The Struggle In Amy Tan's Two Kinds

Amy Tan’s short story Two Kinds revolves around Jing-mei, a young girl whose life consists of trying to please her mother and then resenting her. At a young age, Jing-mei aspires to greatness along with her mother. As time went on, Jing-mei began to rebel against her and the times when she attempted to see some kind of special talent in her. She continually never tries her best and dismisses her mother’s efforts. Through thoughts, conflict, and actions, the author reveals Jing Mei as a determined and independent girl who is unappreciative of others.
The author’s use of thoughts help to characterize Jing-mei as determined. She is determined to be herself despite what her mother wants for her. Jing-mei states, “I had new thoughts, willful

thoughts - or rather, thoughts filled with lots of won'ts. I won't let her change me, I promised myself. I won't be what I'm not” (2). Jing-mei comes to realize that she is not a prodigy and will not let her mother attempt to change that. She is insistent on trying to show her mother that she is not special or a prodigy, saying that she was “determined to put a stop to her foolish pride” (4). Jing-mei continues to try to show her mother that she is not what she wanted her to be. She is committed to claiming and demonstrating that she is not a prodigy and that she will be what she wants, saying “In the years that followed, I failed her many times, each time asserting my will, my right to fall short of expectations” (7). She is dedicated to doing less than what she is expected by her mother to do.
Tan’s use of conflict in the story characterizes Jing-mei as independent.

She works against her mother on many issues, doing what she wants to do and often times disobeying her. Her disobedience is shown in the rebellion against the nightly talent tests. She states, “So now when my mother presented her tests, I performed listlessly, my head propped on one arm. I pretended to be bored” (2). The fighting between Jing- mei and her mother also shows Jing-mei to be independent. She acts differently than her mother wants her to but Jing-mei refuses to change. She follows her own thinking and subsequently disobeyes her mother, saying, “‘I'm not going to play anymore,’ I said nonchalantly. ‘Why should I? I'm not a genius.’... ‘No!’ I said, and I now felt stronger, as if my true self had finally emerged. So this was what had been inside me all along. ‘No! I won't!’ I screamed” (6). Jing-mei thinks independently and refuses to do what others ask of her. Jing-mei does not waver in her disregard for her mother’s wishes for her and does not compromise or try to work out any issues. She says things without any remorse, only caring about herself, saying she “wished she were dead! Like them [sisters]”(7) and "then I wish I weren't your daughter, I wish you weren't my

mother”(7).
Through actions, Tan characterizes Jing-mei as someone who is unappreciative. Her mother did extra work to pay for Jing-mei’s piano lessons, but she was “so determined not to try, not to be anybody different” (4). Her mother does the best that she can to give her
daughter a good life. “She had come to San Francisco in 1949 after losing everything in China: her mother and father, her home, her first husband, and two daughters, twin baby girls. But she never looked back with regret. Things could get better in so many ways” (1). She never realized that her mother had given her all of the tests with the intent of giving her a better future. Jing-mei does not understand this and takes all that her mother did for her for granted. Her mother and father worked tirelessly and saved enough to buy a piano, but Jing-mei would still never try her best at it although everyone had worked very hard to give it to her.
Tan’s use of characterization creates a character with a complex personality that helps the story be understood better. Her thoughts show the way she really feels about things, helping to make sense of the way she acts. The conflicts she creates and faces help to develop her personality and also to show another real and true side of her. The author’s use of actions is also used to characterize Jing-mei. Tan effectively uses thoughts, conflicts, and actions to demonstrate that Jing-mei is determined, independent, and unappreciative of others.