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Amy Tan "Two Kinds" and Kurt Vonnegut "Miss Temptation"

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Amy Tan "Two Kinds" and Kurt Vonnegut "Miss Temptation"
ENGLISH FINAL TERM ASSAY

This essay will address the question that whether dreams have benefitted the main characters and those around them, or instead have caused them only harm and unhappiness and do dreams give hope to the characters during difficult situations. Some dreams are manipulated by powerful figures to make weaker characters act according to them or perform certain tasks as per their will. The reaction of characters when their dreams do not come true or when they discover that what desired was unattainable or illusory.
Amy Tan’s story ‘Two Kinds’ talks about a mother’s dream for her daughter to be famous and successful. It is an introduction of a mother’s interpretation of the American dream. Amy Tan tells us the story through the eyes of a little girl who initially follows her mother’s dream but eventually rebels against her. Her mother is entirely devastated when her daughter doesn’t perform well in the piano competition, so much that she doesn’t even reacts. The mother dream for her daughter to be famous and successful caused trouble for the daughter because the continues persuasion by her mother eventually lead to rise of frustration that parents and children feel when obsession takes place of nurturing.
In the story ‘Of Mice and Men’ by John Steinback, the nature of dreams and aspirations of two men and how the forces work against them is described. George’s and Lennie’s dream to own a little farm of their own is the central theme of the story. To George, this dream of having their own farm mean independence, being their won bosses and most importantly being ‘somebody’. To Lennie, his dream is to pet soft animals as much as he wants. Although having and sharing the same dream are not enough to bring to fruition, some obstacles have to be crossed. Some of these obstacles were like the threat from Curley’s wife or Curley’s violence, Lenny’s uncontrollable strength and his need to touch soft things. For George, the greatest threat to the dream

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