In Amy Tans short story Two Kinds, Jing-mei, the American born daughter of Chinese immigrants, tells how

her mother relentlessly drove her to become a child prodigy The fun part of the story is that her mother pushes in all !inds of directions while searching for a natural talent that she seems certain must be lying dormant in her little girl Although unsuccessful in finding some hidden talent, her mother settles on piano lessons and hopes that perhaps, with practice, the prodigy can come out Jing-mei rebels against all of her mothers fussing, not understanding that the hope that she has for her daughter stems from a reali"ation that her own life will never truly be anything grand #hen her mother hires a deaf piano teacher to train her, the scene is set for this naughty little girl to fa!e all of her practice and lessons and waste her time ideally $he feels she has been fortunate in her mothers blunder% however, when a talent show comes along her instructor and mother sign her up to showcase her burgeoning piano s!ills for the entire Chinese-American community Trapped, she goes along with the show, hoping and praying naively that a miracle will deliver magic into her fingers with the pressure of an audience &o magic comes and she completely embarrasses her family The battle between Jing-mei and her mothers e'pectations rages on after this recital, coming to a verbal battle in which Jing-mei devastates her mothers heart by saying(completely out of frustration and embarrassment(that she wishes she was not her daughter #ith this blow, the mother closes the lid to the piano, stops the lessons, and admits that her daughter could be a failure This is a hollow victory of course for the main character As the short story ends, we see the girl returning, now thirty, and having the piano serviced )er mother has passed away and she has decided to !eep the piano as a memento of her mothers hopes for her This short story is ta!en from Amy Tans critically acclaimed novel The Joy *uc! Club As a Chinese-American, Amy Tan represents a strong sub-culture within American society This short story is perhaps the most comple' in the boo! and by far my favorite + The short story Two Kinds, written by Amy Tan, has many symbolisms that a person can easily miss on the first or second time of reading it thru ,or e'ample, the first time I read the last part -I reali"ed that both songs where part of one song-, at first I thought that it .ust meant the music /ut after I read it over to myself 0 more times, I saw that it also had a relation between her and her mother )ow does the 1uote -I also learned I could be la"y and get away with mista!es, lots of mista!esrelate to its theme2 I thought of several reasons 3ne of many themes that I saw in the te't was that loo!s can be deceiving 4or different from reality5 Jing-mei fools her piano teacher into thin!ing that she is playing things right $he probably started of by playing somewhat defiantly, and gradually too! advantage of her piano teacher6s deafness In the process of deceiving the piano teacher, she also deceives her mother Jing-mei6s mom wor!s hard to give Jing-mei an education This relates to the 1uote because Jing-mei does literally get away with mista!es, but it might also mean that she started slac!ing in her academics *a"iness most of the time only starts getting bigger It6s hard to brea! a habit that you6re used to 7any themes can be found throughout this story Another one that I found was you can be your own enemy If she had stopped herself from trying to be la"y and tried to do the wor!, she could have been one of the leading pianist, and maybe even a prodigy It was perfectly fine that she didn6t want to be someone she didn6t want to be,

but the way she showed that was what happened wrong Jing-mei6s mom only did what any other mother would do, by trying to give the best for her Apparently Jingmei was under a lot of stress especially for one without much age )er irresponsibility is shown up when she does the talent show and completely blows it It is shown that her parents had done a bit of bragging about her daughter6s music s!ills, which only adds to their humiliation 8ven after that, her mom does not give up hope, she !eeps trying Jing-mei does ma!e mista!es, a lot of mista!es 0 There are many !ey elements which together ma!e up a story, namely a story6s setting, its main characters, the plot, and the symbolism it contains A story6s setting is usually described in the beginning of the story, giving an e'planation of where and when the story is ta!ing place 7any stories have a protagonist and an antagonist as well as other !ey characters The protagonist is the -hero or antihero% 4the5 character you tend to 6root for6 - The antagonist opposes the protagonist, usually creating some sort