Richard Russo's "Dog" and Amy Tan's "Two Kinds" are stories that illustrate the negative impacts parents sometimes have on their children and the unintended consequences that occur as a result of their parenting. In "Dog," Henry Devereaux grows into an adult who has difficulty connecting emotionally with others, a man who is not easy, and though entertaining, is not comforting. In "Two Kinds," Jing-mei was a failure many times over in her mother's eyes, finally dropping out of college and only accepting of herself later in life. In the story "Dog," Henry Devereaux was raised by parents who were aloof and unavailable. His parents were English professors who were "academic nomads," and his father was an "academic opportunist" who was revealed to be self-centered and one who craved attention, as evidenced by the fact that he favored being the "distinguished visiting professor" who held court with "obsequious junior faculty and nervous graduate students on Friday afternoons" (4). His mother was "hired as part of the package deal to help balance the books." They agreed on little and divorced when Henry was in junior high school. Henry was an extremely lonely nine-year-old boy whose greatest wish was to get a dog. His parents were busy with their work most of the time and it seemed that Henry did not have any friends, perhaps because they moved so often. A dog would have provided Henry with unconditional love - something in short supply around his house - and would have been the perfect companion. The problem was, his parents did not want dog, which would have been another obligation and something else to take care of. As emotionally detached as his parents were, something else to take care of was just not desirable. ... ... middle of paper ... .... The turning point in the story occurs when Jing-mei finally refuses to do what her mother wants and accepts that she will never be a genius. Her "true self finally emerged, and this was what had been inside her all along.." Both of these excellent stories illustrated how parents can set up their children for failure. Parents may want the best for their children, and they want them to be smart and successful, but it does not always turn out that way. Ultimately, Jing-mei was a disappointment to her mother but finally found contentment as an adult. Children want their parents' love and support, their attention, and unconditional love. Henry did not have any of those things, and he grew up to be as emotionally distant as his parents. As adults, we can only try to analyze our own upbringing and avoid unintended consequences in raising our own children.
I believe that Jing-Mei should have told the truth from before, instead of telling them later. For, this proves to Jing’s half sister’s unnecessary hope of seeing their mother again. If Jing would have told them earlier it would have been less heartbreaking, although it didn’t necessary mess up their joyful reunion; it might have psychologically affected her half sisters more than it would have done if they found out earlier.
Jing-Mei Woo, who is called June in America, represents her mother's hopes and dreams. Her mother's name, Suyuan, meaning, "long cherished wish" speaks of this hope for Jing-Mei, whose name means "the pure younger sister (p322-3)". In the beginning, June is excited and dreams of what she will become. "In all my imaginings, I was filled with a sense that I would soon become perfect. My mother and father would adore me. I would be beyond reproach. I would never feel the need to sulk for anything (p. 143)." Her mother pushes June into many areas- academics, dance, and the piano. After failing to excel at any of the areas presented to her, she feels like a failure. She sees all the hopes her mother has for June as expectations. The final conflict comes when June performs a piano piece filled with mistakes at a talent show, which makes June believe that her mother is completely ashamed and disappointed with her. June looked through the crowd to her mother’s face. She thought to herself, "...my mother’s expression was what devastated me: a quiet, blank look that said she had lost everything." (p. 143) What June did not realize, was that the real reason why her mother was upset was not because she had not lived up to her expectations. She was unhappy because June did not care about having the best for herself. She did not have high hopes or a passion to be successful at anything.
Henry suffers from retrograde amnesia due to internal bleeding in the part of the brain that controls memory. This causes him to forget completely everything he ever learned. His entire life is forgotten and he has to basically relearn who he was, only to find he didn’t like who he was and that he didn’t want to be that person. He starts to pay more attention to his daughter and his wife and starts to spend more time with them.
The love one has for their family causes one to do anything to keep them out of harm, including taking the role of mother/father. Henry Lawson creates an image in his readers’ mind of the protagonist and all that she does for her
In the story of “Half Husky” the protagonist Vanessa is shown to be more related to many school students, including my friend James,that we all have numerous responsibilities, but we are often distracted, fail to notice or carry out our responsibilities. As we kids grow older and older we tend to notice more responsibilities placed upon us whether we choose to take on these responsibility or they are circumstantial. This is explained by the relationship that Vanessa has with her pet dog Nanuk. In the story Vanessa begged her grandfather to accept the dog into the family, and in return she said that she would take the duty of taking care of the husky. This situation is reminiscent to the time where my friend James told a story of his own pet
It is around this time that it becomes difficult to put dogs into our typical categories of nature and culture, because although dogs were originally just another part of nature, when we began to domesticate them, we made them something more. In fact, in modern days it is even more difficult as we have begun actively breeding them for specific traits, so much so that many would argue modern dogs are essentially technology. From this it becomes clear how perfectly dogs fit into her idea of a companion
Amy Tan’s “Two Kinds” is a story about a Chinese American girl, Jing-mei, who struggles to find her own sense of identity when her Chinese immigrant mother dreams for her to be a prodigy. As an immigrant who suffered several tragic losses while coming from China, Jing-mei’s mother forms this idealized vision of America as the Land of opportunity, the first sentence in of the story introduces this, “My mother believed you could be anything you wanted to be in America” (Tan 222). According to Ira Mark Milne, Jing-mei’s mother’s hopes for her daughter’s future stemmed from her own tragic past, like Tan’s mother who was also forced to flee from China and leave her children and husband behind. However,
You see this similar view point through the statements given by both. Jing-Mei states that "It was not the only disappointment my mother felt in me. In the years that followed, I failed her so many times, each time asserting my own will, my right to fall short of
In “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan, Jing-mei was imposed by her mother to become a prodigy at piano and ballet. Committing to both activities, Jing-Mei realizes that she doesn’t have to fulfill her mother’s wishes and desires, and that she can live her life the way she wants to. Tan demonstrates to the reader that life isn’t all about succeeding and living up to your parent’s expectations, rather it’s about enjoying it. This communicates the idea that in “Two Kinds”, one should live life truest to themselves, with no one pressuring them to become something they don't want to be.
