Literary Analysis for “Two Kinds” and “Rice and Rose Bowl Blues” (Revised Final Draft) In popular culture, we can always find different themes that the author or creator wants to convey in their work for the audience, a common one is following your heart. It is very important to be able to identify and analyze what message the author wants us to learn. In literature, themes are essential, because they give meaning to the story and enrich the content. The theme can be found through multiple literary devices, but in the case of ‘Two Kinds’ by Amy Tan and ‘Rice and Rose Bowl Blues’ by Diane Mei Lin Mark, two stories about girls breaking parental stereotypes, we see it through characterization. Characterization is very important because it shows us little clues of a character that eventually make up a bigger picture. In the stories ‘Two Kinds’ and ‘Rice and Rose Bowl Blues’, and through the literary device of characterization, the reader is able to identify and analyze the theme, follow your heart. In both of these stories, we see similar themes where young girls are rebelling …show more content…
Characterization can be seen in ‘Two Kinds’ when Jing-Mei’s laziness and unwillingness to cooperate with her mother’s wishes is shown. This highlights the fact that she prefers doing things in her own easy way, rather than how her mother wants. In ‘Rice and Rose Bowl Blues’, we also see that same kind of unwillingness to cooperate, because the girl is always trying to avoid cleaning the rice. An exact excerpt that proves this can be seen here, “I started out the door / but was called back” (Lin Mark, page 520). This shows us that the girl refuses to do what she is told to, hence running towards the door. In both of these works, we see that the main characters are nonconformist to what they are