Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Education the pathway to success
Family's influence on children
Family's influence on children
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Education the pathway to success
Opportunities in America
Amy Tan’s “Two Kinds” is a story based on the account of a young Chinese girl living in the United States with her overly pushy mother. Two kinds is about opportunity, perseverance, and accomplishment. These are the things Jing-mei learns as she grows up in what many people call “The Land of Opportunity”.
In America, it is believed that you have the opportunity to become anything you would like to be. For immigrants it is believed that “you can be best anything” (553). It is the same for the mother in this story. She believes that her daughter, Jing-mei, can be anything she wishes, even a prodigy. Though this idea of Jing-mei becoming a prodigy sounds far fetched, the mother is determined to turn her daughter into something, or someone who will make the family proud.
The idea of Jing-mei becoming someone is not far fetched though. The only thing she needs to have is perseverance. Many people in America have the opportunity to advance themselves in their field of work, but they do not push themselves toward their limits. Jing-mei had decided not to push herself. She was continually saying “ I won’t be what I’m not” (555). This is the attitude of many people today. They do not want to be changed. They just assume to assert their own will.
Many people, in the end, come to realize that with perseverance comes accomplishment. Sometimes that is enough to get them on the right track. It took Jing-mei a lot of time to really experience the realm of accomplishment.
It wasn’t until after she failed so many times that she realized she must persevere to become something in life. Jing-mei finally felt the realm of accomplishment when she realized that the piano lessons her mother forced upon her so many years ago had actually stayed with her through all the years. She was surprised to find “how easily the notes came back” (562). She now understood why it was so important to her mother for her to succeed. The mother did not want all of the glory for herself. She wanted Jing-mei to experience some of it. She wanted her to be happy.
Jing-mei discovered the wonderful world of opportunity, the need for perseverance and the glory of accomplishment when she sat down at the piano and played the song she had failed to play so many years ago.
In the beginning, Jing-mei, is “just as excited as my mother,”(469). Jing-mei was eagerly hoping to make her mother proud. However, her mother’s obsession with becoming a prodigy discouraged Jing-mei. The daily test began to aggravated Jing-mei because they made her feel less sma...
Jing-mei 's mother wants Jing-mei to be a prodigy and get popular. Thus, the mother rents a piano for Jing-mei to help her achieve this. Many years later, Jing-mei finds the piano in a broken state, so she decides to have it repaired. She starts playing the song she used to play, “Pleading Child.” But to the right of “Pleading Child,” she finds a second song named “Perfectly Contented.” She starts to play both songs, “And after I [Jing-mei] had played them both a few times, I realized they were two halves of the same song.” (6) Jing-mei’s mother tells Jing-mei that there are two kinds of people: the respectful kind and the disrespectful kind. At that time, Jing-mei also finds out that there are two kinds of people inside her. She could choose to be the kind where the person is a prodigy and respectful, or be the kind that is ugly in the eyes of people. When she plays “Pleading Child” and “Perfectly Contented,” Jing-mei realizes that her identity had changed completely because of her laziness and beliefs. Jing-mei learns that there are two kinds of people in the world, and she should choose the right
In "Two Kinds," Jing-Mei struggles with the plans her mother forces on her and the path she wants to create for herself. She spends her entire childhood doing everything her mother makes her, so that she can become a prodigy. Her mother has her take tests, classes, and learn skills she does not want to just so she can be successful. As a result, Jing-Mei rebels by not paying attention during her studies or by not attempting the quizzes. She spends her entire childhood being mediocre to the point she does not really know how to try when she wants to. It takes her until her mother dies just to find closure. By that point she had not even been rebelling it was just forced into her character. Luis and Jing-Mei might have rebelled for different reasons, but the reasons for their parents to push them were incredibly similar.
Through challenges Tiana is presented with a she is able to demonstrate perseverance and problem solving strategies to
This terrified Jing-Mei, making her believe that it would cause her to suddenly change, "I saw myself transforming like a werewolf." Jing-Mei Woo finally realizes that she has never really known what it means to be Chinese because she was born and has lived in America all her life. After her mother's death, Jing-Mei discovers that she has two twin sisters living in China who have been searching for their mother and that s... ... middle of paper ... ... to take it anymore.
