Comparison Of Two Short Stories: Cultural Differences

The short stories all focus on the relationships of immigrant families that live in America, and in these stories Who's Irish written by Gish Jen, Two Kinds by Amy Tan, A Thousand Years of Good Prayers by Yiyun Li, and Children of Loneliness by Anzia Yezierska, their differences create a conflict between them that drives them apart. Who's Irish focuses on cultural differences of parenthood between mother and daughter. In the story Two Kinds the mother expects her daughter to try hard and learn skills, however the daughter decides that she will do all she can to remain the same. The father and daughter in A Thousand Years of Good Prayers struggle to communicate with each other due to their contrasting views of culture and of what is acceptable. Although the parent and children are the

While the grandmother is using the same chinese methods she used to raise her daughter, the daughter insists that “in

America you’re not supposed to spank the child” (Jen 3). The grandmother however ignores this, and raises her granddaughter according to chinese methods and when the daughter finds out, she freaks out and has her mother move away. Although they both live in America, they hold differing beliefs that they refuse to resolve with another, and in turn the conflict drives them apart. While they are family, the parents and children were raised on different cultures, they refuse to accept the other’s culture and consider it their way or the highway. In Two Kinds, the daughter stubbornly refuses to take anymore piano lessons, despite her mother’s commands.

When the daughter no longer listens to her mother, the mother says there are “only two kinds of daughters, those who are obedient and those who follow their own mind” (Tan 7). The mother wants her daughter to be obedient just as she was obedient to her mother. The daughter however wants to do as she wants. In the story A Thousand Years of Good Prayers,