Two Kinds Jing-Mei Relationship

Have you ever wondered why parents often force their children to do things that their children feel are either unnecessary or inappropriate for their age level? One narrator feels the same way when she complains to her mother, ”You want to be someone that I’m not!”(Tan 231). In “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan, Jing-mei, the protagonist of the story, has a difficult relationship with her mother because her mother wants her to be something that she feels she is not: a prodigy. However, in the end, Jing-mei’s conflict with her mother ends with an age-old adage: mother is correct. After a careful analysis of the story, the reader understands how Jing-mei’s feelings toward her mother changed, why her feelings changed, and how those changed feelings affected the entire story. …show more content…
During Jing-mei’s early childhood, she was already pushed by her mom to be her best. Jing-mei announced, ”I pictured this prodigy part of me a many different images, trying each one on for size” (Tan 221). When Jing-mei was young, she was quite excited to do all the tests and practices her mom wanted her to do. Unfortunately her attitude begins to change, which negatively impacts their relationship. After mom passed away, she tried to play the piano. She plays two songs that coincide with each other because the songs are two halves of the same song. The narrator admits it, “And after I played them both a few times, I realized they were two halves of the same song” (Tan 233). This is a metaphor, two kinds of daughters, what her mom wants her to be. She has changed her emotions about her mom. Jing-mei totally regrets the things she explained to her mom and she wants to take it