of conflict within the story The plot of a story is the way the events play out in the story Along with these elements, there is usually some sort of symbolism within the story $ymbols occur in most stories, not always in the form of an item $ymbolism can also be demonstrated in words, colors, or anything that seems to represent a deeper meaning The story -Two Kinds- by Amy Tan demonstrates all of the elements mentioned above $etting and Characters The story6s main events ta!e place in Chinatown throughout the +9:;s and perhaps early +9<;s The main character of the story, who is also the protagonist, is the author herself= Amy Tan The antagonist happens to be her own mother, who is always pushing Amy to discover some hidden talent and be someone she is not There are a few other minor characters in the story There is *indo Jong 4who she calls Auntie *indo5, who is a close friend of Amy6s mother #averly Jong is Auntie *indo6s daughter, who is close to Amy6s age Amy6s piano instructor, who she dubs -3ld Chong-, plays a small role in the story Amy6s dad is included in the te't, but does not play much of a role >lot The plot of a story has si' !ey parts that are normally se1uential A story begins with an e'position, and follows with rising action &e't is some sort of conflict which usually results into the clima' of the story Clima' can be defined as -a moment of great or culminating intensity in a narrative or drama- $ome sort of falling action occurs ne't, which finally ends the story with a resolution 8'position In -Two Kinds-, the e'position is clear in the first couple of pages The story begins by e'plaining that Amy6s family moved to America when she was a baby, in +9?9 )er mother is clear in her goals= she wants Amy to be a child prodigy 4a person with e'ceptional talent5 and famous Although in the beginning Amy seems accepting of her mother6s goal, there are some undertones which are clear to the reader that her mother may go too far @ising Action

Amy6s mother going too far, in fact, is the rising action of the story Amy writes about all of the ways her mother tries to 6discover6 her special talents It begins with Amy getting a perm so she could be the ne't $hirley Temple, and the rising action concludes with Amy being forced to ta!e piano lessons Auring the rising action, there is clear conflict between Amy and her mother Amy6s self-esteem seems to falter as she is constantly disappointing her mother time and time again )er mother6s determination is further spar!ed by a couple of scenes involving 6Auntie *indoAuntie *indo is very proud of her daughter6s chess playing s!ills, and brags of all of #averly6s trophies Auring one conversation Amy6s mother stretches the truth a little in competition, and claims Amy is talented with the gift of music At this point Amy writes= -And right then, I was determined to put a stop to her foolish prideClima' The clima' of the story is a piano recital and the events that unfold the day after )er mother is so proud of Amy6s musical talent% she even invites Auntie *indo and #averly to Amy6s first piano recital Although Amy slac!ed on her practicing during the rising action of the story, she actually feels confident about doing well at the recital $he is overconfident, in fact, and her performance was a disaster $he disappoints her mother, and ma!es a fool of her It is also clear that she has disappointed herself, and she regrets not ta!ing lessons more seriously The ne't day, Amy6s stubborn mother e'pects her to practice piano, as if nothing has gone wrong This is when Amy puts her foot down and refuses To get her mother to bac! off, she tells her mother that she wished she were dead #e discover Amy6s mother has had other babies that have died This part e'plains a lot about why her mother is so hard on Amy After Amy hurts her mother, her mother finally gives up on Amy being a prodigy ,alling Action Auring the falling action, Amy fast forwards through the years $he e'plains that she never did the best she could at anything, .ust to spite her mother #e discover that deep inside, Amy did have some pride in her piano(when Amy6s mother tells her that the piano is hers, and she should ta!e it @esolution In the resolution, we come to the present time and Amy6s mother has recently passed $he has the piano tuned, and sits down to play $ymbolism $ymbolism in literature -might include visual or sound elements as well as languageAmy6s piano was the main symbol of this story In the end of the story, the fact that she had it tuned and actually sat down to play shows us that she really cared about her mother(and the piano(after all The songs that she plays at the end are also a symbol of the story, itself $he mentions playing two songs The first is titled ->leading Child-, and the second one= ->erfectly Contented- These are songs that she had played when she was a child $he notices for the first time, after all of these years, that these two songs are actually two halves to the same song The song represents Amy6s life This is how the story ends

