Character Analysis: Two Kinds By Amy Tan

Conflict occurs between mothers and daughters across all nationalities, including the Chinese-American mother-daughter duo in Two Kinds by Amy Tan. Jing-Mei, the daughter of Suyuan, resents her mother’s efforts to aid in her success, and eventually begins to sabotage her own progress. Suyuan does not want Jing-Mei to go through all of the challenges she has faced in her life, and tries to do what she believes is best for Jing-Mei. Although at times she may have been inconsiderate of what her daughter wanted for her life, Suyuan only wanted her daughter to be given the opportunity to live the American dream and to be successful. Suyuan compares Jing-Mei to other children her age with special talents, which is inconsiderate of Jing-Mei’s feelings because she doesn’t really have any special talents. It is inconsiderate to push a child to the point of feeling like a disappointment due to a lack of natural talent, something that he or she has absolutely no control over. Suyuan believed “you could be anything you wanted to be in America” (Tan 222). Although the opportunity for that is true, she does not always understand that just because they live in America now, Jing-Mei is not just going to acquire some God given talent that she does not even want to have and become a child prodigy. Suyuan has unrealistic expectations for her daughter, does not take Jing-Mei’s feelings into consideration, and fails to consider what Jing-Mei wants for her own life. In the beginning, Jing-Mei was just as excited as her mother to become a
The Chinese-American mother-daughter duo in Two Kinds by Amy Tan is no exemption. Although she does not realize it until after the death of her mother, Suyuan only wanted Jing-Mei to live the best life she could. At times Suyuan could have been a little assertive in her parenting, she only wanted Jing-Mei to be given the opportunity to live the American