Amy Tan's Short Story 'Two Kinds'

Analysis: The short story, "Two Kinds,"� displays the relationship between a Chinese mother and a disobedient Americanized daughter. Jing-mei, a second-generation Chinese daughter, deals with her own internal conflict as well as an external conflict with her mother. The internal effort to find her true self is a lesson Jing-mei will have to discover, as she gets older. Being born of Chinese heritage, Jing-mei struggles with the burden of failing to meet her mother's expectations. She was never sure what she wanted to become. Throughout the story, Amy Tan represents the theme that parents cannot control their children, but can only guide them.

Believing you could be anything in America, Jing-mei's mother hoped for her daughter to become a prodigy. Being born in America, Jing-mei had a very independent and disobedient type of behavior. Jing-mei would take tests from her mother daily, to see if she was extraordinary. With every test, Jing-mei was unable to become what her mother desired. Because she was never able to have opportunities like her daughter, it was obvious Jing-mei's mother wanted to live her life through her daughter. She wanted to give a life to Jing-mei that she, as a woman, could never have back in China.
With broken English, she is presented as a non-emotional mother with a strict attitude. She believed in very traditional values. It is evident that she had high hopes for her daughter, but was too stubborn to hear what Jing-mei wanted. On the other hand, Jing-mei is an extremely Americanized daughter, with a disobedient attitude. Jing-mei must deal with the expectations of her Chinese background. Jing-mei stated, "my mother wanted me to be someone else, but I could only be me."� She is also stubborn, in the same way her mother is. Her mind never listened to what her mother wanted. As a result, they never listened to each other, and ended up being further apart. They could never become