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…
Have you ever thought how about much work it takes to overcome obstacles throughout your life? In "Mother Tongue" Amy Tan knew how hard her mother tried to defend herself from other people, but in instances people said they did not understand what Amy's mother was saying. "And I had plenty of empirical evidence to support me: the fact that people in department stores, at banks, and at restaurants did not take her seriously, did not give her good service, pretended not to understand her, or even…
In the story “Two Kinds”, by Amy Tan, an Asian-American daughter is faced with the pressures her mother puts upon her of expectations of success; in particular, the expectation is to become a young prodigy. Throughout the story, Jing- mei faces external and internal conflicts while struggling to find her own identity. While facing the struggles brought in her life, Jing- mei comes upon the realization that her mother believed in her and only wanted her to be the best that she can be. The theme…
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…
Amy Tan’s Argument What is an author’s purpose of creating a work of literature? An obvious reason as to why authors write books is to spark a debate. Authors want readers to have discussions over the text they’ve read. Amy Tan is no exception and succeeded in getting her readers to dispute over her works. For instance scholars argue over whether the narrative beginnings in The Joy Luck Club took a feminist view point or if the beginnings were there to analyze cultural identity (Romagnolo).…
Moses Maximov Jorge Villalobos English 100 October 10, 2014 Various English Amy Tan is the author of “Mother Tongue” essay. Her essay provides real life stories about her mother and herself struggling in America. Her story is an amazing eye opener because it makes people realize that someone who cannot speak standard English is less intelligent, but after reading “Mother Tongue” this person will change his/her opinion about people who cannot speak English. In her essay, Tan explain about her…
Similarities and distinctions Alice Walker and Amy Tan are modern American writers. Both stories depicts relationships between mothers and daughters, their lifestyles, achievements and expectations. Both families are non - American origin. Alice Walker shows African American mother with two daughters. The old one is well-educated and successful. She holds in contempt her roots, though. Meanwhile, the young daughter is proud of her origin. Amy Tan presents the reader Chinese mother and daughter…
reject their parents and be themselves. The primary theme of the author in these short story and overall in the whole book is the mother-daughter dynamic power and the fight between traditional and modern values. These themes are seeing commonly in Amy Tan 's books. Many of her stories feature a mother who grew up in China and a daughter who is born in America and rejects many of the traditional rules and believes. There is a giant cultural gap between many first generation and this culture gap…
The story “Two Kinds” of Amy tans shows us the conflict between the mother from China cultural and the daughter from American’s cultural. Suyuan, who is known as Jing-mei’s mother, suffers from her losses of a first husband and two babies in China. She believes that in the U.S everyone can be anything they want to be by working hard, even they are genius or prodigy. So, she keeps her daughter staying busy by scheduling her many differences activities such as coming to beauty training school…
Amy Tan’s discussion of her cultural identity is heightened through the varying levels of intimacy in her tone to ultimately mirror the fluctuating reverence and admiration that she has for her mother. Though unaddressed, it is implied through the absence of “we” that there is a prevalent cultural divide between Tan and her mother. Tan speaks to daughters of immigrant mothers in, Mother Tongue, as she analyzes the limits of being culturally and linguistically authentic in a society where the…