Amy Eilberg

The short story “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan tells about a young Chinese girl named Ni Kan who lives in America and learns to play the piano. I will be comparing and contrasting this story to my personal story, where as a child I moved to China and learned to play the piano. There are some similarities and some surprising differences in the stories obstacles, conflicts, and transformations. In the story "Two Kinds" Ni Kan faced many obstacles trying to learn to play the piano. Her first obstacle was…

In the short story “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan, a relationship is shown between a mother and daughter that exemplifies the complexities and intricacies between the two. Throughout the story, the mother chooses to showcase different musical talents towards her daughter, in hope that her daughter masters one and becomes a “child prodigy.” Meanwhile, the daughter chooses to find herself through her own means rather than through the dreams of her mother, which sets the theme of how the expectations of a…

In Annie Murphy's " Tiger Moms: Is Tough Parenting Really the Answer" article, the reader know about how mother Amy Chua raised her children in a rigorous matter to ensure that her two daughters were prepared for their future the author, Annie Murphy Paul, describes why Amy Chua, who is a Chinese mother, commonly used the parenting style of Tiger mother to treat and raise her children. First of all, Paul states that the Tiger Moms style is the most effective way to raise our children for…

This modified passage, which goes on for more than a whole page is a double climax because on the one hand, Kingston breaks free from the repression she has felt throughout the childhood by her family and the Chinese customs (). On the other hand, she takes up the agency and “makes a statement” to her parents (): Kingston chooses to form her own identity regardless of the ethnic background as a Chinese American and rejects the idea of what her parents expect her to be. It might be true that her…

The song “Someone’s Watching Over Me” by Hilary Duff is about someone finally finding themselves and becoming comfortable with who they are after struggling with their identity for some time. I feel that this song aptly conveys Jing-mei Woo’s character traits, emotions, thoughts and predicament as an adult after the passing of her mother, Suyuan woo as she too had a prejudice against her Chinese self. As a child, Jing-mei had always detested her Chinese culture and “had vigorously denied that…

Reading Amy Tan's "Mother Tongue", I came across the idea of language being "fractured and broken". In the essay, she provided examples of how her mother's limited English caused her to be given poor service at department stores, banks, and restaurants; stating how people would usually consider a lack of depth in their thinking due to their "broken" or "limited" use of language. Conversely, she thinks that her mother's English is "vivid, full of observation and imagery". Indeed, Chinglish is…

JhumpaLahiri faithfully depicted identity crisis of the first and second generation expatriates in her first novel The Namesake. This crisis is dealt through immigrant’s families and their internal and socio-cultural relations with the people of the foreign country. It deals with the cultural identity crisis which is faced by both the generation of the immigrants. In the case of the first generation, the immigrants face dilemma, consciousness of being an outsider and cultural identity crisis due…

In the short story “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan, the author creates a conflict between a Chinese mother and her daughter. The relationship between the mother who wanted her daughter to be prodigy, and her daughter who refused to be prodigy is presented (43). She uses dialogue, irony, similes and metaphors to illustrate and set her writing. Tan’s main message that stands out in the story is parents-to-kids relationship, in this case mother-to-daughter relationship. With all the details given by the…

Many books, such as Pride and Prejudice and A Midsummer Night's Dream depict the different layers of relationships and marriage: the good, the bad and the ugly. The novel The Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan, is no different. This novel describes the life of four pairs of Chinese immigrant mothers and American-born daughters, and their different struggles, ranging from the clash of cultures to adaptation to the american society and, in many cases, marriage itself. Most of the women in the story have,…

How to Create Happy Children is an article by Amy Kim, written in 2011, published in The New Yorker. It details her experiences with raising children using Chinese methods of upbringing. Throughout the article, Amy Kim uses a very vivid language that appeals to the senses. This is particularly true towards the end of the article, where she recollects an episode involving one of her daughters. It is described how “She punched, thrashed and kicked, ” which gives the reader a very intimate look at…