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Analysis of Amy Tan’s Two Kinds
By NASRULLAH MAMBROL on April 4, 2022
Two Kinds is a selection from Amy Tan ’s (1952– ) critically acclaimed The Joy Luck Club (1989), which critics saw as an intricately woven “novel.” But that Tan intended the book to be read not as a novel but as a collection of short stories is evident. “Two Kinds” stands on its own as a story that explores the struggles between a Chinese immigrant mother, Suyuan Woo, and her firstgeneration American daughter, Jing-mei (the narrator of the story). Suyuan Woo dreams of her daughter’s becoming a child prodigy, but Jing-mei resists these ambitions and attempts to express her own free will. The story expresses the themes that run throughout The Joy Luck Club : “the struggle for control between mothers and daughters; the daughters’ bids for independent lives; the mothers’ attempts to understand the dynamics of life in the New World and somehow to blend the best of their Old World culture with a new way of life that they do not comprehend” (Huntley 43). These themes appear in the first two paragraphs, where Jing-mei begins with her mother’s, not her own, perspective: “My mother believed you could be anything you wanted to be in America” (585). At the core of the struggle between mother and daughter is the conflict between Suyuan Woo’s belief in America as the land of unlimited potential and Jing-mei’s more realistic expectations. However, Tan does more than merely present an unrealistic optimist in Suyuan Woo; with an allusion to Suyuan Woo’s past, Tan suggests why immigrants perceive America differently than their Americanized progeny: “She had come here in 1949 after losing everything in China: her mother and father, her family home, her first husband, and two daughters, twin baby girls. But she never looked back with regret. There were so many ways for things to get better” (585). The date of her arrival in America coincides with the end of the Sino-Japanese War and hints at the tragedies that befell her in her war-ravaged home country. Instead of dwelling on these tragedies, she invests all hope in the future, specifically in her daughter.
Amy Tan (HarperCollins / Julian Johnson)
In the third paragraph, the story shifts focus from Suyuan Woo’s perspective to young Jing-mei’s impressions of her mother. For instance, Jing-mei notes that her mother’s search for the type of prodigy she might become was implemented through reading magazines such as Good Housekeeping and Reader’s Digest, and she explains, “My mother got these magazines from people whose houses she cleaned. And since she cleaned many houses each week, we had a great assortment” (586). Jing-mei offers no comment on, seems to have no empathy for, the hard work her mother does in order to achieve a better life for her family. Furthermore, she does not seem to appreciate the sacrifice involved in the deal Suyuan Woo makes with a neighbor, “Old Chong,” in order to get her piano lessons: “My mother had traded housecleaning services for weekly lessons and a piano for me to practice on every day, two hours a day, from four until six.” When learning about the deal for piano lessons, she focuses on her own obligations and concludes, “I felt as though I had been sent to hell” (588). Jing-meidoes not seem to recognize the IRONY of this comment. Despite her mother’s losses and sufferings in China and her sacrifices in America, Jing-mei sees only her own loss of free time in this piano deal. In this way, the story emphasizes differences between immigrant parents and their Americanized children. The children are largely unaware of the hardships the parents endure to get a piece of the American Dream in which they have so much faith.
However, there is more to Jing-mei’s resistance to and resentment of her mother’s ambitions than a mere desire to spend her free time watching television; it is not that she is just “lazy,” as her mother sometimes accuses her. Her resistance is a sign that instead of seeing America as the land of opportunity, Jing-mei sees it as the land of freedom, freedom of choice and of will. At first Jing-mei goes along with her mother’s crazy schemes to get rich quick, but she eventually perceives the unreality of these dreams and, instead, sees her ability to assert her free will. After yet another failure with her mother, Jing-mei looks at herself in the mirror and sees “only my face,” an “ordinary face.” With this she begins to cry, seeing herself as a “sad” and “ugly” girl. It is at this moment that she realizes a different kind of potential than the potential her mother sees: “Then I saw what seemed to be the prodigy side of me—because I had never seen that face before. . . .The girl staring back at me was angry, powerful. This girl and I were the same. I had new thoughts, willful thoughts, or rather thoughts filled with lots of won’ts. I won’t let her change me, I promised myself. I won’t be what I’m not” (587). Her prodigy self is the self who is able to resist authority, to choose her own course of life, a distinctly American ambition.
While mother and daughter each cling to American values, the values they cling to are opposing. When Jing-mei tries to assert her free will by refusing to play the piano, Suyuan Woo tells her that there are only “two kinds of daughters. . . . Those who are obedient and those who follow their own mind!” Her mother further tells her that “only one kind of daughter can live in this house. Obedient daughter” (592). While the mother urgently desires an Americanized daughter, one who achieves great things, one with the potential to become rich and famous, she cannot come to terms with other American characteristics, those of self-determination and independence. Despite its emphasis on the immigrant experience, as E. D. Huntley points out, Tan’s fiction has a more universal theme: “Tan also writes about love and loss and redemption, about individuals coming to terms with the facts of their lives and about the workings of fate in human existence” (34).
