Two Kinds By Amy Tan Character Analysis

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The short story “Two Kinds” written by Amy Tan is about a mother and her daughter Jing Mei. Jing Mei struggles with the high expectations of her mother, to become a prodigy. After losing everything in China, Jing Mei’s mother comes to America with the dream that Jing Mei will be successful. She would present tests to Jing Mei on math and geography in the hopes of unlocking some hidden genius. Jing-Mei does everything she can to annoy and disappoint her mother even to the point of being a failure. Because of this, she refused to let her mother change her and promised herself “I won’t be what I’m not”. A couple months later, Jing Mei is taking piano lessons from a deaf old man and displayed her piano skills in a talent show, where she later failed and disappointed her parents. After the dreadful performance, mother and daughter have an argument and Jing Mei strikes the final blow by shouting that she wishes she were dead. In the story, we are shown the struggles of a young girl growing up and trying to find her own sense of identity. Rebecca Balcarcel did an excellent job explaining Jing-mei’s character/development and identifying the theme of the story. She developed each point and focused on the …show more content…
Although I agree with Jing Mei finding herself I disagree that her childhood did not have an emphasis on cultural differences. I believe Jing-Mei is caught between two cultures: the Chinese culture that prevails in her mother's home; and the American one that prevails everywhere else. She resists her mother's attempts at discipline and presents the pressures of high achievement that immigrant parents typically place for their
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