Every parent has goals that he or she wishes for their child to achieve. Often times, the parent will push the child hard enough that they will rebel, as Jing-Mei does in the short story "Two Kinds". " The story, "Two Kinds" set in California and written by author Amy Tan, portrays the situation between a young girl, Jing-Mei, whose mother makes numerous attempts for her daughter to become a "prodigy" (211). .
Throughout the story, Jing-Mei's mother pushes her to become something she is not, obviously not realizing the grief Jing-Mei endures. In Amy Tan's "Two Kinds," the author considers the themes of opposing values and mother-daughter relationships, by her use of the title, the characters that act out the events, and the story's plot and various conflicts. .
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The title "Two Kinds" fits the story suitably in that both Jing-Mei and her mother differ in their ways of thinking and who they are. At the commencement of the story, the author depicts Jing-Mei's mother as being a typical parent, wanting the best for her daughter. Jing-Mei's mother wants her daughter to do as she says, while Jing-Mei wants to be her own person. The story makes it clear that Jing-Mei does not appreciate her mother's constant attempts to make her daughter the America dream child. Their different beliefs cause them to argue more, displaying the conflicts among mother-daughter relationships. In the middle of the story, Jing-Mei's mother states that "there are only two kinds of daughters" (217) are another reason for the title. "Two Kinds" also conveys Jing-Mei's discovery that the two pieces of piano music were once two pieces, but now are a complete piece. At the end of the story Jing-Mei states, "And for the first time, or so it seemed, I noticed the piece on the right-hand side. It was called "Perfectly Contented." And after I played them both a few times, I realized they were two halves of the same song (218).