Bobby's Room And Two Kinds Essay

21 November 2011

How Not to Raise Your Child

The short stories Bobbys Room and Two Kinds, by Douglas Dunn and Amy Tan, both include bad relationships between parent and child. Some of these reasons include lack of balance in parenting, dislike of parents due to bad parenting, and the childs independence at the end of the story.

In these stories there was a definite lack of balance in parenting, whether it be too much or too little. The two mothers in the stories go to one extreme or the other. I dont see any cars, Henry said, so they must have rooms./ When I want your opinion, Ill ask for it.(Dunn 70) In this quote, The Pollocks have just arrived at Netherbank. Henry merely makes a helpful comment and his mother immediately yells at him for speaking out of turn. This is important to the plot because it shows how much Henrys parents overreact to his very normal-child-like behavior. This severe parenting problem also applies to Jing-mei Woo. Of course, you can be a prodigy, too, my mother told me when I was nine. You can be best anything. (Tan 1) Here, in the beginning of the story, Jing-mei Woos mother is telling her she can be anything she wants to be in America. This is important to the plot because it is the beginning of the story and it is setting Jing-meis mothers expectations of her very high. It shows how much her mother truly believes in her. Bad parenting often leads to the child disliking the parent and sometimes rebelling.

In both of these stories, Henry and Jing-mei both hate their mothers parenting skills. As he lay awake in bed, Henry pondered his affections for his parents, and decided it was becoming as distant and routine as his parents love of him. (Dunn 76) Now, Henry is noticing the lack of love going both ways in his relationship with his parents. He finds that they are both rapidly crumbling and there is not much he can do about it. Jing-mei also hates her mother but her high expectations as well. Then I wish I weren't your daughter, I wish you weren't my mother, I shouted. (Tan 3)In this Quote, Jing-mei is so frustrated with her mother that she says she wishes she were not her daughter. This is probably a lie but she definitely does not appreciate being forced to play the piano. It is important to the plot because it is when her real independence and the rest of her life begin. When the child does not like their father or mothers parenting, the child often becomes more independent later on.

Both stories include the child becoming much more independent at the end of the stories. They can do what the wish and do it how they wish. As the days went by he found himself aproned, pulling linen from beds, vacuuming carpets, dusting furniture, cleaning windows and mirrors, polishing the banister. (Dunn 79-80) at this point, Henry is realizing how he is doing all of these chores even though he has no parents to make him do them. He is doing them out of his own free will. This may be because since he never was forced to do them, he does not hate doing them. He also wants to make the Bawdens happy. Jing-mei also does as she wishes at the end of the story. And even worse, I never asked her about what frightened me the most: Why had she given up hope? (Tan 4) Here, Jing-mei is older and is reflecting on her childhood years. After telling the reader all of the things she did not do, it then says it was because her mother had given up on her. This is important because it fills in the gap between her childhood and adulthood at the conclusion of the story. In the end, whether the childs independence is for better or for worse, the parent can be held responsible.

If I were a parent, instead of raising my child as the parents in these two short stories do, I would let my child have a say in certain activities that I think they should do. I would pay attention to what they have to say. I would never force them to do anything that would not help nor hurt them if they did not want to. In conclusion, good parenting is a good skill to have if you want your child to grow up well.