ENGL 110 Essay 1 Final Draft Yi Zhang Cultural and Generation Conflict “Two kinds” is a story about the conflict between a Chinese-American girl Jing Mei and her mother. They immigrated from China to the United State and when Jing Mei was a little girl, her mother tried to discover Jing Mei’s prodigy. At first Jing Mei is also curious about being a prodigy but finally she lose interest in it. The author Amy Tan develops her theme of cultural and generation conflict through the choice of an appropriate setting, the use of strong character development, and strong plot development including exposition, conflict, climax, and resolution. The setting of the story establishes an appropriate background for the characters’ traits and leads to the exposition between two characters.
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.
Being born in China but living in America, she seems ashamed of her roots and that is why she is embarrassed when her mother speaks broken English (Tan 142-146). But, although she tries hard to be American speaking and writing good English, she realizes that she has deviated from her true self. She finally makes peace with her mother and she starts appreciating her “Mother Tongue”, which consequently affects her writing positively. This shows just how peoples’ native languages are important in their lives. Our “Mother Tongue” is what gives us identity; it defines who we are, and therefore, people should value their native languages.
Conflict in Amy Tan’s “Two Kinds” Amy Tan’s, “Two Kinds”, is a short story of a Chinese immigrant mother’s conflict with her daughter Jing-Mei. In this story, Jing-Mei tells of how she resisted her mother’s overbearing efforts to inspire her to reach her fullest potential twenty years ago. Jing Mei’s mother only wanted her daughter to be a prodigy in some way. So she dominated and controlled her daughter’s life. When these traits did not surface, Jing-Mei began to realize she did not have these traits and started to feel internally inferior.
In the film Real Women Have Curves Latina teenager Ana Garcia struggles on trying to balance her family’s culture and her own beliefs that seem to differ very much from her family’s. This becomes a problem throughout the movie. Her family wants her to be doing something that she is not nearly interested in. The problems mainly break through with Ana’s mother whose name is Carmen. Throughout the whole film you are able to see how the culture differences between Ana and her mother Carmen affect their mother and daughter relationship even till the last moments of the film.
No family is the same, we run our houses differently, and parents have different ways on how to treat their children. However in Chinese Cinderella told/written by Adeline Yen Mah. Niang (Adeline’s stepmother) treats her stepchildren like they do not exist. A typical American family compared to Adeline’s family has different family structures and different roles of the family matron. First of all, the American family structure compared to Adeline’s family structure have some similarities.
Juggling four children, cooking, cleaning and adjusting to a new society puts pressure on Alice’s mother. Since both mother and grandmother are such strong personalities, arguments between the two of them are not uncommon. They both attempt to entice information about one another out of young, unsuspecting Alice, so that they have something to use against each other during future conflicts. Alice describes their ways of deceit as, “Constantly sighing and lying and dying – that is what being a Chinese woman means, and I want nothing to do with it.” (-Part 1, page
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.
In the first part of the poem Song conveys that the life lived in China is not a glorious one. The people of her culture desperately wish to move across seas to America so they can make for themselves and be freed from the overpowering rule in China. The speaker then begins to describe her sister and how she is “across the ocean” (Song) in America. At first Song describes the opportunities that can be found for women in America “In America there are many roads and women can stride along with men” (Song). However, the tone quickly changes as Song begins to miss and need China.
Summary of “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior” “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior” was written by Professor Amy Chua who is a Chinese mother of two. This article was published January 8th, 2011 in the Wall Street Journal. This article is mainly intended for what Chua refers to as “Western parents.” Amy Chua’s opinion is that these “Western” mothers fail at having successful children unlike Chinese mothers such as herself. According to Chua, Chinese mothers believe that if their child fails it is directed towards their parenting and that they have failed as a parent. Chua listed all the things she doesn’t allow her children to do, and she believes that it is correlated to how successful her children will be.