Two Kinds Rhetorical Analysis

Different Desires

The story “Two Kinds” is based on a mother/daughter relationship told by the daughter in first person narrative. As seen through the daughter’s eyes the relationship is strained due to different views caused by a generation gap, different beliefs and cultures. The mother was born and raised in China and Ni Kan was raised in China town after her mother migrated to America in 1949. When her mother left China, she had to leave behind her parents, husband and twin daughters and through it all remained certain that America would provide her with opportunity’s that she didn’t have before. “But she never looked back with regret. There were so many ways for things to get better.”

At first, she tried to please her mother and was just as excited as she was, if not more. She fantasized about becoming a Ballerina or a Cinderella. But as time went on, Ni Kan became impatient that the prodigy in her was not happening fast enough. She became bored and frustrated with the tests that her mother would give to her every night after dinner. Night after night when she would fail the tests and see the disappointment on her mothers face she began to die inside. Something had told her that the prodigy inside of her was angry and powerful and she began to use this anger and power to rebel against her mother. Ni Kan felt as if she had finally won when for two or three months she didn’t hear any more talk of becoming a prodigy. Then one day her mother was watching the Ed Sullivan show on TV and saw a young Chinese girl with a Peter Pan haircut and the sassiness of a Shirley Temple pounding out music on a piano. The next thing Ni Kan knew was that she was being forced to take piano lessons by Mr. Chong, a retired piano teacher who lived on the first floor of their apartment complex in exchange for cleaning services provided by her mother. Ni Kan was not the least bit happy about this arrangement and continued to rebel while her mother was more than ever determined to help her daughter become a child

Chong, Ni Kan soon realized that Mr. Chong was deaf and used this to her advantage by being lazy and to get away with many mistakes. She did quickly pick up the basics but never gave herself a fair chance and destroyed all possibility to become a good pianist at a young age. This went on for the next year and being so determined not to try she learned to play only awful sounding music. One day after church she heard her mother and her friend Lindo Jong talking loudly and bragging about their daughter’s success and this made Ni Kan very angry and adamant to put a stop to her mother’s tall tales. A few weeks later the opportunity to put a stop to her mother’s excessive demands of becoming a child prodigy presented itself when her mother entered her into a talent show where she could introduce her new talent. Although when she practiced the song she was to play at the Talent show she continued to cheat herself by practicing halfheartedly, never really listening to what she was playing. However, on the day of the talent show Ni Kan was full of confidence and feeling as if the prodigy side of her was about to show itself. The church was filled with children of all ages, friends, family and church members. Ni Kan recalled having no fear or nervousness at all and remembers thinking to herself, “This is it! This is it!” (pg. 826) When she began to play, she was so caught up on how lovely she looked with her pink bow and white dress