The Prodigy

The Infant Prodigy, written by Thomas Mann, is a story of Bibi Saccellaphylaccas, a young prodigal artist. He plays piano for an audience of ridiculers. Through this story, readers are given a real look at the art of music, also the thoughts from the audience when observing Bibi’s performance. Thomas Mann describes a complete picture of Bibi, the audience and the relationship between them and culture through the all-knowing point of view. When we get into the story firstly, it is the time also…

we forming children who are only capable of learning what is already known?" Said Jean Piaget. Piaget was a famous prodigy know by many people. In today's society people are debating on weather to let the young or old prodigies live their lives or to use their talent to great use. There's also the matter of weather all prodigies are successful or failures. Piaget is a successful prodigy because of his well known papers on mollusks and his love for studying the minds of children. On the other…

fact, in the beginning, I was just as excited as my mother, maybe even more so" (223). Her mother believes in the American Dream and passes this hope to her daughter stating "you can be prodigy, too… you can be best anything" (222). Jing-Mei tries her best to live up to her mother's dreams for her to become a prodigy. When her haircut ends up looking less like Shirley Temple and more like Peter Pan, she is optimistic about the end results anyhow stating "I liked the haircut and it made me…

Amy Tan. The story follows a Chinese mother and daughter (Jing-Mei) living in America. Throughout the story, Jing-Mei and her mother struggle with one another, her mother wanting her to be a child prodigy and her constant fighting against becoming one. Knowing that Jing-Mei does not want to be a prodigy gives us great insight into who she is as a character. Wanting to just be herself, fighting against her mother, and purposefully turning her performance into a fiasco shows how confident,…

Have you ever wondered why parents often force their children to do things they don’t want to do? “You want me to be someone that I’m not” (Tan 231). “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan. The conflict in the story was that Jing-mei’s mother wanted her to be a prodigy but she didn’t want to listen to her mother. 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.…

told by eight Chinese females living in America. In one of the narratives, Two Kinds, one can envision the enormity of the pressure and frustration exchanged between an expectant parent and a depressed child. Most children are told “you can be a prodigy, too” by their parents, which paves a long road of struggle and stress (132). In Two Kinds, the standards of an adult for a child can bring stress, frustration, and sorrow for both members, leaving the child feeling restrained and constantly…

The Pressure to Succeed Everyone has different opinion regarding success, it is a reflection of where they came from and where they want to go. Many people leave their home country to have a better life. They want to obtain better a job to support their families and for their children to have a good education. There’s a lot of pressure being a child of immigrants. The parents work hard, so their children can have a chance to achieve the American Dream. They want their children to attend…

In the novel The Joy Luck Club, Jing-mei believes that her mother, Suyuan, expects her to be a successful prodigy and do well in anything she does. Jing-mei feels that she has failed her mother by not achieving success in many areas throughout her life and blames Suyuan for her high expectations. Perceiving to have disappointed her mother, Jing-mei loses belief in herself while in reality, Suyuan still held high hopes for her and only wants Jing-mei to try her best. Therefore, Jing-mei’s future…

In the story “Two Kinds,” Jing-mei Woo is being tested by her mother Suyuan to see if she is a prodigy. Suyuan believes that you can be anything you aspire to be in America. Once she sees the child prodigies on television, Suyuan starts trying to find what type of prodigy Jing-mei is, her hidden talent. At first, Jing-mei is just as excited as her mother at the idea of being a prodigy. She thinks of this as a way to be adored by her parents. Every night after dinner, Suyuan sits at the kitchen…

Culture is everything that makes up a certain way of life including: beliefs, values, language, customs, and much more. Each person's cultural heritage is shaped from aspects of their life that is built from one's surrounding environment. One's cultural heritage is developed from the culture a person is born into; they are surrounded by the atmosphere presented by their family. There are numerous aspects that impacts a person's perspective, culture has greatly influenced the way we view others…