Two kinds by Amy Tan - Essay Example

Two kinds by Amy Tan Amy Tan’s story, ‘Two kinds,’ identifies a narrator who reports on her relationship with her mother. I, in this paper, explore the relationship between the two, as the major characters in the story, how their relationship develop, and how the relationship contributes to the general theme of the story.The story, as was written by Amy Tan, depicts an immigrant family in California, the United States. The story’s major characters are the narrator and her mother who have been in conflict due to their philosophical difference.

The mother strongly believes that a person can achieve anything as long as interest is developed in an initiative. She struggles to mould her daughter into fame but her efforts fail as her daughter is rebellious and lacks interest in her mother’s initiatives. The narrator however believes that she can only be her personality and not her mother’s dreams (Tan 132- 143).The narrator and her mother have a strained relationship that exists in two scopes, maternal and mentorship scopes, and identifies their conflict.

The narrator’s mother plays her parental role of establishing a basis for her child’s future but the narrator does not appreciate her mother’s efforts. She instead believes that she can only be herself and is rebellious to her mother’s initiatives. At the peak of their conflict, her mother hints to the possibility of a worse interpersonal relationship when she explains that there are “only two kinds of daughters,” “those who are obedient and those who follow their mind” (Tan 142).

She then declares that Jing, the narrator, can only live in the house if she is obedient and Jing regrets, in her mother’s face, being her daughter. The narrator’s strained relationship with her mother is further identifiable in her domestic orientation in which she does not help her parents when called upon to do domestic chores, a behavior that her mother identifies as a problem (Tan 132- 143). The narrator also identifies a poor relationship with her mother in the mentorship role. She does not appreciate her mother’s ideas and even though she communicates her feelings and attitudes, her mother ignores these and insists that Jing must follow her path to success.

This generates a conflict that the two characters fail to resolve amicably (Tan 142).The strained relationship between the narrator and her mother develops from the mother’s high expectations in her daughter and her desire that the child attain fame. The mother’s strong belief that all achievements are possible in America further deteriorates their relationship as it contradicts the narrator’s philosophy. She identifies specific ventures for her daughter and insists that the daughter develops interest in the ventures and excel in them.

The narrator’s negative response then generates a conflict and leads to the strained relationship. The relationship, being a manifestation of the characters’ philosophies, therefore contributes to the story’s message by identifying the difference between the characters (Tan 142).Amy Tan’s story of the two kinds identifies the narrator, whose philosophy differs from her mother’s philosophy on achievements. This difference generates conflict between the narrator and her mother and leads to their strained relationship.

Works citedTan, Amy. The joy luck club. New York, NY: Penguin, 2006. Print.