The story "Two Kinds" written by Amy Tan is about a young Chinese-American woman named Jing-Mei. The story consists of her memories about childhood and relationships with her mother. This paper will be analyzing the mother/daughter dynamic in "Two Kinds." Specifically it will be concentrated on the cultural gap between different generations of immigrants, the sacrifices that first generation of immigrants have to make, and how it affects the children that are born in the United States. .
Jing-Mei's mother moved to the United States from China, but she still identifies herself as Chinese, and tries to stick to Chinese traditions and lifestyles in the new country. For her mother question of self-identity is simple, she is Chinese, she lives in the Chinese community, so she does not have to adjust to the American lifestyle. The majority of the information she gets about the American culture comes from the TV shows and magazines she brings from work. Since this is the only source of information for her, she is not able to critically evaluate the information she receives from media. Things are not that simple for her daughter Jing-Mei. Jing-Mei was born in the United States, she goes to the American school, but at the same time she is required to be obedient and modest according to Chinese traditions. She struggles to identify herself between the culture that exists in her home, and the culture that exists everywhere else.
In the beginning of the story we find out that Jing-Mei's mother lost everything in China - her parents, first husband, and, the most important, her twin daughters. Her daughter is everything she has left, her only hope, so that is why she is so demanding, she wants her daughter to be the best in whatever she does. Jing-Mei's mother says, "you could be anything you wanted to be in America," but in fact what she really wants is for her daughter to be anything what she decides her to be.