Conclusion After reading the above summary, we get a pretty good idea of what Amy6s story is about and the theme behind it $he regrets not trying her best, and the way she has ta!en her mother for granted in her life A strong message li!e this ma!es us reflect on our own lives and relationships with the ones we love Amy constructs the story in a way that ma!es the plot flow, and we are interested in what will happen to her ne't $ome of us may even feel li!e she is too hard on the protagonist(her mother The ending resolves these feelings, because we discover she feels this, too The main characters are important in the events that unfold in the story #ithout Auntie *indo, for e'ample, her mother may not have been so compelled to see Amy e'cel These elements, and the way the author has combined them, build an interesting story that ma!es us reflect upon our own lives, as well B The short story called Two Kinds is the last one in Amy Tans successful boo! The Joy *uc! Club The writer supposed that her boo! would be read as a collection of interrelated stories, but it is often perceived as a novel $everal of the stories appeared in the periodical Atlantic 7onthly separately The short story Two Kinds was firstly published in this maga"ine in ,ebruary +9C9% even it happened one month before the whole collection was released The story Two Kinds, li!e all other stories in the boo!, is concerned with the complicated relationships between two generations D but particularly, mothers and daughters The authors main sub.ect is the nations distance between mothers born in China and cut from their native culture for many years, and their American born daughters, which have to balance between their Chinese ancestry and American e'pectations for gaining the success The narrator of Two Kinds is Jing-mei, who resists her mothers great wish to rema!e her into a musical prodigy $he wants her daughter to be talented and to compete with one of her friends daughters Jing-mei mentions these events after a term of more than twenty years% the writer still tries to understand her mothers intensions It is interesting that the mother and the daughter reveal their inner personality with the help of the language, actions, gestures and thoughts It seems that the conflict goes on between the two women, whose cultures and aspirations do not coincide It may be said that Two Kinds centers on the conflict between two !inds of women and two !inds of daughters These two women D Jing-mei and her mother D are being two different !inds of women, because they have almost opposite life e'perience /efore America the mother has lost much in China= her parents, her home, her first husband, and two twin baby girls /ut she never regretted and loo!ed bac! at the past $he is sure that America is the country of opportunities $he tells her daughter the following words that e'press all her thoughts= EFyou could be anything you wanted to be in America Gou could open a restaurant Gou could wor! for the government and get good retirement ? Amy Tan6s -Two Kinds- first two paragraphs provides information about the mothers beliefs There are at least two things= 4+5 the voice of a narrator who does not 1uite share her mothers opinion, and 405 a comic tone #hen someone says, H7y mother believed,I there is sure to be some difference between the spea!er and the reported belief

The belief is further distanced by the fivefold repetition of HGou could I The comedy (perhaps better characteri"ed as mild humor(is evident in the naivete or simplicity of ambitions= open a business, wor! for a company, retire, buy a house, become famous 7any people may feel superior 4as the daughter herself does5 to this mother, who apparently thin!s that in America money and fame and even genius are readily available to all who apply themselves(but many people may also wish that their mother was as enthusiastic The second paragraph adds a sort of comic topper After all, when the mother says, in the first paragraph, Hyou could be anything you wanted to be in America,I the ambitions that she specifies are not impossible, but when in the second paragraph she says, you can be prodigy too,I and Hyou can be best anything,I we reali"e that we are listening to an obsessed parent, a woman ferociously possessive of her daughter 3bsessions, of course, can be the stuff of tragedy(7acbeth, /rutus, and so forth( but obsessions are also the stuff of comedy The third paragraph, with its references to the terrible losses in China, dar!ens the tone, but the fourth restores