How someone acts or what someone strives to be can is greatly impacted by one’s superiors. People in charge provide an example and motivation for one’s goals. Positive as well as negative behaviors are often formed by superior’s judgment of the person. The short stories, “Mrs. Sen’s”, “The Rules of the Game”, and “Two Kinds” all display the theme of our identity being shaped by those who have authority.
To begin, the story “Mrs. Sen’s” by Jhumpa Lahiri has characters who are impacted by their guardian. Eliot is a quiet boy who does not speak up much due to his lack of effective parenting growing up. The story states, “...before he was looked after by a university student named Abby… before that an older woman, Mrs. Linden, greeted him when …show more content…
Jing-mei’s mother pushes her to become a prodigy. As a child, she would quiz Jing-mei about random topics and push to enter beauty pageants. Eventually, Jing-mei tires of her mother’s constant wishes for her to be perfect. After a particularly frustrating day, Jing-mei thought, “I hated the tests, the raised hopes and failed expectations. ... I looked in the mirror above the bathroom sink and when I only saw my face staring back… I began to cry,” (21). Jing-mei’s mother pushed her to be someone she is not, which gave her low self-esteem, as well as a bad attitude towards her mother. Further, Jing-mei was forced to learn piano by her mother, and when she performed poorly at a talent show, her mother was devastated and soon stopped pushing Jing-mei to become a prodigy. After the performance, Jing-mei’s mother had, “a quiet, blank look that said she had lost everything,” (24). Jing-mei never performed again in the duration of the story. Her lack of effort made her mother give up, which gave Jing-mei the freedom to do whatever she wanted. She had less than average grades at school and dropped out of college, but her mother never pushed to do anything again. Both while Jing-mei’s mother was trying to make her a prodigy, and when she did not make much contact, Jing-mei’s life was
To begin, the story “Mrs. Sen’s” by Jhumpa Lahiri has characters who are impacted by their guardian. Eliot is a quiet boy who does not speak up much due to his lack of effective parenting growing up. The story states, “...before he was looked after by a university student named Abby… before that an older woman, Mrs. Linden, greeted him when …show more content…
Jing-mei’s mother pushes her to become a prodigy. As a child, she would quiz Jing-mei about random topics and push to enter beauty pageants. Eventually, Jing-mei tires of her mother’s constant wishes for her to be perfect. After a particularly frustrating day, Jing-mei thought, “I hated the tests, the raised hopes and failed expectations. ... I looked in the mirror above the bathroom sink and when I only saw my face staring back… I began to cry,” (21). Jing-mei’s mother pushed her to be someone she is not, which gave her low self-esteem, as well as a bad attitude towards her mother. Further, Jing-mei was forced to learn piano by her mother, and when she performed poorly at a talent show, her mother was devastated and soon stopped pushing Jing-mei to become a prodigy. After the performance, Jing-mei’s mother had, “a quiet, blank look that said she had lost everything,” (24). Jing-mei never performed again in the duration of the story. Her lack of effort made her mother give up, which gave Jing-mei the freedom to do whatever she wanted. She had less than average grades at school and dropped out of college, but her mother never pushed to do anything again. Both while Jing-mei’s mother was trying to make her a prodigy, and when she did not make much contact, Jing-mei’s life was