Brief Summary Of The Short Story 'Two Kind'

In the story Two Kinds, the title gives a great incite of the meaning of the story. Throughout the whole short story, there are many references to “two kinds” of something. The idea is, that no one will ever be good enough in another person’s eyes until they think they are good enough for themselves. I think that’s why Jing has such a hard time trying to please her mom. Jing doesn’t love herself enough to think she could actually please her mom. Throughout the story, Jing is put down until she finally has enough and after that she becomes content with herself. In the beginning of the story, there is a comparison between America and China. China was where the mother lost everything and in America it was a land of opportunity. As Jing-mei Woo
gets older her mom compares her to Shirly Temple. The mom wants Jing to be the next prodigy on tv. Instead of letting Jing find her own niche in the world. This causes Jing to think badly of herself and begin to hate the person she is.
Jing wanted to be the prodigy her mom wanted saying, “In all my imaginings, I was filled with a sense that I would soon become perfect. My mother and father would adore me. I would be beyond reproach. I would never feel the need to sulk for anything” (784). Jing wants to be the daughter her mother always dreamed of, but she seems to become the other kind. The one that does not succeed. Another “two kinds” comparison is when a little Chinese girl is playing the piano on The Ed Sullivan Show on TV. Her mother now wants her to be a piano prodigy. The mom compares Jing to the little girl by saying Jing is not the best, just like how the little girl was playing. This begins a year of playing notes incorrectly and not fixing it. I mean, why should she? She knew she would never be able to please her mother. The next “two kinds” comparison is when the cousin of Jing is called the “Chinatown’s Littlest Chinese Chess Champion”. The last comparison, which is the biggest, is the meaning of the two songs. There are “two kinds” of songs that Jing plays, “Pleading Child” and “Perfectly Contented”. Jing had to play “Pleading Child” for the talent show. That’s what she was when she played it at a young age, a pleading child. She was
pleading for her parents to love her the way she was. The song was a “moody piece that sounded more difficult than it was” (788). That describes Jing perfectly, she got upset easily with her mother when all of their fights could have been avoided. If her mother would have let her be herself or let her find what she was good at, maybe Jing would have accepted herself more. After the talent show, Jing finally released herself from her mother need of approval. The mom said, “Only two kids of daughters, those who are obedient and those who follow their own mind (790). Jing replied with, “Then I wish I wasn’t your daughter. I wish you weren’t my mother” (790). When Jing was older she was given the piano from her mother, the music was still with the piano. This is when she found “Perfectly Contented”. Now that Jing was older she had accepted the person she was, “I could only be me (791). That is the true meaning of this story, to become content with you who are, not what others are trying to make you become. Think many people have this problem in their life, they are so busy trying to be what they aren’t they lose sight of themselves. They become a “pleading child” as they lose themselves. Jing became happy when she realized she only needed to please herself, not her parents. This made her perfectly contented.