The conflict between parents and children is a universal experience that transcends cultural boundaries. In Amy Tan's "Two Kinds," the protagonist Jing-mei struggles with her mother's expectations and her own desire for independence. In Diane Mei Lin Mark's "Rice and Rose Bowl Blues," the narrator navigates the tensions between her traditional Chinese parents and her American upbringing. Through the use of imagery, connotative diction, and allusion, both authors convey the emotional complexity of parent-child relationships. In "Two Kinds," Tan uses imagery to illustrate Jing-mei's internal struggle. When her mother buys her a piano and insists that she become a prodigy, Jing-mei feels trapped and overwhelmed. Jing-mei states, “When my mother told me this, I felt as though I had been sent to hell” (Tan 225). This simile emphasizes the piano lessons as a negative force that invaded her everyday life. Similarly, when Jing-mei rebels against her mother's expectations and performs poorly at a talent show, she states, “And now I realized how many people were in the audience, the whole world it seemed. I was aware of eyes burning into my back” (Tan 229). This …show more content…
When the narrator's mother states, “I remember the day Mama called me in from the football game with brothers and neighbor boys in our front yard said it was time I learned to wash rice for dinner” (Mark 1-8). This implies that the speaker is now old enough for the gender roles to be applied to her. Later, when the narrator's mother is teaching her to wash rice, the speaker states, “I secretly traced an end run through the grains in between pourings” (Mark 20-23). This implies that the speaker rebels against her mother by focusing on the game instead of her mothers teachings. These connotations suggest that the speaker rather do what she wants to do and not let her mother dictate her role in