the comedy, with its vision of Ha Chinese $hirley Temple I The fifth paragraph is perhaps the most obviously funny so far #hen $hirley Temple cries, the narrators mother says to her daughter= HGou already !now how Aont need talent for cryingJI >eople(accustomed to thin!ing that everything in a te'tboo! is deadly serious( easily miss the humor They will definitely grasp the absurdity of the thought that H&airobiI might be one way of pronouncing )elsin!i, but they may miss the delightful comedy of Auntie *indo pretending that #averlys abundant chess trophies are a nuisance 4Hall day I have no time to do nothing but dust off her winningsI5, and even a deaf piano teacher may not stri!e them as comic The story is comic 4for e'ample, in the mothers single-mindedness, and in the daughters absurd hope that the recital may be going all right, even though she is hitting all the wrong notes5 but is also serious 4the conflict between the mother and the daughter, the mothers passionate love, the daughters rebelliousness, and the daughters later recognition that her mother loved her deeply5 It is serious, too, in the way it shows us 4especially in the passage about the Hold Chinese sil! dressesI5 the narrators deepening perception of her Chinese heritage )umor and seriousness can be found in all types of family situations between parents and children : $ummary= A description of the style used by Amy Tan in her short story -Two Kinds,- about parents6 e'pectations for their children and the children6s rebellion against those e'pectations A straightforward, realistic diction% a bitter, resentful tone% and an angry, intense mood all relate to the spea!er6s point of view, feelings, attitude, and actions -Two !inds- is a story written by Amy Tan This story is basically about the e'pectations parents have for their children and the children6s rebellious and bitter attitude towards both their parents and the e'pectations In this story, a Chinese mother wants her daughter to be prodigious $he does all sorts of tests on her daughter Jing-mei to figure out what sort of special talent she possesses The daughter feels resentment towards her mother $he believes that her mother is trying to turn her into a person she is not and does everything to rebel against her mother #hen her mother

decided that her special talent was playing the piano, Jing-mei never practiced and instead, planned on embarrassing her mother by playing badly in church and putting an end to her pride= -I was determined to put a stop to her foolish pride This story is 1uite direct and straightforward &o advanced language is used in order to ma!e the story more realistic since it is in the point of view of a child *ots of descriptions are apparent in the story and the sentences full of these descriptions are 1uite long $ome similes are also added here and there to give depth to some meanings= -I made high-pitched noises li!e a cra"ed animal, trying to scratch out the face in the mirror,6 and 6cascaded slowly to the floor li!e the petals of a large carnation 6 3verall, the diction of this story has made the story 1uite realistic and plausible As for the tone, it is full of resentment and bitter feelings The spea!er feels resentment towards her mother since she feels as though she is trying to change her $he tries everything in her power to get revenge on her and hurt her= -I was determined to put a stop to her foolish pride- Another e'ample that portrays her negative feelings towards her mother is -Then I wish I wasn6t your daughter I wish you weren6t my motherJ- The spea!er not only feels anger towards her mother, but she also feels anger and resentment towards her friend #averly= -I would have pulled her braids and punched her stomach - $ince this is in the point of view of Jing-mei, it causes the reader to also feel anger towards how her mother and friend and how they treat her This point of view also causes them to understand her feelings 3verall, the general tone is bitter and loathing As for the mood, it is 1uite intense and angry The spea!er feels all this negative feelings towards the people around her as mentioned above The spea!er is also 1uite vengeful and is determined to hurt her mother= -And I could sense her anger rising to its brea!ing point I wanted to see it spill over - Also the tension of the story builds up when the mother and daughter have arguments and shout at each other= -Then I wish I wasn6t your daughter I wish you weren6t my motherJ- The spea!er6s actions, attitude, and feelings have an immense impact on the mood of this story, causing it to be bitter, angry, and tense #e can now draw to the conclusion that the mood, tone, and diction of this story are all intertwined They all relate to the spea!er6s point of view, feelings, attitude, and actions