In Amy Tan’s short story “Two Kinds,” the character Jing-mei undergoes a significant change in her attitude towards her mother and her own identity. At the beginning of the story, Jing-mei is a young girl who resents her mother´s attempts to mold her into a prodigy. She rebels against her motherś expectations and intentionally performs poorly in her piano lessons. However, by the end of the story, Jing-mei has come to a greater understanding of her motherś motivations and accepts her own identity. At the start of the story, Jing-mei is frustrated and angry with her motherś constantly pushing for her to become a prodigy. She sees her motherś expectations as an imposition on her freedom and independence. This is demonstrated when Jing-mei intentionally performs poorly in her piano lessons, despite having some natural talent, in order to rebel against her motherś expectations. Jing-mei sees her mother as overbearing and controlling, and she resents the way …show more content…
She learns that her mother had to leave behind everything he knew in China during World War 2, and that her motherś expectations were rooted in a desire to give Jing-mei the opportunities that she never had. Jing-mei also comes to realize that her motherś push for her to become a prodigy was a way for mother to live vicariously through her daughterś success. This understanding leads Jing-mei to feel compassion for her mother and a desire to make her happy. In the climax of the story, Jing-mei performs at a talent show, playing a song her mother had chosen for her. However Jing-mei intentionally performs poorly, in order to prove to her mother that she cannot be molded into someone she is not. This action initially drives a deeper wedge between Jing-mei and her mother, but in the end, Jing-mei realizes that her motherś love for her was genuine and that her mother had always been proud of her, even when she was not a