Analysis of Amy Tan’s Stories
BIBLIOGRAPHY Adams, Bella. Amy Tan: Contemporary World Writers. New York: Manchester University Press, 2005. Huntley, E. D. Amy Tan: A Critical Companion. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1998. Snodgrass, Mary Ellen. Amy Tan: A Literary Companion. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2004. Tan, Amy. “Two Kinds.” In The Scribner Anthology of Contemporary Short Fiction. New York: Scribner, 1999.
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Home — Essay Samples — Literature — Two Kinds — Two Kinds By Amy Tan: Depiction Of American Dream In A Negative Aspect
Two Kinds by Amy Tan: Depiction of American Dream in a Negative Aspect
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Analytic Response to Amy Tan’s short story entitled “Two Kinds” Essay (Critical Writing)
“Two Kinds” by Amy Tan is a short story about a mother and her daughter who have different views on various issues in life. The story is about a young girl’s (named Jing-mei) refusal to her mother’s persistent urge to make her experience the American dream, which is the hope of most immigrants.
The mother in the story held the opinion that her daughter was intelligent and thus attempted all means to ensure that the daughter became a music prodigy; however, the daughter turned her efforts down through taking advantage of her deaf music teacher and failed to do enough practice to perfect her skills in music. A literary analysis of the short story reveals that is an excellent work of literature.
The story, which is in the genre of conformity and rebellion, is the last of Tan’s loose collection of interrelated stories in his first successful novel The Joy Luck Club.
As hinted above, the story illustrates a conflict between two well-articulated positions wherein a rebel, on principle, meets head-on and fights against an established authority.
The main theme of the story is about the complicated relationships that exist between mothers and daughters in the contemporary society.
Specifically, the author intended to depict the complexities that exist between the Chinese mothers who hold to traditional principles and their American-born daughters who are in a dilemma either to fulfill the dictates of their Chinese tradition or to pursue the supposedly ‘good life’ in the United States.
To depict successfully the issue of supremacy and authority on the mother’s side and conformity and toughness on Jing-mei’s part, the author used the tone of rebellion and dissatisfaction.
The diverse life experiences, diverse approaches towards life, and diverse expectations in the story resulted in the tension between the mother and the daughter in the story; nonetheless, after the mother’s demise, the tone of the story changed to belated insight and remorse when the daughter realized the meaning of her mother’s assertion of “two kinds of daughters” in her.
In the story, the author constructed the mother daughter dynamic with the story’s protagonist, the young girl, having a round character.
The protagonist in the story appears to be a complicated character as she has both inner and outside clashed all through the entire story. On the other hand, the mother seems to be a bit controlling since she is the mother, an established center of authority, particularly in matriarchal Chinese society.
The author used various techniques to depict the setting of the story. The phrase, “The TV was old and the sound kept shouting out” (Tan, para.12) depicts the economic status of the family.
The majority of both temporal and social conditions are illustrated by means of the narration and description for the series of the events in the story such as the mother having come to the United States in 1949 and the use of reference of the names Shirley Temple and The Ed Sullivan Show.
Lastly, to increase the attention of the audience on the progress of the story, Tan used the narrator’s point of view. As the story’s main character, Jing Mei is also an omniscient narrator and she gives an account that is totally from her point of view.
Even though she does not know what her mother thinks, she gives a compelling portrayal of the dealings of her mother.
Works Cited
Tan, Amy. “Two Kinds.” Angel Fire, n.d. Web.
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A Summary and Analysis of Amy Tan's 'Two Kinds'. By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) 'Two Kinds' is a short story by the American author Amy Tan (born 1952), published as part of her book The Joy Luck Club in 1989. The story is about a young American girl born to Chinese parents; her mother pushes her to become a child ...
In the short story, "Two Kinds" by Amy Tan, a Chinese mother and daughter are at odds with each other. The mother pushes her daughter to become a prodigy, while the daughter (like most children with immigrant parents) seeks to find herself in a world that demands her Americanization. This is the theme of the story, conflicting values.
In 'Two Kinds', the narrator is also the protagonist as she relates her own stressful relationship with her overbearing mother. It reflects the vast difference between two generations, one that hailed from traditional Chinese upbringing and another one that has been greatly influenced by Americanized values.
Updated: 23 November, 2023. The short story "Two Kinds" by Amy Tan provides a thought-provoking literary analysis of the conflicts that arise between parents and children when their goals and aspirations differ. In this first-person narrative, Tan depicts the struggle that Jing-Mei Woo and her mother face in reconciling their differing views on ...
