Parents Who Push their Children in relation to Amy Tan's "Two Kinds"

Essay by jdamer28A-, April 2006

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Amy Tan's "Two Kinds" is a story about a mother who is pressing her daughter to become a prodigy. In the story the mother forces her daughter to try everything from becoming a Chinese Shirley Temple to trying to stand on her head without using her hands. After watching the Ed Sullivan Show, the mother decides the daughter is going to learn to play the piano. The mother sets up lessons with Mr. Chong a deaf piano teacher, everyday. Because Mr. Chong is deaf, the daughter realizes she could be lazy and miss notes without him noticing. So after the lessons go on for a while the mother and Mr. Chong decide the daughter should play in a talent show. Having not actually practiced very long, because the daughter did not like playing the piano, the talent show goes badly. After the show, the daughter never expect to play the piano again, but when it comes time for her lesson, the mother forces her to start playing again.

The daughter says, "I assumed my talent show fiasco meant I never had to play the piano again. But tow days later, after school, my mother came out of the kitchen and saw me watching TV. Four clock, she reminded me as if it were any other day." (352) The daughter refuses with a big struggle and the mother never mentions it again. A problem with a lot of families today is that the parents try and force their kids to do something they don't want. Like playing the piano in this story, kids are forced to practice and practice whether it is a sport or an instrument.

When most parents force their kids to do something, that makes them not want to do it even more. Just like in...