‘Two Kinds’ by Amy Tan

 The protagonist in the story is the narrator. She is a little migrant girl in San Francisco, who is complacent with life, feeling inadequate and struggling to exert herself and become her own person. She ends up failing in most things she attempts, and even drops out of college. She opposes her mother’s attempts to make her great and the end, much later, she realizes to find contentment, she had to go through the struggle. This, however, comes late after her mother’s death.

The antagonist is the narrator’s mother. She moves to America with the hope that she can make the best out of life and realize the American dream. She strongly desires that her daughter becomes a great person, a prodigy. Her push and insistence, making her daughter try out different things and trying to define her life for her results into conflict. She dies without having satisfied her desire for her daughter to be a star, and never really realizes the American dream.

The story presents the lives of an immigrant Chinese family in San Francisco. The mother, has suffered major loses in her life and believes that life in America represents a new beginning and new opportunities for her daughter. She pushes her to do ‘great’ things that other children in the media do. Her daughter however, does not feel she can, and instead just wants to be herself. The pressure makes her daughter to rebel and they attempt eventually attempt a cold reconciliation. 

The conflict is between mother and daughter. The mother pegs all her hopes on her daughter and pushes her to become famous, making her try out different things that she has seen other people do. This push leaves the daughter feeling more inadequate and hopeless increasing their conflict. Furthermore the push from the mother makes the narrator to have self-conflict, not knowing who she really is and having trouble knowing what she really wants in her life.

The climax is when the narrator adamantly refuses to play the piano saying she is not a genius, the constant push by her mother and the dismal performance during the concert is what leads to this scene. The onset happens when the mother tells her daughter that in America, she could be anything it then builds up during the trials of different things and push for the narrator to become something it climaxes when the narrator refuses to play the piano and viciously lashes out verbally, finally the conflict is resolved when mother gifts her daughter the piano.

The setting is in the home of the mother. The description of the rooms, the old TV and the collection of old magazines that the mother acquires reveal the emptiness which is experienced by the narrator. The dysfunctional TV set and the lack described reveals a state of want which is important in telling what kind of a family this is and the desperation for the mother for her daughter to succeed. The whole story is told from the confines of their small house which is indicative of how the narrator felt confined by her mother’s ideals.

The description of the mother’s journey back and forth to adjust the TV that is not working properly symbolizes her back and forth with her daughter and her failure to achieve much from it all. Just like her unsuccessful constant struggles with the set, her struggles with her daughter are lifelong and do not bear fruit. The description of the scene at the mirror is also reflective of the revelation of who the narrator is; the mirror symbolizes self-discovery, it shows her who she is.

The historical and cultural information is important in helping us understand the characters. The Chinese culture emphasizes obedience and encourages modesty which hinders the narrator from expressing herself and becoming who she wants to be. Knowledge of this context helps us to understand the mother’s expectations of her daughter, and the narrator’s reaction to the pestering and the rift it creates for both of them. The timid daughter is at first eager to please and stay modest.

The author is expressing the dilemma in identity. The narrator is forced between being two people, that which she wants to be, and that which her mother wants her to be. The author tries to push for liberty in self-expression and self discovery.  It also reveals the demoralizing effect of an overbearing parent. The push by the narrator’s mother makes her more confused and less confident and in the end, she drops out of college and never gets to achieve much in life.

Works Cited

Tan, Amy. Two Kinds. N.d