflict is a key aspect in all pieces of literature. Without it, works would be very boring, predictable and would not be able to draw the reader in. There is usually one main conflict the protagonist faces, whether it is against an evil villain or the evil inside their own self. In the book The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, the courageous protagonist, Lily, struggles with an internal conflict with the guilt of possibly being the cause of her mother's death and the absence of knowledge about her mother. Following a clue left by her mother, Lily runs away from home and meets the "calendar sisters" in Tiburon, SC. There, she is finally able to discover who her mother actually was and learn the truth behind her mother's death: that Lily had accidentally shot her. Upon uncovering the whole truth, Lily is finally able to begin to forgive herself and shrug off the heavy guilt that had burdened her for years. Through Lily's struggle to figure out who her mother was and accept what happened to her, Sue Monk Kidd wishes to communicate that even if something
Like many immigrants think, America is the land of opportunity. People from all over the world,
“Two kinds” is a story, a Chinese girl whose life is influenced by her mother. Her mother came to America after losing everything in China. Jing-Mei’s mother was immigrated early to America from China who has “American dream”. Her mother had high expectations on her daughter and did not care how it could affect her. It made Jing-Mei become a stubborn and rebellious person. “In the years that followed, I failed her so many times, each time asserting my own will, … for unlike my mother, I did not believe I could be anything I wanted to be, I could only be me. (104) She expressed her anger by going against her mother's expectations in ‘who I am’, it inferred that such tendency come from her childhood experiences. Jing-Mei was frustrated because she could not satisfy her mother.
In her short story "Two Kinds," Amy Tan utilizes the daughter's point of view to share a mother's attempts to control her daughter's hopes and dreams, providing a further understanding of how their relationship sours. The daughter has grown into a young woman and is telling the story of her coming of age in a family that had emigrated from China. In particular, she tells that her mother's attempted parental guidance was dominated by foolish hopes and dreams. This double perspective allows both the naivety of a young girl trying to identify herself and the hindsight and judgment of a mature woman.
In the story Two Kinds by Amy Tan it tells the tale of conflict between a mother Suyuan and her daughter Jing-mei over piano lessons. Two Kinds deals with a clash between a mother’s belief of hard work and persistance and a daughter's belief that being a prodigy is unachievable. Amy Tan shows generational differences among immigrant families negotiating the mythology of the American Dream.