For every parent who sets an unrealistic high bar and engages themselves in devising various schemes to idealize their child, is always done out of love and for best of reasons. Nothing less can be said of Suyuan, Jing-Mei’ s mother, who wanted to make a prodigy of her own daughter in a society she perceived to be accommodating to such conceptions. But the usual shortcomings of this practice is the betrayal parents feel when their children fail to become what they want them to become.
Also, this practice tends to create a sort of rift between parents and their children when the children reject the identity their parents are imposing on them, by identifying themselves. In narrating the story “Two Kinds,” Amy Tan employs the first-person point of view, setting, irony, symbolism, characterization, conflict among other literary elements, in driving home her message which evidently is the evil of crafting an identity for our children.
“Two Kinds” by Amy Tan is an allegory story of a Chinese immigrant who came to America 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. Instead, she remarried and decided to tap into the wealth of opportunities in America by having her own American dream which manifestation she tried to nurture in her daughter by making a prodigy of her. The daughter initially embraced her mother’s dream with immediate alacrity.
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But in the process of turning Jing-Mei into what Suyuan, her mother, wanted her to be Jing-Mei discovered that she was not that kind of person and would nerve be. According to Jing-Mei’s narration in the story, she then began to see her mother as a domineering mother who was blind to the reality and doing everything possible to force her daughter into what she is not. Jing-Mei realized her true self and immediately carved an identity for herself which invariably propelled her into becoming rebellious against her mother. Her rebellion began with her conscious listlessness towards the exercises her mother engaged her into becoming the anticipated prodigy.
Also, Jing-Mei stopped attending her piano classes where her mother had put her in order to aid her musical prowess. After she stopped attending her piano classes and confronted her mother, Jing-Mei was left alone by her betrayed and broken mother. Things went sore between daughter and mother until her thirtieth birthday when Jing-Mei has gifted the same piano she had refused to play any longer as a teen. This to Jing-Mei meant forgiveness from her mother and a sort of reconciliation between the both of them. Jing-Mei, against all odds, grew up to be a contented woman.
Two Kinds, as a story, explores quite a number of themes like hope, will, failure, betrayal, identity rebellion, blame, acceptance among others. But few will be discussed here. In this, the theme of identity is evidently projected through the two major characters, Jing-Mei and her mother. The mother, in her understanding of the American environment of the 1950s, wants her daughter to be a prodigy – to be perfect, and in the process of building Jing-Mei to that conceived being, the mother tries to instill in her the traits required of such high personality.
Jing-Mei, in anticipation of the goodies that are inevitably attached to the attainment of becoming a prodigy, initially embraces the dream and hope of her mother. But “after several pitiable failures at intelligence tests, Jing-Mei sees the disappointment in her mother’s face and Jing-Mei’s desire for perfection crumbles.” ( Jensen,11 success at failure in Any Tan’s Two Kinds.) Jing-Mei discovers herself and begins the process of what leads to the formulation of her identity she looked into the mirror “and I saw only my face staring back – and understood that it would always be this ordinary face” (Tan, Two Kinds, 2).
Another theme Amy Tan builds the story on is rebellion. It’s this particular theme that helps drive on the major conflict in the story. Jing-Mei rebels against her mother, doing everything in contrary to the hope and aspirations of her becoming what her mother wants her to become. Initially, it was a matter of building up apathy to the exercises her mother engaged her, then it advanced into a physical face off. The manifestation of this theme comes out more strongly when Jing-Me stops attending her piano classes.
Acceptance is another essential theme evident in the story. Jing-Mei fights for that her mother accepts see who she is and accept her that way. In this regards, she busted out one day to her mother “Why don’t you like me the way I am? I’m not a genius! I can’t play the piano. And if I could, I wouldn’t go on TV if you paid me a million.” ( Tan, Two Kinds, 4). Jing-Me’s mother later comes to terms with the reality of her daughter’s being. Though she feels betrayed and failed by her daughter’s inability to become a prodigy and the fact that she doesn’t even want to try, she let Jing-Mei alone and never bothers her again about attending her piano classes at old Mr. Chang’s. It’s pertinent to say that Jing-Mei is the person who first summons the courage to accepts who she’s.
Developing the aforementioned themes in the story, Amy Tan has used some predominant literary elements, part of which are conflict, symbolism, irony, characterization, narration, and point of view among others. For the sake of space, three of these elements would be discussed.
Since what builds a story usually is the disagreement between the protagonist and the antagonist, simply known as conflict, Amy Tan has used conflict in building Two Kinds. The conflict in the Two Kinds is diverse. One is dominantly between Jing-Mei and her mother in creating an identity for Jing-Mei. Another conflict in the story is between Jing-Mei’s mother and her inability to easily accept the person of her daughter.
Setting as the place and time in which a story is set, is used in developing the themes of the story. Amy Tan establishes in the first page says “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.” (Tan, Two Kinds, 1). This doesn’t only tell us about the setting of the story, it also sets the tone and mood for the narrative.
In addition to this, symbolism is another element that contributes to the construction of the themes. The piano is very symbolic in the play and it contributes to the theme of forgiveness. A few years ago she offered to give me the piano, for my thirtieth birthday. Jing-Mei later said in the story that “I had not played in all those years. I saw the offer as a sign of forgiveness, a tremendous burden removed.” (Tan, Two Kinds, 9). The titles of the pieces are also elements of the symbol in the play. “Pleading Child” and “Perfectly Contented,” both explain the feeling of Jing-Mei’s childhood and adulthood, in that she was a child who pleaded violently against the identity her mother wanted to coerce on her and the contentment the average life she has chosen for herself gives her.
In conclusion, Two Kind, as a story, doesn’t come out to apportion blames for either Jing-Mei or her mother, instead, it tells a compelling story of two people who want the best for themselves. All Jing-Mei’s mothers want is to have a prodigy of a daughter. A daughter who lives a better life than the mother who is just a house cleaner. While the daughter, Jing-Mei, feels the pressure of a mother whose illusion has to disallow her to accept the reality of her abilities as a child. I love the story in that it doesn’t end up with Jing-Mei regretting her rebellion against the identity her mother was going to impose on her. This means that we can live a contented life when we discover who we are do not allow the society to endear us into striving to be what we are not and capable of becoming.