All parents have a dream for their child to succeed. For many of us growing up, our mothers have been a part of who we are. Our mothers have played valuable roles in making us who a we are and what we have become of ourselves. They have been the shoulder we can lean on when there was no one else to turn to. They have been the ones we can count on when there was no one else. They have been the ones who love of us for who we are and forgive us when no one else would. In Amy Tan’s “Two Kinds,” the character Jing-mei experiences being raised by a mother who has overwhelming expectations for her daughter, which causes Jing-mei to struggle with who she wants to be and adds to the constant fight her and her mom are having. Tan uses emotional and aggressive dialogue to portray realistic events that happen daily with mothers and their children.This journey shows how intricate mother-children relationships are while incorporating the culture shock, tone in voice and generational differences in their everyday lives.
In Miss Julie, by August Strindberg wrote about the naturalistic view of human behavior. He symbolizes the behavior through animal imagery. The animal image Strindberg uses helps him exemplify his naturalistic view. The first animal imagery Strindberg uses is the dog. Jean uses the dog imagery to describe to Kristen how Miss Julie made her ex-fiancé act before the break-up. “ Why, she was making him jump over her riding whip the way you teach a dog to jump.” A dog is mans best friend only because a dog is an extremely loyal animal. Having Jean compare what Miss Julies did to her ex-fiancé with what some one would do to a dog shows Miss Julies drive to be the dominant one or the master. Strindberg again uses the imagery of a dog when he has Miss Julie say, “dog who wears my collar” to Jean. Miss Julie feels that her social status is so much superior to that of Jean that their relationship could be compared to that of a master and his dog. The dog imagery in the play is also used to demonstrate the difference in social classes. In the play Miss Julie’s dog, Diana, is impregnated by the lodge-keepers pug. Kristen demonstrates Miss Julie’s disgust when she says; “She almost had poor Diana shot for running after the lodge-keepers pug.” The sexual affair between the dogs also represents the sexual affair between Jean and Miss Julie and how the two of them look down on each other. Jean looks down on Miss Julie for being surprisingly easy to obtain. While Miss Julie loo...
In Amy Tan’s story “Two Kinds,” lack of mutual understanding of feelings creates a strain on this mother-daughter relationship, preventing Jing Mei from seeing the true value of her mother’s sacrifices until it’s too late.
Henryk dreamed to dedicate his life to children, especially the weak children, without any parents to protect them. He even believed he will never marry a woman, or have a family. His only family, was the helpless children he had helped.
Not too long ago, Ms. Morris’s beloved dog, Hattie, had 5 puppies. Everyone in town thought the puppies were boring and ugly. Their eyes were closed, made a little movement, and didn’t make any noise. Nobody thought the dogs were cute, and nobody wanted them.
The image of a short rope hanging from the dog’s neck is repeated throughout the piece to symbolize both, a past struggle, as well as a current obstacle, hindering his ability to move forward smoothly on his journey. Furthermore, the rope represents a past mentality of slavery and how even though this slave is now free, he isn’t really ‘free’ at all. The dragging rope is a constant reminder of where he has been and who he is on the surface. Society has fixed this idea that he carries no value and although he is persistent with repentance, this chastisement is seemingly perpetual. When the child introduced the dog to the family, “scorn was leveled at him from all eyes” as he made his case to the “family council,” announcing why this dog is worthy enough to become a member of the house (Crane 13). As it becomes evident that the dog is no longer being accepted, he becomes internally embarrassed and filled with shame as he is put on a display of mockery. The father returns home from work “in a particularly savage temper” and decided the dog could stay, but only because he believed it would provoke hostility in the family (Crane 13). Soon after, the child took the dog to his room and cried softly, while the father began his typical violent outbursts on the wife. The father’s ill humor is what permits the ‘acceptance’ of the dog in the family. A few nights later, the father storms the apartment drunk and throws the dog out of the window and the dark-brown dog falls to his