Two Kinds
Every day somewhere in the world, a mothers expectations for their daughter to succeed in life may come from what she has lost prior to her daughter being born. Amy Tan, the author of the short story Two Kinds, teaches a valuable lesson in a mother- daughter relationship. The mother a Chinese immigrant was determined her daughter; Jeing-Mei a first generation Chinese American was to become a prodigy. The theme of Two Kinds expresses how a mothers dream for her daughter to be successful in America can turn a daughter away from her own identity.
Jeing-Mei believes that America will give her the identity she wants without having to work for it. Her mother believes that personal identity is not as important as fame. And after I played them both a few times, I realized they were two halves of the same song.(Tan 212) Throughout the whole story Jeing-Mei and her mother battle over who she is to become in America.
Jeing-Mei had her own ideals of how she would become the prodigy. As time passed Jeing-Mei became rebellious over being pushed into a mold. Her mother was determined she was going to be a prodigy like Shirley Temple or other girls she saw on television. Finally, her mother decided she would become a pianist. Jeing-Mei started talking back to her mother and acting out disrespectfully, when her mother took her freedom and made her practice the piano every day. Jeing-Mei liked to practice best the fancier parts of songs that she could use her foot and leg to play. Things seemed to settle awhile until the day of her recital where the rebellion kicked in. Jeing-Mei hit a wrong note in the song she was playing and instead of correcting herself she continued to hit wrong keys on the piano. After making her mistakes Jeing-Mei looked at her parents for comfort but instead got rejected. But my mothers expression was what devastated me: a quiet, blank look that said she had lost everything. (Tan 211)
The mother a Chinese immigrant was convinced in America her daughter, Jeing-Mei could become a prodigy. My mother believed you could be anything you wanted to be in America. (Tan 206) The mother had lost everything in China in 1949 including her mother, father, her home, her first husband and two daughters, and twin baby girls. Because of her losses she became somewhat bitter and very hard to communicate with her daughter. As a result her daughter sees her as overbearing and condescending. The mother was not trying to be hateful to her daughter, but instead was trying to motivate her to become something that could not be taken away. The mother believed Jeing-Mei could be a genius but neglected the emotional side of her daughter. By trying to push her daughter forward she pushed her away.
For unlike my mother, I did not believe I could be anything I wanted to be. I could only be me. (Tan 212) Without the overbearing of her mother Jeing-Mei would not have pushed herself at all to accomplish anything. However, had she been completely obedient she would not have found her own identity. As the story comes to an end Jeing-Mei realizes what her mother was trying to teach her in life. That in reality she could have been both a genius and an individual. After her mother died she returned to the piano and found the book from her recital. She decided to play the song she had messed up so badly and was amazed how it came to her so easily after all those years. She was so impressed that she could play the song she noticed the next song on the sheet of music and decided to play it as well. And after I played them both a few times, I realized they were two halves of the same song. (Tan 212) The song Perfectly Contended was how Jeing-Mei felt about herself and Pleading Child was how her mother felt towards her. When she played both pieces together she heard how beautiful they were and realized they were the same song. With this realization Jeing-Mei finally sees how her important her mother was in her life.
By using character and setting Amy Tan presents the theme of resolving conflict between a mother and daughter. Through fighting and bickering then eventually losing contact with each other the conflict between mother and daughter seemed impossible to fix. However, when Jeing-Meis mother dies and leaves her to take care of her father Jeing-Mei finds the piano that had been the major source of their conflict. When she plays the piano for the first time in years she realizes just what her mother was trying to teach her. The conflict is resolved with Jeing-Meis reflection on how much her mother really did care about her. The short story Two Kinds shows this best with a simple sheet of music that had gone unplayed for years.
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