“Two Kinds” by Amy Tan is a short story about a girl whose mother pushes her to become a genius, while the girl fights her wishes at every turn. The mother’s largest and final endeavor is for her daughter to learn how to play the piano and become a prodigy. From the subsequent events come heavy dispute between the two as we get a deeper look into the mother-daughter relationship they share. The author writes in such a way that leaves the interpretation and the judgment of the characters and the situation entirely up to the reader, not by leaving out detail, rather giving enough detail to show neither character as entirely in the wrong. Neither is shown to be without flaw, in a quite true-to-life scenario.
Jeing-Mei believes that America will give her the identity she wants without having to work for it. Her mother believes that personal identity is not as important as fame. “And after I played them both a few times, I realized they were two halves of the same song.”(Tan 212) Throughout the whole story Jeing-Mei and her mother battle over who she is to become in America. Jeing-Mei had her own ideals of how she would become the prodigy. As time passed Jeing-Mei became rebellious over being pushed into a mold.
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).
She is leading mass movement in her country and around the world called Young Girls Transformation Project. She is unlocking the commitment of young girls that want to make a change in their life. She was once a young African girl who never thought she would make it to college. Leymah is a woman that is very similar to young women of today’s generation. She believes providing you with education will give young woman a better life.
“Two Kinds” by Amy Tan 1. Theme: Children carry the burden of parent’s expectations when they grow up and face emotional trials to create an identity. Parent’s expectations: We see this form of imposition placed on the main character by her mother who constantly tells her to ‘ni kan’ or look here to try to be exceptional or a prodigy. In page 1039 we see the first mention of this in the first line “‘Of course, you can be prodigy, too,” my mother told me when I was nine. ‘You can be best anything’” This could be seen as healthy encouragement from mother to child to become the best she could be, and perhaps that was the mother’s intentions with the pressure and lessons she gave her.
Culture and Women In “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid, and “How to date a browngirl, blackgirl, whitegirl or halfie” by Junot Diaz, both authors elaborate on culture, and how it shapes the outlook on women. In Jamaica Kincaid's “Girl” a mother enforces her cultures strong beliefs on appropriate female behavior onto her daughter. To do so, she displays her parental authority with a series of short commands influenced by her culture. A sense of naivety can be seen in the young girl after questioning her mother's request. The culture associated with “Girl” has a definite attitude towards women, believing they should live a modest, conservative lifestyle.
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.
Also, as her parents barley consider the idea of Anna getting into college, her teacher tells them that “Anna is a smart girl, she has a lot that she can contribute to this world.” As these messages help Anna find her identity, she begins to notice that her chances of going to Columbia University are within arms reach. The stereotype of Anna being a typical Mexican-American teen brings an uncomfortable feeling into her body image and for this she feels the need to change the footsteps in
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).
Newman (1995:268) puts it that women have been conditioned by society into believing that “having children is a primary source of self-identity”. To date, motherhood is viewed as a woman’s basic mission and an inseparable part of her nature such that the link between a mother and a child is often taken for granted. Women are supposedly drawn into motherhood by their inner instincts, which also guarantee their children’s healthy growth and development. This natural ability is often credited for the close relationship mothers usually have with children and supposedly makes the woman the best possible nurturer. 3.