(855) 4-ESSAYS

Type a new keyword(s) and press Enter to search

Mother and Daughter in Two Kinds

            "Two Kinds" is a story of a mother and a daughter living a life of high expectation in America which has always been looked at as the the country where dreams come true. Many people from other countries come to America to live the "American Dream". However, I believe that living in America has a lot of expectation behind it. Expectations have two sides, they either lead to achievement or disappointment. While the expectations Ni Kan's mother set her to live up to lead to disappointing both of them, I had a very opposite situation where the expectations others had of me pushed me to live above those expectations and achieve greater things. .
             Ni Kan is a young chinese girl growing up in America. Her Mother believes that anyone could be anything they want to be in America. Ni Kan's Mother wants big things for her daughter, but that leads to very high expectations. The first idea is for Ni Kan to become a Chinese Shirley Temple. Ni Kan ends up looking like Peter Pan. When beauty does not work out the next thing was to try intelligence. Ni kan's mother would test Ni Kan with trivia questions every night after dinner. When Ni kan and her mother realized that she could not do the tests either Ni Kan began to notice the disappointment her mother had in her. Her mother then arranges for Ni kan to begin taking piano lessons with Mr.Chong, a man who lives in the same building. Ni kan soon discovers she also wasn't very good at piano either. Mr. Chong was deaf so Ni Kan found ways to trick him into thinking she was doing well. After some time Ni Kan's mother signed Ni Kan up for a talent show. Her mother is so full of pride until Ni Kan played her first wrong note and every note following was wrong too. After doing so terrible at the talent show she stopped playing. Ni Kan felt that she had always disappointed her mother. Ni Kan does not believe in herself the way her mother does.


Essays Related to Mother and Daughter in Two Kinds

1. Mother Daughter Relationships in Two Kinds

The story "Two Kinds" written by Amy Tan is about a young Chinese-American woman named Jing-Mei. ... This paper will be analyzing the mother/daughter dynamic in "Two Kinds.... Mother screams, "Only two kinds of daughters, those who are obedient and those who follow their own mind! Only one kind of daughter can live in this house. ... This passive aggressive dynamic stays between mother and daughter until the end of the mother's life. ...

  • Word Count: 1268
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Has Bibliography

2. Mothers in Everyday Use and Two Kinds

The daughter in Amy Tan's "Two Kinds " began her life completely sold on her mother's ideas about of success and being a "prodigy"." ... The relationship between the mother and her two children in "Everyday Use"" brings two separate and almost opposite mother-daughter relationships into play. ... High expectations, teenage angst, and pressure get the best out of the daughter in "Two Kinds"" as she starts to get a little bit older. ... At one point in "Two Kinds ", the daughter and mother get a very aggressive argument about something as simple as playing the piano and while her mothe...

  • Word Count: 1114
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Has Bibliography

3. Two Kinds

Parental pressure is often part of a child's life as it was part of Jing-Mei's in Amy Tan's Two Kinds in The Harbrace Anthology of Short Fiction. ... Throughout the story, we find out what kind of life Jing-Mei's mother has lead. ... "[3] Obviously their mother-daughter relationship deteriorated even further from then on, there was a serious lack of understanding between the two of them and that lead to Jing-Mei lashing out at her mother and bringing up her mother's painful memories about the death of her husband and her two baby girls.[4] This lack of understanding ...

  • Word Count: 845
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: High School

4. Two Kinds

"Two Kinds" was a story about an emigrant mother who had many struggles in her country and came to America to live her dream but learned that you cannot force your dreams upon someone else. ... The story "Two Kinds" shows a relationship between a mother and daughter who have different opinions about success. ... She also said; I hated the tests, the tests raised hopes and failed expectation (Pg. 401 Two Kinds). ... Her mother had trouble distinguishing between the two. ... In the story her mother said; "Only two kinds of daughters: Those who are obedient and those who follow their own mind!" ...

  • Word Count: 1263
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Grade Level: High School

5. Two Kinds

Amy Tan's Two Kinds essay is about a Chinese mother who immigrated to America after losing everyone, and everything that she had knew back in China, to start a new life. The entire essay focuses on the mother and daughters" relationship with each other. ... I also feel that the mother should have approached everything differently, and try not to push her daughter as hard as she did. ... Like her mother said, "There were only two kinds of daughters those who are obedient, and those who follow their own mind" (Madden 868). In this case the daughter rebelled against her mother wish...

  • Word Count: 579
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Grade Level: High School

6. Two Kinds

In Amy Tan's short story "Two Kinds" the mother wanted her daughter to be a prodigy, but she wanted to be perfect, flawless, impeccable. "Two Kinds" examines how media influence can alter a persons conception of self, and also convince a person (the mother in this story) that you have to be great at something in order to succeeded in life. ... Jing -mei, the daughter in the story feels the need to be perfect in order to please her mother, who believes that "...you could be anything you wanted to be in America. ... The mother saw and read about child prodigies, and viewed them as succe...

  • Word Count: 669
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: High School

7. Two Kinds

In Amy Tan's short story "Two Kinds," Jing-mei is a regular nine-year-old girl who wants nothing more than to be herself and just be a kid. On the other hand, her mother, dreams of nothing but making her daughter a prodigy. "Two Kinds" clearly illustrates that parents cannot control their children's lives; they can only guide them in the right direction and let them make their own decisions. Throughout the story, Jing-mei's mother does many things in an attempt to dominate and control her daughter's life. ... "Them" refers to the two children her mother had lost while t...

  • Word Count: 629
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: High School

8. Mother-Daughter Relationships

Mother-Daughter Relationships Amy Tan's story "Two Kinds" is a powerful example of conflicting gender roles that plays a crucial role in the struggle between Jing-Mei and her mother. ... In this story "Two Kinds," the mother is trying to mold her daughter into something she is not. "Two Kinds is a slice of events from her childhood that shows the conflict between Tan and her mother, the collision of old and new cultures, the past and the present, parents" expectations vs. reality, and obedience vs. defiance. Pairs of opposing elements comprise the whole of ...

  • Word Count: 1030
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

9. Mothers and Daughters in Literature

In Amy Tan's "Two Kinds," Jing-mei struggles with her mother's high expectations to be a youth prodigy through constantly bucking and opposing her mother's wishes. Along a similar path, the mother in Jamaica Kincaid's "Girl" holds practically the same high standards as the mother in "Two Kinds." In the short story "Two Kinds", it is made clear early in the story that the family immigrated to America from China to give their children a shot at the American dream. ... The mother offering her daughter forgiveness for what she had said to...

  • Word Count: 813
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: High School

Got a writing question? Ask our professional writer!
Submit My Question