Summary of "Two Kinds". At nine years old the narrator, Jing-mei, was told by her mother that she could be a prodigy. Her mother believed that America offered endless opportunity. She arrived in the country in 1949, after losing her family, including twin baby girls, and her possessions in China. The mother decides Jing-mei can be the Chinese ...
Exclusively available on IvyPanda. In her short story Two Kinds, Amy Tan uses influence of past events on present life, language subtleties, and daughter centrality to explain why the characters are in conflict and how it is exacerbated. The story revolves around Jing-Mei, an ethnic Chinese girl who was born in a family of Chinese immigrants to ...
The intention of Amy Tan in the story Two Kinds was to present her problem through her personal experience and leave the judgment to the reader. Though the narrator's mother experiences tragedies in her life, she has the energy to forge on and impart her dreams into her daughter. Although the narrator is unable to fulfill her mother's ...
Two Kinds is a selection from Amy Tan 's (1952- ) critically acclaimed The Joy Luck Club (1989), which critics saw as an intricately woven "novel.". But that Tan intended the book to be read not as a novel but as a collection of short stories is evident. "Two Kinds" stands on its own as a story that explores the struggles between a ...
Dive deep into Amy Tan's Two Kinds with extended analysis, commentary, and discussion. ... How can one formulate a conclusion for an informative essay on Amy Tan's "Two Kinds"?
The central struggle in Amy Tan's story ''Two Kinds'' is a battle of wills between the narrator, a young Chinese-American girl, and her mother, a Chinese immigrant.
The literary analysis of the short story "Two Kinds" written by Amy Tan makes it possible to immerse oneself in the atmosphere of a family with an oriental cultural background that is gradually adapting to the American way of life. The techniques used by the author allow understanding the feelings of the main character and her perception of ...
Full Story Summary. Jing-mei's mother lost everyone she loved before fleeing China and coming to the United States in search of the American Dream. Her heavy hopes rest solely on the back of her daughter who she believes could be a prodigy if she tries. Initially, mother and daughter share the goal of Jing-mei's success, and they dream up ...
Essay on "Two Kinds" Type your essay on "Two Kinds" below: Title The short story "Two Kinds," written by Amy Tan, focuses on the struggles of a young protagonist named Jing-mei trying to find herself without the influences and pressure of others. Aldous Huxley once said, "One believes things because one has been conditioned to ...
Two Kinds by Amy Tan Essay. Amy Tan's 'Two Kinds' is a short story about the relationship between a Chinese-American mother and her American daughter. Two Kinds is a chapter from Tans book, "The Joy Luck Club", which is made up of sixteen stories about Tan growing up in America with a mother from ancient Chinese customs (Tan, 189). In ...
Download. Amy Tan's 'Two Kinds' demonstrates how the mother leaves China so as to spare her solitary girl left and needs to show signs of improvement in life. The work shows how everything influences them in their mom-little-girl relationship and the conflict of two very surprising mindsets and how the two characters see the world in an ...
Published: Aug 6, 2021. "Writing is an extreme privilege but it's also a gift. It's a gift to yourself and it's a gift giving a story to someone " Amy Tan knew she had a gift and perfectly executed it by writing "Two Kinds". Amy Tan's life exceedingly impacted her works of literature. Amy Tan's writing was influenced by her ...
Mother-Daughter Relationships in "Two Kinds" by Amy Tan Essay. Amy Tan is a famous American writer who was born in 1952. She is well-known for her novellas about the conflict between mothers and daughters and the difficulties of the Chinese-American experience. Amy Tan's first book is The Joy Luck Club (1989).
In Two Kinds by Amy Tan, the symbolism of the piano serves as a metaphor for the protagonist's struggle to find her own identity and independence. The piano also symbolizes the tension between the protagonist and her mother, as the mother pushes her daughter to become a prodigy while the daughter resists and rebels against her mother's ...
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"Two Kinds" is a short story, which is a part of the book "The Joy Luck Club" written by Amy Tan. "The Joy Luck Club" was published in 1989. The... read full [Essay Sample] for free
"Two Kinds" by Amy Tan is a short story about a mother and her daughter who have different views on various issues in life. The story is about a young girl's (named Jing-mei) refusal to her mother's persistent urge to make her experience the American dream, which is the hope of most immigrants.
Start an essay Ask a question Join Sign in. Study Guides ... What is the central theme of "Two Kinds" by Amy Tan? What literary elements are used in the story "Two Kinds"?
Download. In the short story "Two Kinds" by Amy Tan, with the use of epiphany and turning points the reader is able to see the protagonist's growth and change in personality throughout the story. The protagonist, Jing-Mei and her mother emigrated from China to the US, thus the family struggled in adapting to the new culture and lifestyle.