Short Story, Critical Analysis of Two Kinds Amy Tan's two kinds is a short story which dipicts the relationship between an immigrant mother, an American daughter and their inability to understand each other. Although most mother/daughter relationships have difficult times, when neither side is willing to bend, sometimes in winning the battle, you lose the war.
The story "two Kinds" is set in Chinatown, in Sacramento, in the late 50's to early 60's. Jing-Mei is a young Chinese girl who's mother has come from China to America to find a better life. Jing Mei's mother wants her to be a child prodigy. Jing-Mei just wants to discover who the real her is. At first, Jing-Mei tires to be what her mother wants her to be. Her mother tests her constantly, but eventually Jing-Mei becomes frustrated from all the failed attempts, and decides she will no longer do what her mother wants.
Amy Tan, author
Mei Jing Lake Garden in Sibu
Philippa Schuyler, concert pianistJing-Mei gives up on herself, believing she can't succeed, which ultimately causes her mother to give up on her. Jing-Mei realizes that what hurt her the most was her mother giving up on her.
In trying to please her mother, Jing-Mei's self image is lowered. Everyday her mother would read about a new child prodigy then could try to test Jing-Mei to see if she could do what the child prodigy could do. At first Jing-Mei wants to find her prodigy, but after many failed attempts, she reveals how she hated the tests, "The raised hopes and failed expectations". Another example of her self image being lowered is when Jing-Mei learned to play the piano, she says, "So maybe I never really gave myself a fair chanace". And again, Jing-Mei proves her low self image when she reveals that she believed that she could not do anything as...