Amy Tan Two Kinds Literary Analysis

Amy Tan's story “Two Kinds” is about a mother who brings her child to America to offer her a better life. Furthermore, the goal for the mother for bringing her child to America is to have her daughter be destined for greatness, even if it means having her daughter try out every opportunity to find what where her greatness might be hiding. The overall theme is in Amy Tan's story “Two Kinds” reflects on the relationship between the mother and daughter. Not only the relationship between the two but showing that mothers will do many things for their children to make their lives better and to ultimately give them the life they never had. In sum, “Two Kinds” reflects on how many mothers do things in their lives for their children that at the time they are unaware of but years down the road, the child finds out that there’s a reason in which their mother did the things in which they did. The overall reason being for mothers doing things for their child is that they love their child unconditionally and are behind them no matter where life takes them.
Throughout the

story “Two Kinds” the theme of a mother’s willingness to provide greatness for their child is repeated. We see this determination to provide for the narrator develop from the beginning of the story by the narrator saying that “My mother believed you could be anything you wanted to be in America” (p.590). This idea of the mother belief is a reflection of the idea that bringing a child to America could turn them into something bigger than what they already were. The mother having this belief knew that if she was going to give her daughter the opportunity to be something more than what she was, she would then have to leave her life in China and head for America. The narrator informs the reader of this by saying “she had come here in 1949 after losing everything in China: her mother and father, her family home, her first husband and two daughters but she never looked back and never regretted it” (P.590). This line of the text reflects the main theme of the story because here is a mother who has left everything that is familiar to her and moved somewhere entirely unknown just to give her daughter the chance of being something great. This line not only shows how much she was willing to give up her life in China, but it shows that the mother had no doubts in her mind that her daughter could come out on top in America.
Secondly, we see this determination for greatness shift from the mother wanting her child to accomplish great things in America to the narrator being afraid of letting her mother down. This fear of letting her mother down adds to the theme of “Two Kinds” by showing the relationship that the pair have. Once the mother and daughter have arrived in America, the narrator’s mother began to open her daughter up to the opportunities that America would hopefully, allow her to be a star. The narrator's mother began preparing her daughter by “presenting new tests, taking her examples from stories of amazing children she had read in Ripley’s Believe It or Not, or Good Housekeeping, and Readers Digest” (p.591). The narrator's mother was so invested in making her child a star that whenever she would come across something in which she believed her daughter could do she would test her. However, the narrator began to fall within the cracks because as the tests got harder. The narrator was scared of letting her mother down after moving across the country for her. The narrator explains this feeling in the text by saying “after seeing my mother's disappointed face once again something inside of me began to die” (p.591). Ultimately, this feeling of being a disappointment to her mother causes a series of events to unfold as the daughter experiences how much stress is on her to do well in America.
Thirdly, as we see the tension of being something she doesn’t believe she is, the narrator's passion for wanting to be something great slowly begins to die, especially the more she seems to let down her mother. However, this is not the case for the narrator’s mother. The mother continues to try to open up doors for her daughter, the final door which the mother opens for her daughter is by enrolling her in piano class. It is after a piano recital in which the narrator ultimately does not do very well on which results in the narrator seeing a difference in what she wants to do with her life. This feeling is explained in the text by the narrator saying “but my mother's expression was what devastated me: a quiet, blank look that said she had lost everything. I felt the same way” (p.595). This emphasizes that what the mother and daughter want are both very different things, as the daughter sees herself as a failure and her mother sees herself as someone who can improve with more practice. It is also after the recital where the daughter decides to give up all hope but has not broken the news to her mother yet.
Fourthly, although the mother's determination for her daughter to be great is still being challenged throughout the story, a conflict arises between the two as the daughter refuses to continue with piano. The narrator claims that “you want me to be something that I’m not, I'll never be the kind of daughter you want me to be” (p.596). It is at this moment where the mother makes a comment back to the daughter by giving her an ultimatum saying that “ only two kinds of daughters, those who are obedient and those who follow their own mind! Only one kind of those can live in this house. Obedient Daughter”. At this point in the text, the mother has done so much for her daughter and she is left wondering what more can she do as the daughter seems to not want to be the star she always dreamed of being. The conflict continues by the narrator making one final comment saying “ then I wish I’d never been born!. I wish I were dead! Like them” (p.596). it is here in the text that the mother realizes it is time to give up her fight to make her daughter into something more as she clearly does not want it. But unbeknown to the narrator is that all this fight to be something great was her mother’s way of trying to give her the life she never had.
Towards the end of “Two Kinds” , the amount of determination to make her daughter a star that the mother began her time in America with had come to an end. The narrator informs the reader that the pair has not spoken for many years about the conflict between the two by saying “And for all those years, we never talked about the disaster at the recital or my terrible accusations afterward. All that remained unchecked, like a betrayal that was now unspeakable (p.597). Not only does it show the mothers given up all efforts in making her daughter something she does not wish to be but it reinforces the fear that the narrator had all along being that she was a failure in her mother's eyes. Not only a failure but the narrator ultimately feels like she has let her mother down once and for all. But this feeling would not last forever, the narrator explains that the mother had surprised her for her birthday with a gift. It was when the daughter realized the gift was the piano that she had gave up playing many years ago, that the narrator's mother had never held a grudge for her giving up all these years. The narrator explains in the text that she saw the piano as “a sign of forgiveness, a tremendous burden removed” (p.597). Although the piano was a sign of forgiveness from her mother, the piano is also seen as the mother's way of saying all these years later I still believe that greatness will come your way.
Before concluding, it is at the end of “Two Kinds” where the daughter realizes how much her mother has actually done for her. The narrator informs us that her mother has passed away and in return, the narrator begins to move the piano from her parent's house to her house (p.597). It is once the narrator is standing in front of piano and sheet music that she begins to see the meaning of it all. The narrator explains that “ I opened the book to the piece I had played at the recital, it was on the left side of the page “ Pleading Child”, and for the first time or so it seemed, I noticed the piece on the right ..“ Perfectly Contented”… and as I played them both a few times, I realized they were two halves of the same song” (p.598). From the narrator sitting down and playing these two pieces allows her to finally realize that these two songs reflect the relationship in which she had with her mother growing up. Not only her relationship but that the two songs reflect the pair in general, the narrator as the pleading child and as the mother as the perfectly contented woman who wanted what was best for her daughter all along. It is also in this moment where the narrator realizes that the things her mother forced her to do as a child were because she wanted her daughter to be great, and even if she was not going to be great, her mother would still love her unconditionally until the day she died.
In conclusion, the story “ Two Kinds” is a heartfelt story about the relationship between a mother and daughter and the mother's willingness to provide her daughter with every opportunity to do great things.

Although, this willingness is blind to the narrator as she fails to see this. As well as the narrator believes she is not able to be the person her mother wants her to be. It is not until we learn of the narrator's mother's passing that the narrator fully understands why the mother had done the things she did for all those years. This story also emphasizes that mothers are very courageous women who would do anything for their children even if it means moving halfway across the world just to give them the chances they never got to have growing up. However, the overall message to take away from this story is how much of a reflection it is regarding how far a mother's unconditional love for her child can

go.