Amy Tan's "Two Kinds" Essay Example
Amy Tan’s “Two Kinds” In “Two Kinds” Amy Tan uses a wide range of techniques and literary elements to demonstrate the true meaning behind the story. She incorporates similes and imagery to intertwine her story. “Two Kinds” is the last story in the second of four sections of Amy Tan’s immensely successful first book, The Joy Luck Club. The story is concerned with the complex relationships between mothers and daughters. Amy Tan tells the story, from the point of view of an adult looking back on her own childhood experiences and explores the clash of cultures between a first-generation Chinese-American daughter, Jing-Mei and her mother, Suyuan, a Chinese immigrant. She focuses and develops the tone, symbolism, language, and characters in the story which makes the story come alive.
“Two Kinds” is a story based on the struggles of a young Chinese girl, Jing-Mei. Here is the protagonist and round character of the story. She is stubborn, rebellious, strong-willed and determined to live up to her mother’s expectations. Living in the United States with her overly pushy mother, she struggles to find her own sense of identity. Her troubles are compounded by her mother, who convinces her that she can become someone important. Jing-Mei’s mother, Suyuan, is the antagonist and flat character that remains stern, dominant and overbearing throughout the story. Suyuan pushes her daughter, Jing-Mei to become a child prodigy and believes “You could be anything you wanted to be in America” (Tan 193)
The story’s main events take place in San Francisco’s Chinatown throughout the 1950’s and perhaps the early 1960’s. After “losing everything in China: her mother and father, her family house, her first husband, her two twin daughters” (Tan 193), Suyuan immigrates to America where all her hopes lay, striving and hoping for things to get better. The setting in America symbolizes opportunity. However, the location of America, Chinatown, contrasts with America. Chinatown is reminiscent
“Two Kinds” is a story based on the struggles of a young Chinese girl, Jing-Mei. Here is the protagonist and round character of the story. She is stubborn, rebellious, strong-willed and determined to live up to her mother’s expectations. Living in the United States with her overly pushy mother, she struggles to find her own sense of identity. Her troubles are compounded by her mother, who convinces her that she can become someone important. Jing-Mei’s mother, Suyuan, is the antagonist and flat character that remains stern, dominant and overbearing throughout the story. Suyuan pushes her daughter, Jing-Mei to become a child prodigy and believes “You could be anything you wanted to be in America” (Tan 193)
The story’s main events take place in San Francisco’s Chinatown throughout the 1950’s and perhaps the early 1960’s. After “losing everything in China: her mother and father, her family house, her first husband, her two twin daughters” (Tan 193), Suyuan immigrates to America where all her hopes lay, striving and hoping for things to get better. The setting in America symbolizes opportunity. However, the location of America, Chinatown, contrasts with America. Chinatown is reminiscent