Amy Tan's Two Kinds: The Search For Contentment
Two Kinds: The Search for Contentment
In "Two Kinds," Amy Tan writes about the struggles between a futile daughter and her persistent mother. This excerpt from her novel, "The Joy Luck Club," explores several other important themes, such as the control over one's destiny, the freedom of decision-making, and the attempt to live the American Dream.' However, the last paragraph in "Two Kinds" reflects the story's most important theme the search for one self's true identity.
The premise of this short story revolves around Suyuan unduly forcing her daughter, Jing-mei, to develop into a child prodigy. Mother Suyuan, obsessed with this notion, explores many hobbies which require a skill that her daughter will hopefully soon master. This presents …show more content…
Suyuan gives Jing-mei another chance to play, this time without outside pressure to perform. She understands why Jing-mei refused to play, and offers the instrument as a gift of peace. The daughter does not recognize the significance until her mother has passed away. However, Jing-mei has a psychological breakthrough one day while sitting down at the piano. She looks through her old music book, playing "Pleading Child," the same song she had performed at her recital during her youth "And for the first time, or so it seemed, I noticed the piece on the right-hand side" (724). She then stumbles upon a new song on the next page "It was called Perfectly Contented.' I tried to play this one as well. It had a lighter melody but the same flowing rhythm and turned out to be quite easy." She contemplates the meaning of the titles of these two songs while playing them on the piano "Pleading Child' was shorter but slower; Perfectly Contented' was longer but faster." Her mother, while her approach was decidedly poor, really did mean well for her daughter. The harsh and unfulfilled expectations placed upon Jing-mei as a child were only a product of Suyuan's profound faith and love. "And after I played them both a few times, I realized they were two halves of the same song." The "pleading child" of Jing-mei's youth, finally aware of her mother's true intentions, is now
In "Two Kinds," Amy Tan writes about the struggles between a futile daughter and her persistent mother. This excerpt from her novel, "The Joy Luck Club," explores several other important themes, such as the control over one's destiny, the freedom of decision-making, and the attempt to live the American Dream.' However, the last paragraph in "Two Kinds" reflects the story's most important theme the search for one self's true identity.
The premise of this short story revolves around Suyuan unduly forcing her daughter, Jing-mei, to develop into a child prodigy. Mother Suyuan, obsessed with this notion, explores many hobbies which require a skill that her daughter will hopefully soon master. This presents …show more content…
Suyuan gives Jing-mei another chance to play, this time without outside pressure to perform. She understands why Jing-mei refused to play, and offers the instrument as a gift of peace. The daughter does not recognize the significance until her mother has passed away. However, Jing-mei has a psychological breakthrough one day while sitting down at the piano. She looks through her old music book, playing "Pleading Child," the same song she had performed at her recital during her youth "And for the first time, or so it seemed, I noticed the piece on the right-hand side" (724). She then stumbles upon a new song on the next page "It was called Perfectly Contented.' I tried to play this one as well. It had a lighter melody but the same flowing rhythm and turned out to be quite easy." She contemplates the meaning of the titles of these two songs while playing them on the piano "Pleading Child' was shorter but slower; Perfectly Contented' was longer but faster." Her mother, while her approach was decidedly poor, really did mean well for her daughter. The harsh and unfulfilled expectations placed upon Jing-mei as a child were only a product of Suyuan's profound faith and love. "And after I played them both a few times, I realized they were two halves of the same song." The "pleading child" of Jing-mei's youth, finally aware of her mother's true intentions, is now