Symbolism In Two Kinds By Amy Tan

Two Kinds: Whose American Dream? America, commonly known as the home of the free and the land of opportunity, but do any of those things prove to be true if you do not see them from that positive perspective? In the short story Two Kinds, written by Amy Tan, a young girl is faced with the barrier of being a daughter to an immigrant women from China. The obstacles that we read about can be perceived in different ways, however, we only see them from the specific point of view of the daughter. This obstructs the way we receive and analyze the message of the text. While considering point of view as a leading factor in how we read the story, the use of symbolism can also be brought into discussion. The symbols derived from the passage have a unique impression on the lesson of the story and the …show more content…
For instance, the story fails to show us the emotions and thoughts of the main character’s mother. In the beginning of the story we are told how the mother comes to America after losing everything in China, which included, a family with two twin baby girls (Tan 382). Although we are told the circumstances under which the mother comes to America, we are not told how she feels about the ordeal. Which in return does not help us relate to her. Another instance where we are oblivious to the feeling of the mother is after the failed talent show performance. We are only told what the daughter is feeling when she says, “But my mother’s expression was what devastated me: a quiet, blank look that said she had lost everything” (Tan 388). Clearly, we are automatically informed of the daughter’s reaction to the piano fiasco, but not the mothers. If the talent show was told from the mother’s perspective we would understand why she was so disappointed and maybe interpret the situation a little differently. The author’s decision to tell the story from the daughter’s perspective alienates us from seeing the mother’s side of the story, which conclusively