In the story "Two Kinds‚" the narrator is a Chinese-American girl who is locked in a struggle over her identity with her Chinese immigrant mother‚ who believes "that you could be anything you wanted to be in America." This particular struggle invokes the mother’s attempt to mold her daughter‚ Jing-mei‚ into a musical prodigy so that she will be able to brag to her friend Lindo Jong‚ whose daughter is a precocious chess champion. The idea for piano lessons comes from television and popular magazines
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In the story Two Kinds‚ the title gives a great incite of the meaning of the story. Throughout the whole short story‚ there are many references to “two kinds” of something. The idea is‚ that no one will ever be good enough in another person’s eyes until they think they are good enough for themselves. I think that’s why Jing has such a hard time trying to please her mom. Jing doesn’t love herself enough to think she could actually please her mom. Throughout the story‚ Jing is put down until she finally
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Analysis: The short story‚ "Two Kinds‚"� displays the relationship between a Chinese mother and a disobedient Americanized daughter. Jing-mei‚ a second-generation Chinese daughter‚ deals with her own internal conflict as well as an external conflict with her mother. The internal effort to find her true self is a lesson Jing-mei will have to discover‚ as she gets older. Being born of Chinese heritage‚ Jing-mei struggles with the burden of failing to meet her mother’s expectations. She was never sure
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that there is a theme to be found in each one of them. If a story lacks a proper theme‚ it feels unfulfilled. It has the reader feeling like his or her time is wasted‚ as a story without a lesson learned is just simply empty calories for the brain. In the short story “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan there is also a theme that can be discovered by reading‚ and deducing the hidden meaning that the author is trying to teach the reader. It is a story about a young girl named June who
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are various types of a short story. Some of the types are ancient tales‚ humor‚ satire‚ fantasy‚ biography‚ education‚ local color‚ and history. Lets us have a glimpse on each one of them in this article. 1. Ancient Tales It is the power of the utilization of the ancient form of the tale in the modern short story. Italian writer Giovanni Verga’s The She-Wolf (1880)‚ and Chinese writer Yeh Shao-Chun’s Mrs. Li’s Hair are remarkable examples. 2. Fantasy Fantasy stories are nothing but the fair
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parents too. The short story ’Two Kinds’ written by Amy Tan is from 1989‚ and it delineates a mother’s attempt to push her daughter into achieving a prodigious lifestyle. The mother is an immi-grant from China‚ but her daughter is born in America. The cultural difference of their upbringing and childhood results in different values and ideals of how the individual person should become‚ and this is one of the main themes that constitute the short story. The narrator of the story is a Chinese-American
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Plot "Two Kinds tells of a woman and daughter expecting a great life in America. The daughter‚ Jing-mei‚ wants desperately to become a "Chinese Shirley Temple" by making a career in singing and dancing. Her mother is consumed in the belief that Jing-mei is a genius‚ thus making her do pointless tests that she sees other prodigy children doing in magazines such as standing on her head and reciting world capitals. All of this proves to be useless and the idea begins to fade away until Jing-mei’s mother
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Expository Writing II 10/2/2014 Two Kinds "Two Kinds" is truly an amazing work; it captivates readers by telling a story of a young girl trying to find herself. Amy Tan does a phenomenal job‚ not only by portraying a very real mother-daughter relationship‚ but at showing how much a young girl can change. Jing-Mei evolves throughout the story in a way that many people can relate to; crushed hopes‚ obeying your parents even if it means
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The story “Two Kinds‚” written by Amy Tan‚ has a plot that many people can relate to while growing up as a child. The theme of the story is that there are two kinds of people: the one the mother wants her to be and the one Jing-mei (the protagonist and narrator of the story) strives to be. Both mother and daughter in the story have a very complicated relationship. The mother believes that you could become anything you wanted in America. The author emphasizes that Jing-mei’s mother tries to dominate
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The Importance of Setting Setting is the psychological time or place in a story. Setting plays an important role in the success of stories. Three examples of this importance can be explained through “To Build a Fire” by Jack London and “The Cask of the Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe and “A Worn Path” by Eudora Welty. The settings used in these stories set the reader’s mood. A good writer’s depiction of setting puts the reader right into the story. “To Build a Fire” by Jack London takes place on
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