The Ideas Of Culture In Amy Tan's Two Kinds

What influences the way we see the world, our ideologies and the decisions we make? When speaking of culture some think of it as something that makes us who we are. It gives us a perspective that may be different from everybody else’s . Culture consistently informs the way one views others and the world. Some may believe that culture rarely informs the way a person views the world. In Amy Tan’s novel excerpt, “Two Kinds”, a Chinese mother has high expectations for her daughter who has different ideals from that of her mother. Her mother believes that Jing-Mei should be raised the way she grew up in China after moving to America. In the beginning of the novel both Jing Mei as well as her mother saw America as the Land of Opportunity where

I would compare both environments based on what I’ve been accustomed to. For example, the first time I visited Elgen, at age nine, I was homesick and missed everything that I left behind in Beloit. Likewise, Frida Kahlo painted her Self Portrait on the Borderline Between Mexico and the United States that portrays the differences encountered in the US from that of her homeland. She was longing for her home. On the left side of Kahlo there is a painting of flowers that have roots which symbolizes the natural environment where she comes from. The right side of the painting (America) shows factories and machines which, from her view, gives us a sense of artificiality. In the About the Artist section it mentions how “this tension between living in one world and longing to be in another inspired her painting” (37). Her culture gave her a view on a place that she wasn’t used to being because of where she was born and how she was raised. Her differentiating between America and Mexico shows how culture influences us on the way we perceive this world. The elements in this self-portrait enables her audience to see Frida Kahlo’s interpretation of a place that she has not been accustomed to based off her