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Jing Mei Identity

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The protagonist of Amy Tan’s “Two Kinds” is Jing- Mei, a matured Chinese American woman who looks back at her unsteady relationship with her mother. The story revolves around their path to a broken relationship and their long journey to mend their broken bond. Jing- Mei is an interesting character because the audience gets to see her transition from a child with hope to a lost little girl with a great amount of self-doubt. Throughout the short story “Two Kinds” Jing- Mei is presented as a child who is struggling with finding her identity, someone who is having a difficult time settling between two cultures, and as a child who matures to find out that her persistent mother only wanted what was best for her. Jing- Mei is a defiant young girl who is struggling to find her …show more content…

The Chinese culture, that is exhibited in the high expectations of the mother, and the American culture, where anyone can be a star, form together to create a harsh childhood for Jing- Mei. The difficult upbringing of Jing- Mei can be contributed to the mother's actions. The mother has a blurry image of the American Dream, and believes that anyone can be a prodigy as long as they try. While this may be true, she is forgetting that prodigies are geniuses born loving what they do, something not seen in Jing- Mei’s piano skills. For example, Jing- Mei states that “[Old Wong] taught me all these things, and that was how I also learned I could be lazy and get away with mistakes, lots of mistakes” (197). She deliberately sets herself up for failure, but this is justified in her own way since she is being forced to play the piano against her will, something she does not appreciate. Jing- Mei could have lived up to her mother's expectations of being decent pianist, but she never wanted to. This is what will create massive tension in the near future between the mother and Jing-

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190 Words | 1 Pages

‘I’ll never be the kind of daughter you want me to be!’ ” (Tan 153). As a result, Jing-mei and Suyuan’s feud ended in dismay. Jing-mei is confused pondering why she is forced to play the piano when she has no interest in music. On the other hand, Suyuan is equally perplexed, she only wanted Jing-mei to play well and feel proud of herself.

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346 Words | 2 Pages

One allusion in “Two kinds” and modern day society is Shirley Temple. She gives the mom the idea of making Jing-Mei a prodigy. She was known for singing and dancing. Jing-Mei says,” At first my mother thought I could be a Chinese Shirley Temple” (Tan 70). Her mother thinks she can be just like Shirley Temple except a chines version.

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252 Words | 2 Pages

Being forced to follow strict rules all the time to meet society 's standards can be tremendously stressful and overwhelming. Jing-mei utters to herself in dismay , “i hate the tests, the raised hopes and failed expectations” (Tan, 2). Jing-mei clearly illustrates the agony she is in as a result of parading the stern rules set by her mother. She feels the immense pressure of being forced to fit into a modern culture allowing her not to be herself which has most definitely taken a toll on her character.

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1066 Words | 5 Pages

This disagreement quickly became a source of resentment and anger for both of them, but Jing-Mei and her mother were unable to resolve this conflict because of their different backgrounds and experiences. The story showcases how relationships between mothers and daughters can be strained because of differences in culture and a lack of communication. One of the difficulties between Jing-Mei and her mother is their different cultural backgrounds, which is supported by two points from the story. Firstly, Jing-Mei and her mother both disagreed on the opportunities that existed in America. According to Singer, Amy Tan uses “two entirely

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673 Words | 3 Pages

The Mother wants Jing-Mei to succeed and the mother will take all of the necessary steps for her to achieve that. Similarly, I also strive to achieve as much as I can by working to the fullest of my abilities. Since I hold myself to high standards, it makes it hard for me to keep up with all that I’m asking from myself, let alone what others expect from me. However, unlike Jing-Mei’s mother, I become very disappointed in myself when I fail or accomplish something that was lower than my expectations. In most aspects of my life, I put forth my utmost efforts into reaching the goals that I have set for

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1584 Words | 7 Pages

After analyzing, Jing-mei in this part of the story is a child: eager to appease her mother and doing what she is told. However her mother’s strict expectations on her daughter causes her to be disappointed and frustrated at herself, causing her at one point to last out in the mirror in a mix of disorderly emotions such as anger, rage, sadness, frustration, and

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872 Words | 4 Pages

As for Jing-Mei and her mother, their sacrifice came from the cultural clashes in which conflicting beliefs held by the mother and the daughter resulted in a broken family relationship. She wished for her daughter success and fame, and she made every endeavour to realize her prodigy child dream, doing unpaid housekeeping work in order to afford piano lessons for Jing-Mei, not to mention leaving behind everything she had in China: her whole family, including her twin baby daughters when she departed to America. Ironically, the liberal, self-asserting values that America has

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1044 Words | 5 Pages

Jing-mei Woo denies having any internal chinese aspects other than her physical appearance which then angers her mother. Jing-mei’s mother

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531 Words | 3 Pages

My mother and father would adore me.” However this creates great tension between mother and daughter as Jing-mei is privileged to have always known the safety of the American culture and so with the constant disappointment on her mother’s face after every raised hope and failed expectation she undauntedly begins to resent her own identity because she doesn’t understand her mother’s dream for her/their future. Who is Jing-mei? Chinese? American?

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754 Words | 4 Pages

When Jing Mei realizes her mother only wants a famous child to be able to brag, she decides to only be who she wants to be, and not follow her mother’s orders. During this time, Jing Mei is very sad, because she is being forced into being something by her parents. This negative effect can really make a child feel useless as who they

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582 Words | 3 Pages

To Jing-mei, cooperating with her mother’s wishes was out of the question: “I didn’t have to do what my mother said anymore. I wasn’t her slave. This wasn’t China” (723). She hated being made to feel useless because she wasn’t a prodigy and did not live up to her mother’s unrealistic expectations of her, with which I can sympathize. Additionally, I can relate my experiences of playing the piano

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862 Words | 4 Pages

Throughout the story, Jing-mei’s feeling toward her mother change in critical ways. As a young child, Jing-mei wants constant attention from her mother, going so far as agreeing to become a child prodigy. In the story, Jing-mei commented, “In fact, in the beginning, I was just as excited as my mother, maybe even more so” (Tan 221). This was before her mother becomes highly adamant about wanting her child to become a prodigy. As time went on, she wanted Jing-mei to become the epitome of a child star.

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937 Words | 4 Pages

Jing Mei, while portrayed as an obedient child, is only willing to listen to her mother to a certain extent. Throughout the story, it is consistently hinted that Jing Mei would eventually explode against her mother as an attempt to free herself from her mother’s chains. In addition, after the fiasco at the piano recital, she eventually derives further from her mother’s wishes as she “didn 't get straight A...didn 't become class president...didn 't get into Stanford...dropped out of college.” (54). On the flip side, Jing Mei’s mother is a stereotypical Chinese parent who is fully determined to ensure her daughter’s success in a new environment.

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1309 Words | 6 Pages

In the words of Jing-Mei in the last line of the story, “Together we look like our mother. Her same eyes, her same mouth, open in surprise to see, at last, her long-cherished wish” (Tan 159). Throughout her life, Suyuan, their mother, held onto the hope that she would see her daughters again. In this hope, she named Jing-Mei in connection to her sisters, keeping the “long-cherished wish” that someday her daughters would reconcile and complete their family circle. The occasion that

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477 Words | 2 Pages

“For unlike my mother, I did not believe I could be anything I wanted to be, I could only be me.” (Tan 24). With this statement you can see that she does not agree with her mother. Jing-Mei’s Mother was raised in Chinese culture, therefore she is very strict and demanding to Jing-Mei to do what she wants. From doing a chore, to hobbies or even Jing-Mei’s passion.

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