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Two Kinds Character Analysis Essay

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In “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan, Jing-mei discovers herself though rebellion. As the daughter of an immigrant, she feels pressured by her mother to follow the American dream by being a child prodigy. However, as she fails at task after task, Jing-mei’s hopeful attitude shifts. Abandoning her positivity, she determines to underperform at everything she attempts. Jing-mei evolves from an optimistic girl to a spiteful rebel as a defense mechanism against her mother’s pressure, carrying her rebellious identity until she reaches peace later in adulthood. Initially, Jing-mei finds happiness in trying to realize her inner prodigy, but this state quickly changes. She begins “just as excited as my mother, maybe even more so,” eager to reveal her talents. …show more content…

Tired of disappointing herself and her mother, Jing-mei screams at her reflection in the mirror and suddenly sees “what seemed to be the prodigy side of me . . . angry, powerful.” In this moment, she uncovers her true self, a girl who excels at failure by choice. In this discovery, Jing-mei believes she unlocks the prodigy within her. Determining to rebel, she makes a decision with twofold significance. Her shift into disobedience provides an escape from the confines of her mother’s strict directions. Guided only by her mother, Jing-mei feels unable to unearth her own aspirations. By determining to disobey her mother, Jing-mei finding a path for herself in the only way she can: through directly opposing her mother. Furthermore, Jing-mei’s resistance illuminates a deeper psychological issue she experiences. Faced with repeated failure and the example of Waverly, a true prodigy, Jing-mei feels bombarded by disappointment. As a result, she rebels partially as a mental defense mechanism. By determining to fail intentionally, she attempts to shield herself from true failure. From her perspective, failures by choice represent only successes in her goal. Overall, feeling trapped and defenseless, Jing-mei transforms into a rebellious child to create her own identity and to shield herself from further

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“ (392) While the mother has good intentions, she doesn’t realize that maybe the child doesn’t want to be the best at ...everything. However in the very beginning of the story Jing-mei was willfully following her mother’s wants for her. “I liked the haircut and it made me actually look forward to my future fame. In fact in the beginning, I was just as excited as my mother, maybe even more so.”

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She then uses these “new thoughts” and ideas to state that she “won’t let her [mother] change” her into the person she seeks her daughter to be. When Jing-Mei experiences a realization that she is her own person and not simply another part of her mother, she can embrace the comfort of knowing that she will not change for anyone, and is simply extraordinary for having her own thoughts and feelings. This reflects how Amy Tan can understand her thoughts and feelings about the hardships in her relationship with her mother as a way to connect more closely to her characters and make them more realistic in her writing (“How Amy Tan’s family stories made her a

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“Two Kinds,” by Amy Tan, essentially revolves around the struggle of Jing Mei and her constant conflict with her mother. Throughout her life, she is forced into living a life that is not hers, but rather her mom’s vision of a perfect child; because her mother lost everything, which included her parents and kids, so her only hope was through Jing Mei. Jing Mei’s mom watches TV shows such as the Ed Sullivan Show, which gives her inspiration that her daughter should be like the people and actors. First her mom saw how on the television a three-year-old boy can name all the capitals of the states and foreign countries and would even pronounce it correctly. Her mom would quiz Jing Mei on capitals of certain places, only to discover that

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This peculiarly specific list showed that as a first-generation American, she was constantly scrutinizing the small actions that her mother demonstrated, and she was embarrassed, although it is not likely anyone else ever noticed. However, as she got older, Jing-Mei realized the fact that she was “becoming Chinese.” She still did not truly understand her mother or the beauty of Chinese culture, but her acceptance was the first step of the long excursion of

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on the other hand Jing-Mei is America born and has more of an American culture mind set, which cause her to seem rebellious to her mother. Said by Jing-Mei’s Mother, “only two kinds of daughters!” she shouted in Chinese “those who are obedient and those who follow their mind! Only one kind of daughter can live in this house. Obedient Daughter!”

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