As the story unfolds, Tan suggests that the piano symbolizes different things. For Ni Kan, it is the unwanted pressure her mother inflicts upon. She argues, “Why don’t you like me the way I am? I’m not a genius! I can’t play the piano” (751). However, her mother sees it as a way for her daughter to become the best. Ultimately, the young girl decides to rebel against her mother’s wishes. During her piano lessons with Mr. Chong, her piano teacher, she learns easy ways to get out of practicing. Ni Kan discovers “that Old Chong’s eyes were too slow to keep up with the wrong notes [she] was playing” (751). As a result, Ni Kan performs miserably in a talent show where her parents and friends from the Joy Luck Club attend. Feeling the disapproval and shame from her mother, she decides to stop practicing the piano.
It is clear in “Regret for the Past” that Tzu-chun draws her strength from her love for Chuan-Sheng, and his for her. “I thought if I told Tzu-chun the truth, she could go forward boldly without scruples...But I was wrong. She was fearless then because of her love.” The source of Tzu-chun’s strength comes from her relationship with Chuan-Sheng, and after he tells her he no longer loves her, she loses that strength. Her empowerment is shown to come not from herself, but from her partner, which contrasts strongly with Wei Ming’s complete independence from
Since "You could be anything you wanted to be in America" (Tan 348) Jing-Meis' mother thought that meant that you had to be a prodigy. While that makes "Everything [sound] too simple and too easily achieved; [Jing-Mei] does not paint a picture of her mother as ignorant or silly" (Brent). In fact, in the beginning, Jing-Mei and her mother are both trying to "Pick the right kind of prodigy" (Tan 349). "In the beginning, [she] was just as excited as [her] mother,"(Tan 349) she wanted to be a prodigy, she wanted to "become perfect [she wanted her] mother and father to adore [her]"(Tan 349). As she strived to achieve perfection she and her mother would try many different things to try and find the "right kind of prodigy" (Tan 349).
Jing-mei Woo has to become a member of the Joy Luck Club in place of her mother, Suyuan Woo, who passed away. Before Suyuan's passing Jing-mei does not know much about her mother, as the story continues to develop Jing-mei realizes how much she did not know about her mother and learns more and more new things about her on her journey of finding her sisters. “Your father is not my first husband. You are not those babies” (26), this quote is from Suyuan Woo and shows Jing- mei that her mother has a lot of secrets that she does not know about. “Over the years, she told me the same story, except for the ending, which grew darker, casting long shadows into her life, and eventually into mine” (21). This quote shows how Jing-mei did not know much
as Sung T'ai Tsu, was forced to become emperor in order to unify China. Sung
Li’s search for identity begins after the opportunity of becoming a ballet dancer is given to Li instead of his dream to serve the revolution and be a red guard to Chairman Mao. This is shown through the guidance Teacher Chan gives Li- that if he kept pushing forward and practised ballet, opportunities to help his family
“Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them - that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like” (Lau Tzu). Born into a life of noodles and relaxation Po, a chubby panda, always wanted to be a Kung Fu master. Out of nowhere an opportunity arises to have his dream become reality. Po, like any normal panda snatches up this once in a lifetime opportunity and runs with it. But when the going gets tough, he doesn’t know if this is the life he was meant to live. While the film was meant for enjoyment, DreamWorks has incorporated clear examples of the three major Chinese Schools of Thought: Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism.
In her short story "Two Kinds," Amy Tan utilizes the daughter's point of view to share a mother's attempts to control her daughter's hopes and dreams, providing a further understanding of how their relationship sours. The daughter has grown into a young woman and is telling the story of her coming of age in a family that had emigrated from China. In particular, she tells that her mother's attempted parental guidance was dominated by foolish hopes and dreams. This double perspective allows both the naivety of a young girl trying to identify herself and the hindsight and judgment of a mature woman.
The theme seems to be about how the expectations of a parent can lead to resentment from the child when the child fails to meet those expectations. The theme is partially set in the opening paragraph with the statement, "My mother believed you could be anything you wanted to be in America" (Tan 1), and again in the second paragraph, when the mother tells the daughter, "Of course you can be prodigy, too" (Tan1). Throughout the story, the mother constantly insists on making of Jing Mei a child prodigy. In the beginning, Jing Mei is excited about the possibility. She even likens herself to Jesus saying, "I was like the Christ child lifted out of the straw manger, crying with holy indignity" (Tan 1). When Jing Mei realizes she isn’t succeeding, she loses hope and so chooses not to succeed. In this she resents her mother for constantly trying to make of her something she is not.
Nine years ago, when I was in kindergarten, I always looked up to my sister as a role model. If she liked a certain food, I would like it; if she did something, I would want to do it also. So, it only made sense that when she started to play piano, I would want to play too. For months, I was like a mosquito to my dad, asking him when I could start playing piano. Two years later, my wish came true. When my sister went off to college, my dad asked me, “Do you want to start playing piano?”