“Point of view” would be the perfect element fiction to choose for two of the short stories, “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan and “The House on Mango Street” by Sandra Cisneros. Two Kinds is more about the girl who wants to be free from her mom’s forcing problem to play piano and would always want to speak up to be free. The House on Mango Street is more about the house that a middle-class family was looking for to buy and move in permanently so they will not have to move again and again. For many outsiders, America has been viewed as the place that is known for new chances at life where anybody could progress toward becoming anything the person in question needed to be. Both short stories have their own reasons of their problems which can be compared because both stories have hope to move forward in their life for their better future.
As in the story of “Two Kinds”, Amy’s mother wanted Amy to learn the instrument called “piano”, even though Amy was not interested at all. Amy’s mother kind of forced her to learn Piano after failing so many times. Amy gave up after failing again and again, which was very embarrassing for Amy, so she decided to give up and speak. There were more of the fighting and hate relationship rather than love. For example, Amy’s mother mention to Amy what kind of daughter she wants Amy to be, “Only kind of daughters,” she shouted in Chinese. “Those who are obedient and those who follow their own mind! Only one kind of daughter can live in this house. Obedient daughter!” (Tan, Two Kinds).
This states that Amy’s mother want to rule on the house so do on her daughter as well. No one would want to live in a house where they cannot do what they want instead have to live their way and it feels like asking to breath or not. It’s not easy to follow each and every thing that the head person of the family says. If Amy’s mother wants Amy to be obedient daughter, the question is, “was her mother an obedient daughter? Or did her mother do the same thing when she was Amy’s age? Amy’s mother might be disappointed with her but so should Amy’s because no one has right to force any child or adult to attempt what other wants them to be.
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According to the one of other short stories, The House on Mango Street” by Sandra Cisneros, mentioned in the story that they were moving from place to place to find a place to live permanently. They had very hard time to find a house as Sandra stated, “We didn’t always live on Mango Street. Before that we lived on Loomis on the third floor, and before that we loved on Keeler. Before Keeler it was Paulina and before that I can’t remember” (Cisneros par.1). This illustrates that Sandra and her family had to go through very though time just to find a house. Especially, moving with all things in house is very difficult. In addition, after keep trying, they finally found a house.
It’s a little, disintegrating red house in a poor urban neighborhood – not in any manner what Sandra had been seeking after when her parents guaranteed to move the family to a house. Even though they found the house to live, but still the house was not as perfect as they expected. Sandra explained the condition of the house in the story by saying that, “[…] There is no front yard. Out back is a small garage for the car we don’t own yet and a small yard that looks smaller […] the house has only one washroom” (Cisneros p2). Just like her parents gave her hope of buying a nice house, but bought something else. After buying that house, she called that house her own house, but not as expected, even though her parents told her it’s for the time being or the temporary. She anyways wants to have nice house.
Comparing “Two Kinds” with “The House on Mango Street”, both shot stories has similarities and differences. In contrast, in “Two Kinds’ a mother is forcing her child to become what she wants her daughter to be because Ni Kan’s mother her mother in her native homeland/country and now she is afraid to lose her daughter. No one should ruin anyone’s dreams just like Ni Kan’s mother is not letting No Kan do anything of her own choice. As days passed by, Ni Kan’s interest in her mother’s listening or dreams was getting less and she tried her best to discourage it.
Furthermore, as Ni was taking less interest in her mother’s testing, her mother becomes disappointed and says that, “’Turn off TV’, she called from the kitchen five minutes later, I didn’t budge. And then I decided, I didn’t have to do what mother said anymore. I wasn’t her slave. This wasn’t China. I had listened to her before, and look what happened she was the stupid one. […]. She snapped off the TV, yanked me by the arm and pulled me off the floor” (Tan, Two Kinds). This proves that how aggressing Ni’s mother is becoming as Ni is not doing what her mother wants her to do.
A mother’s responsibility is not yelling at their child or forcing them to do something they are not interested in, but instead a mother should support her child in every way. It’s very selfish that a mother is using a child to fulfill her own dreams and not thinking about a child’s dreams who has different prospective to see things. On the other hand, in “The House on Mango Street” the family is poor, but the parents are still giving hope to their child and convince them by saying they will find a better house. At least, children are getting forced by their parents or yelled. Ni Kan’s family had money and no happiness, but in this story, they are poor and happy, even though they are not satisfied with the current house. Everyone deserves to live their life in their own way.
In conclusion, both stories have the same point of view, which is expectation. Amy expect to be the person who she wants to be and she believed that if she speaks up it will change her life and sure will disappoint her family. Her family was disappointed, but Amy was like a free bird came out of cage. In the other story, Sandra was helpless, she believes that she needs to have a house better than the house her parents bought and will sure buy it that she can point it at. Their point of views are very strong and it will help them succeed in the future.
