Demanding More
Two Kinds, a story written by Amy Tan, is about a troublesome relationship between a mother and her daughter, Jing-Mei. This Chinese mother felt as though her daughter could do anything that she set her mind to. Because she had moved from China and felt as though America was the open door to opportunities to become anything you wanted to be. Like a typical parent, Jing-Meis mother wanted more for her daughter than Jing-Mei wanted for herself. She had so many ideas in mind that could help her daughter succeed in life. She wanted so badly for Jing-Mei to have and show some sort of talent that it got to the point where she pushed Jing-Mei as far as she could possibly go. Considering the mother was a flat character in the story, she only wanted what was best for her daughter.
Jing-Mei was her only child. Children who are an only child tend to be spoiled or in the case of this story, pushed harder than those who have other siblings. Having more siblings would have taken some of the pressure off of Jing-Mei. Taking in account that she had already lost two children, she wanted Jing-Mei to have a wonderful life. She wanted it to be more than average. She yearned for Jing-Mei to be very talented and grow to be more than an ordinary person. She pushed Jing-Mei hard because she was she only child there.
She wanted Jing-Mei to be more than normal. Now living in America, she felt you could be anything you wanted to be. She wanted Jing-Mei to be a prodigy. She had many things in mind for Jing-Mei to be. At first she wanted Jing-Mei to be a Chinese Shirley Temple. After that did not work, she started giving Jing-Mei tests to see if she could compete with the children she read about in her magazines. She could not see that Jing-Mei didnt want to be a prodigy anymore and be her own person. She didnt want Jing-Mei to grow up like a normal child and be successful her own way. She hovered over Jing-Mei way too much.
She expected too much from Jing-Mei. When Jing-Mei could never fulfill the things that she wanted her to, she would get so disappointed in her. Without realizing the effect she was having on Jing-Mei, she kept pushing her to be the best. Just as a flat character does, she does not grow from her experiences. She was blinded by the dream she had for Jing-Mei to be the best of the best. She wanted Jing-Mei to be like the little Chinese girl on The Ed Sullivan Show and portray a love for a piano. She had such a strong desire for Jing-Mei to be successful at playing the piano that she set up lessons with the retired piano teacher that lived in the same apartment building as they did. By this point in the story, she had put so much pressure on Jing-Mei that Jing-Mei lost interest in the things that she wanted her to do. At the talent show, Jing-Meis performance didnt go as she had hoped. By the look she had on her face after the show, it was like she had lost all of her hopes and dreams for Jing-Mei in an instance.
Because they didnt share the same views for Jing-Meis future, tension grew between the both of them. She could never see things from Jing-Meis point of view. When they got into their fight, she saw Jing-Mei as the only one that was wrong. She felt as though Jing-Mei was ungrateful. She never saw herself as the selfish one. The more they argued with each other, the further their love towards each other went.
Towards the end of the story it showed that even though she is considered a flat character, she could indeed be considered as a round character too. When she offered the piano to Jing-Mei for her thirteenth birthday, it demonstrated that she had taken Jing-Meis feelings into account. She offered it after all those years when not a word had been said about it. It wasnt just about what she, as a mother, wanted anymore, but about letting her child grow up her own way. For once, she let her daughter be in charge of her own life. With no intentions of turning the offer of the piano into something sentimental, at that moment she made a difference in her daughters life.
Out of all the things that Jing-Meis mother had gone through (losing everything in China and the drama with Jing-Mei) she grew as a character. She matured into the parent that she should have been from the start. She started to see that Jing-Mei didnt want to be a prodigy and that forcing her was only bringing conflict in their relationship. She realized that Jing-Mei would actually be okay if she didnt do all the things that she wanted her to do. After she died, Jing-Mei still cared about the piano. Jing-Mei cherished the memories they had, good and bad. When she played the two pieces of music that she had when she was younger, it was like she was a song and her mother was the other one. The songs were too good when played alone, but when put together they were the perfect melody just like her and her mother.
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