Success and Failure in Two Kinds by Amy Tan Essay -- Two Kinds by Amy

Amy burning, a child of Chinese immigrants, wrote the falsehood Two Kinds, telling the tale of a Jing-Meis riot against her acquires desire to change her into a prodigy. As Jing-Meis mother continually tells her she does not try hard enough to succeed, the conflict between Jing-Mei and her mother escalates. Jing-Mei grows more stubborn, making every effort to slump her mother, and the relationship devolves into a standoff where mother and girlfriend both refuse to budge from their position. Two Kinds shows the irony in Jing-Meis relationship with her mother while her mother believes Jing-Mei does not try hard enough to succeed, Jing-Mei succeeds in her struggle for identity by refusing to do the person her mother wants.The story opens with a brief synopsis of Jing-Meis mothers past. As a Chinese immigrant fleeing from war, her mother leaves behind everything her mother and father, her family home, her first husband, and 2 daughters, twin baby girls. (Tan 206) As a reside nt in America, Jing-Meis mother does not wallow in misery but preferably looks forward to a life with limitless boundaries, honestly believing that you could become instantly famous. (Tan 206) Brent tells us that Chinese immigrants view America as a true land of opportunity and that tradition demands a daughters obedience to her mother (1). With a history steeped in traditional Chinese culture and a spirit of adventure, her mother decides Jing-Mei will effectuate this dream and become a child prodigy.At first, the anticipation of wealth and fame propel Jing-Mei into cooperating with her mother, persuading Jing-Mei in the belief she can attain perfection. She imagines herself in several(prenominal) wonderful images, each colorful and immensely sati... ...elf. In a broader context, Tan says our tendencies to mold our children into our ideal image of success often works against the widely distributed struggle to ferret out ones identity. Television, powerful advertising, clev er marketing, and the uncounted opinions of everyone we know swirl around us in a ruction of conflicting messages, often drowning our pleas for time and space to get to know ourselves and find contentment in being what we are and not what someone else wants us to be.Works CitedTan, Amy. Two Kinds. Literature An Introduction to Reading and Writing. Longman. Boston. 10th ed. Brent, Liz. Overview of Two Kinds. pitiable Stories for Students. Ed. Ira Mark Milne. Vol. 9. Detroit Gale Group, 2000. Literature Resource Center. Web. 13 Mar. 2014. Document universal resource locatorhttp//go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CH1420031606&v=2.1&u=tel_a_tbr&it=r&p=LitRC&sw=w