“America is another name for opportunity” (Ralph Waldo Emerson).
Among immigrants, there is a conviction that if anybody works hard and puts his or her psyche into something, people can accomplish anything regardless of its identity in the pith of the American Dream. Thousands of individuals immigrate here on their own or bring their families with them in some risk, flying overseas or escaping their tyrannical governments in the hope of a better life full of opportunities. Just like the mother on “Two Kinds,” she brings her daughter to the United States anticipating better opportunities for her daughter, hoping that one day she will not live the same life she did in China.
In the story ‘Two Kinds,’ Amy Tan writes about a mother and her daughter who immigrate to the United States in the hope of a better life. These two characters have an intricate relationship because the mother obligates her daughter with various activities she does not want to be part of, hoping she will reveal a concealed talent and be famous. Even though the daughter initially complies with her mother’s endeavors, she soon realizes she is unable to engage with her mother’s demands to be a prodigy.
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One day her mother was watching The Ed Sullivan Show watching a Chinese girl playing the piano and encouraged her to take piano lessons. When she learns how to play the piano, her mother invites people from their social club to witness her debut. She was lionhearted when her turn came, and her performance was going great until she hit a wrong note and all went downhill, red-facing herself. After the humiliation her mother made her go through, she refused to keep practicing the piano again and lead to a heated confrontation, making her Mother lividly vociferated to her “[There are] only two kinds of daughters…those who are obedient, and those who follow their own mind” (7), and she wanted her to become the “obedient daughter.”
Subsequently, when the daughter heard that she immediately lost her mind wishing herself to be motherless and be dead similar “to the babies she [her mother] lost in China” (7), after hearing that, her mother became speechless and never asked her daughter to play piano again. On the daughter’s thirtieth birthday, the mother renders the piano her daughter used in the talent show as a birthday present.
She was unwilling to take the piano back, but later on, she took it because the piano represented two things: a sign of her mother’s forgiveness and as a trophy that she won way back for stepping up to her. After the mother passed away, she tries to play the piano once again and finds out that she can play passably realizing that she did have the talent at a younger age, she just chose not to show it as a way to say no her mother’s demands to be a child prodigy. Although the mother had good intentions for her daughter, she compelled her at a young age to achieve attainments over happiness.
Parents often try to force their children to do things they do not want be part of, parents feel that it is the best thing for them to do because children are not as frequently shrewd or proficient to plan their future, that is what the mother was trying to do. However, the mother had splendid intentions for her daughter; she wanted her to have a bright future and live a better life. A great mother wants the best for their kids, and she will do the best she can so her child can have a better satisfying life.
Shockingly about this anecdote, the mother wanted her daughter to be a child prodigy, but she did not prepare her kid to view failure as a good thing. If a parent wants their kids to follow success at an earlier age, they should teach their kids how to have a growth mindset. Success does not happen in a blink of an eye, people also struggle with failure, and kids need to see that as a chance to learn, grow and proceed onward. Despite of that, what the mother did wrong was abuse her child by pressuring her to do thing she did not wanted to do. Pressuring kids to participate in things they do not want to be part of can cause a kid to have a rough childhood.
This can affect them as adults later on, causing them to have mental conditions or problems in future relationships. It is better when parents create and enhance a bond with their child, asking them what they like or what they are keen on doing. Something that the story does not demonstrate is the relationship between the father and her daughter. How was the connection between them? For what reason did he not confront the mother after the pressure she was putting her daughter through? These points would have been helpful for the reader to fathom the anecdote about the relationship this family had.
As already stated, the mother and her daughter immigrated to the United States expecting that one day her girl would turn into a prodigy, achieving the American dream. Nonetheless, the daughter does not have any desire to be a part of her mother’s plans because she can’t engage with her mother’s demand to be the person she wants her to be. The daughter did not believe that she could be anything other than herself and she saw that at a young age, when she promises herself not to change her personality with her mother’s desires. Pleasing people often results, be who you are.
