Parents placed all hopes on their children who were born in the new land. This is apparent throughout the story as the author Tan states, “America was where all my mother’s hopes lay. She had come to San Francisco in 1949 after losing everything in China: her mother and father, her family home, her first husband, and two daughters, two baby girls” (362). The mother wants nothing but the best for her daughter. She wants things to get better.
Much of the Chinese values moved with them to America. In the movie Mulan, all the parents want for their daughter, Mulan, is to bring honor to the family. But Mulan is not your typical Chinese girl; she has her own opinions, and can’t hide who she really is. (Mulan) In the story “Two Kinds”, Jing-mei’s mother and father want her to be a prodigy in order to make a life for herself. At first Jing-mei liked the idea, but after all of her attempts and fails she wanted to live a normal American life.
Two Kinds Every day somewhere in the world, a mother’s expectations for their daughter to succeed in life may come from what she has lost prior to her daughter being born. Amy Tan, the author of the short story “Two Kinds”, teaches a valuable lesson in a mother- daughter relationship. The mother a Chinese immigrant was determined her daughter; Jeing-Mei a first generation Chinese American was to become a prodigy. The theme of “Two Kinds” expresses how a mother’s dream for her daughter to be successful in America can turn a daughter away from her own identity. Jeing-Mei believes that America will give her the identity she wants without having to work for it.
Now that’s growing up without a childhood. Jane Smiley seems like a great parent who cares about her children but to allow her daughters to put on makeup even entering their teenage years just isn’t right. Her girls where prematurely growing up, where behaving beyond their age, and with their only priority being beautiful at all times it seem to help them in the long run. As they burned off the “Barbie stage” and grew into more important things down their lives. Like for example Smiley talks about her older daughter, “Now she is planning to graduate school and law school and become an expert on woman’s health issues, perhaps adolescent health issues like anorexia and bulimia” (377).
When she moved away from China, Jing-Mei’s mother had a vision that in America, you could be anything that you wanted to be. She especially wanted her daughter to be a prodigy. When Jing-Mei’s mother says, “Of course you can be prodigy too”, and insists that she train and work towards being this, it shows the way her mother controlled Jing-Mei’s decisions and life (305). To ensure that Jing-Mei became a prodigy, her mother controlled her daughter by setting her to do many difficult tasks such as memorizing the bible and the capital of states (306). Her mother also gave Jing-Mei many tests such as multiplying numbers in her head, finding the queen of hearts in a deck of cards, and predicting daily temperatures (306).
In the beginning of “The struggle to be an All American girl”, Elizabeth Wong started out with describing Chinese school in her living town and wrote about her and her brother’s experience of changing their culture from Chinese to American since they were children. They went to the Chinese school because her mother pretention to keep their cultural estate even though they hated it. At the school, they learned not only Chinese but politeness as well. The school in her memory smelled like “mothballs or dirty closet”, and the principal was look like a “maniacal child killer”. She also described her learning Chinese like the most boring thing in the word by using some words as: “kowtow”, “chant”, “sing-san-ho” and ideographs letters.
Ribbons Book Report By Paige Robison Ribbons is a fictional story written by Laurence Yep about a young girl who is forced to give up her greatest passion in order to help her family bring her grandmother to the United States. Although ballet means everything to 11-year-old Robin Lee, she is forced to give up her lessons. Her parents need every cent they can save to fulfill their long held dream of bringing her grandmother over from China before Hong Kong becomes part of the communist mainland. Although Robin is crushed by her parent’s decision, she is determined to maintain her skill by practicing alone and with friends, but it is difficult and she feels that she will not be able to achieve as much in ballet since she is forced to quit
Alvarez essay explains how her parents and media taught Alvarez self-worth. Alvarez’s explains how she grew up and learned to love herself. “As a young teenager in our new country, my sisters and I searched for clues on how to look as if we belonged here (Alvarez 92). Young girl sometimes find themselves trying to be like people they see on T.V. so that they can fit into the world.
Who ask you!”? "So ungrateful," I heard her mutter in Chinese, "If she had as much talent as she has temper, she'd be famous now." (Tan 1117) The foundation of Mrs. Woo’s aspirations for her daughter can be learnt from her obsessive belief that America is the Land of Opportunity. She places unreasonable expectations on the shoulders of her daughter. While she may not exactly know where her daughter’s prodigal talents lie, she is nevertheless convinced that her daughter is destined for greatness, by virtue of having been born in America.
And the Chinese daughters that were born in America who have to juggle both struggles of their Chinese origin and the American prospects in order to succeed and meet their mothers expectations. The expectations of the narrator, Jing Mei’s, Chinese immigrant mother desires to make her into a musical sensation so that Jing Mei can compete with one of her mother’s friend, Lindo Jong’s, daughter is the major conflict in the story. The expectations that her mother is burdening her with are far too extraordinary for Jing Mei and isn’t what she wants to be or do with her future. It didn’t make it any better that her mother was a descendent from the Chinese culture, so her mother’s view and wishes all reflected from what was limited and banned within the Chinese heritage. Jing Mei, Being her mother’s only