Two Kinds by Amy Tan - Book Report/Review Example

“Reflective essay on Two Kinds” “Two Kinds” is a short story written by Amy Tan. Analogy to the story in question, the subject matter depicts that there is a providence that shapes human destiny and in spite of the rough strokes of life, the figure in the end assumes beauty and perfection. It’s a fitful genius with a constant ebb and flow. It purports to be identified with intellectual genius of the age. The story is on an unfavorable relationship of a mother and daughter. It is about a young girl who fights with her own mother who expects too much from her daughter.

This is because Jing-mei wants to be herself. She was happy being herself, but, her mother expected more. The mother of Jing Mei knew that her daughter was a genius, but the daughter blew it away being determined not to be what her mother dreamt of. Jing Mei’s mother asserted that there were ‘two kinds of daughters, one who is obedient and the other who follows her own mind. Jing Mei discovered the truth after the death of her mother that her mother meant that she could be an obedient daughter while she could also listen to her own heart and dream for her the betterment in life.

There are many strands; one is a celebration of nature and especially nature’s wildness. Society, on the whole is a corrupting force and those who fumed to nature, to live “naturally” and spontaneously, like the “bond” and the “genius” might well come into conflict with society with result that could be both glorious and tragic. We many find new powers of perception awakened in us, helping to make us more fit or the highly complex activities of life. The main purpose is the interpretation of life, not of a particular age or clime but as a whole, truth and reality have keen sources of inspiration from the earliest two when man began to give expression to the thoughts in songs, but their presentation has always varied with the advancing intellect.

Such has been the pitch of attainment of the Asian girl, the story has pin pointed. This goes to proves that current doctrines of her time always had the tendency to influence her imagination expression. There has to be reconciliation of the real and the ideal, freedom and necessity. The attitudinal change in the family life discipline in the story commutes’ the sense of heritage of love, beauty and moral perfection through recognition towards parenthood and religion. Many themes can be found throughout this story.

It was also seen that a person could be his own enemy. Jing-mei's mother only did what any other mother would do, by trying to give the best for her. If she had listened to her mother and tried to work hard, she could have been one of the leading pianists, and a famous young girl. But after her mother dies, she again played the piano. She played the song that was the breaking point of her relationship. “And after I played them both a few times, I realized they were two halves of the same song” (Tan, p. 42). We must not forget to attach great importance to the simple and unsophisticated days of the child that get transferred into sensible pleasure of early days leading to intellectual pleasures narrated in the story under study.

Until such time, the reason and imagination remained unaware, her mother could not notice her majestic strength and real changes into the visionary as desired by the mother of the girl who puts herself in her stead now. The powers of the childhood and the instinctive usage of that period are transformed to higher intellectual and spiritual ones with maturity as evidence by the stages in development of the story. Reason and will force the pillars of such a world free from any dogma or any dreams.

We may lose our study by the remark that natural befit of minds is towards a love of freedom in thoughts and creation. I am an Asian mother and my children were born in the United States of America. I relate to the mother in the story “Two Kinds”. The mother wanted the most for her daughter and wanted her to become famous and learn to compete in the new environment. The mother felt insecure that her daughter might lag behind in the competitive environment. In a similar manner, I feel the same insecurities for my children and I constantly push them to learn more and succeed.

But a balance is extremely necessary and I have analyzed that children should not be pushed to do things beyond their capacity. Every child has his own special abilities and thus they should be given the freedom to choose what they want and they should not be forced. Works Cited Tan, Amy. “Two Kinds.”