Amy Tan Two Kinds Analysis

The short story “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan, outlines the life of a young girl Jing-Mei and her Chinese immigrant mother. Her mother came to America in the hopes of regaining a new and better life after her losses in China. Jing-Mei’s mother wants her to develop or present some kind of special talent, as she believes that America presents the opportunity for prodigies. Jing-Mei becomes so set in her ways and so consumed with pride that it took a toll on the relationship with her mother. “Two Kinds” displays the internal struggles and stress on a unstable mind of a child due to her mother’s high expectations. A child will initially strive to meet her mother’s expectations until the stress of failure causes self-doubt. As in most situations, children are “just as excited as” their “mother, maybe even more” to meet her expectations and reach for high goals. Yet the pressure takes a toll on many young minds as it did Jing-Mei trying to be what her mother wanted her to be. Having to see her mother’s “disappointed face once again” began to tear down what she thought she stood for as a person. Being only eight years old and naïve to world it began to cause an internal battle with the continuous “raised hope and failed expectations”. This will easily

The story showed the pressures of how Jing-Mei’s mother made her feel as though being a prodigy meant that she “would soon become perfect”. As though perfect was the only thing acceptable in her mother’s eyes and being simply normal was not good enough. Failing or coming short of what is expected would then make it seem as though one would “always be nothing” if not perfect or the best. The questions of being normal in a family that expects so much will cloud a young child’s mind. Questions asked like, “Why don’t you like me the way I am?” due to coming short of perfection or failing what is thought their mother