Amy Tan

Meeting parental expectations and completing all of the “requirements” to be a successful son or daughter has always been part of the main goal and developing process for everyone, no matter how old the “child” is. Sandra Cisneros and Amy Tan, authors of two unique essays - "Only Daughter" and "Mother Tongue" - with the similar theme, are sharing their experiences and thought processes regarding that question. They have something in common – both women immigrated to the United States with their…

conflict with one another? Jing-Mei and her mother did not get along very well. Her mother's culture is very different than the one that she grew up knowing. Jing-Mei is more towards American culture than Chinese while her mother is the opposite. In, Amy Tan’s “Two Kinds,” an excerpt from the book Joy Luck Club, Jing-Mei, a Chinese-American girl, experiences her and her mother with completely different beliefs conflicting, along with her conflict with, herself, her cousin Waverly, and her Aunt…

As a kid, growing up in the 21st century and a first generation Taiwanese-American, I had to live up to many expectations and one of them that I was expected to do, was to play an instrument. Similarly to Amy Tan’s short story “Two Kinds”, I had to learn to play the piano and it was one of the hardest times in my life because I did not know how to read the notes. Also, I was not interested and did not tune in half the time during my lesson. After three years of sitting there in boredom, I told…

Amy Tan’s work in “Two Kinds” is driven by the idea of deep culture drives, because the tension of the story is based on a mother and daughter’s battle against deep culture itself. Culture is an idea that can subliminally influence a person’s ideas, thoughts, and social interactions, and once affected so deeply by culture it is difficult to adapt or go against that culture’s traditions as it can become ingrained so deeply. Jing- Mei’s mother is a great example of deeply engrained culture. Mrs…

change over the years for the better. In the beginning of the passage, Tan seemed very embarrassed with her mother’s “broken English”. She mentioned various times that she was red faced when she had to speak on behalf of her mother. After doing research in surveys she had found out that the Chinese’s best subject is not English, and she found this as a challenge. That is why she became an English major. In the time it took Tan to achieve her goals, she realized that her mother has “passion and…

The protagonist is perfectly content with settling and becoming average, whereas the mother finds a problem with that. Tan is trying to say that a mother’s love and expectations are not always an easy pill to swallow. The intent behind the expectation are good and are usually rooted in a more privileged/easier life for the child. Tan structured the story in this order to show that expectations are not always a good thing. Although it is a higher image of the child, the pressure that you place on…

Tan was a language lover, she enjoyed writing about things that readers can be able to visualize. She would give speeches about her writing and life. Tan uses two different English’s she uses one on a daily basis and the other one when she is around her mother. Her mother understands some English words, but not many. Tan and her mother’s first language is not English. It was very hard for Tan to become a writer. She received a lot of criticism about her writing. It was also hard for her to write…

world. The stories “Two Kinds”, “By Any Other Name”, “Legal Alien”, “Biography of Frida Kahlo”, and “An Indian Father’s Plea” all give examples on how someone’s culture plays a major role in how they view other people and the world. (Joseph Briscoe) In Amy Tan’s novel “Two Kinds” the inquisitive nationalized young chinese girl is puzzled as to why her mother is forcing her to be a prodigy. Like most Chinese mothers they expect obedience and demand nothing but the best from their child, so the…

In The Joy Luck Club, the author, Amy Tan introduces four mother-daughter pairs which displays the perspectives of each character through their view on life. Tan also shows how each of the mothers’ thoughts influence their daughter as well as their expectations for them in America. The novel compares the past life and experiences of each mother, cultural conflicts, and the transition from their life in China to America. Through the mothers stories of their experiences in China, many family…

For Chinese people, it is very important to be better than your colleagues, to be respected and to make sure you are not disgraced in the social nets. In order to achieve this, children should study hard to be the best they can be. However, for most Americans it is the opposite, they do not feel disgraced if they are not the best. Obviously, in “Two Kinds”, the conflicts between Jing-mei and her mother are partially because the intense relationship between them, which comes from her wishing her…