Amy Tan's Two Kinds and Maggie Scarf's The Beavers' Scale of Family health and Competence

She talked about the great things they would bond over and all the things the mother would do for their children. However, 62.4% of children will never see this. Not because their vision is impaired, but their mothers decided a different life for themselves that did not include them. The mothers selfish act lead to lifelong effects on their child that surpass just not knowing who their mother is. Sandra Maria Esteves opened up the world of how great a mother is, but the world of those 62.4% of children is a dark and deep one with negative psychological effects.

I find this “reverse ancestor worship” troubling and conceivably damaging. Maxine’s mother sternly lectures that the little girl must not discuss the past of her aunt with others, but now she must wrestle with trying to comprehend what lead to the woman’s death. Unfortunately for Maxine, she suddenly became a part of the punishment and had no way around this when she was young. Why would Brave Orchid tell this story to her young daughter at such an innocent age? An unnerving, fogged story like this does not essentially help an innocent child guide herself through a moral decision.

Emily is taught that women stay in the house and iron; she is not encouraged enough by her mother early on. The mother regrets her failure to teach her daughter that she can make her own path through life, claiming her “wisdom came too late” and that she can only hope that Emily “ know[s]- that she is more than this dress on the ironing board, helpless before the iron” (Olsen 298). The narrator failed to guide her daughter through life and to help her avoid some of the mistakes she made. Emily will likely fall down the same path the narrator has taken, because of the perpetual nature of

She gives her children everything she has, but is eventually sucked dry with nothing left to give. This struggle is similar to the struggle of modern women who must leave their children while they work then try to make up for the lost time when they are home. From the time they are girls women are led to believe that more important than their happiness, is their respo... ... middle of paper ... ...children for a short time, but as Sethe discovers, they cannot continue doing this forever or it will leave them with nothing to give and no energy to care for themselves. Modern mothers must heed the warning issued in Beloved and accept that sometimes it is necessary for a mother and child to be separated and that a mother should not try to compensate for this separation and risk losing herself in the search for her children’s happiness. The relationship between mother and child is unbreakable, no matter how much time has passed, but it must be treated with caution as it has the power to ostracize the two from the rest of the world and allow them to destroy each other.

She clearly says that "Only one kind of daughter can live in this house. Obedient daughter" (Tan 497). Amy Tan shows that Ni kan resents her mother's decisions and resists her control. After many failed tests in knowledge and skills, Ni kan asserts to herself, "I won't let her change me. .

At the end of the day, I see Dee's character as a weakness because with all the education and sophistication she does not know the true importance of family and heritage. It is ironical that she tells her mother and sister that they do not understand their heritage, because it does seem that she does not know anything about it either she did change her name after all. Personally, I think that one should not live in isolation of ones history because it defines who you are. Irrespective of the kind of education and experiences Dee has, she should understand that culture can never be acquired. Culture can never be turned on and off at will, but that culture is lived.

He regards his daughter as just another woman and approaches raising her in the same manner that he treated his wife. Edna’s distant relationship with her sisters is shown in her refusal to go to the wedding [94] and her distaste for the motherly tones in her elder sister’s affections [22]. Coming from an isolated plantation, her youth was lonely and in result she grew to lack proper social skills and became more sensitive to kindness. This is supported by Adele’s statement to Robert, “...she is not like us. She might make the unfortunate blunder of taking you seriously.” ... ... middle of paper ... ... follow them.

Her aunt had two sides to her, a calm woman and a wild woman free with sex. Kingston was actually shocked by this and says, “Unless I see her life branching into mine, she gives me no ancestral help.” Despite the fact that Kingston ... ... middle of paper ... ...er ancestral culture in order to adapt to American values which still remain here in America. While at school she was practicing this “American- Feminine”, she was shaped as a child to respect honor, family and Chinese culture itself. Consequently, Kingston still started to steer off of her family beliefs. Even writing this book is ironic because even though she was told by her family not to tell anyone about her aunt, here she is writing a book about it.

However, the situation is not easy for her, because she doesn’t want this child and she can’t talk about her secret with anyone. She approaches the world in her own, unclear way, which is partially shaped through circumstances she grew up. At once, she has to cope not just with the consequences of her romance, but also she has to accept a new role of mother and women in the house of the Bundren family. While other relatives have chance to manifest their feelings about the journey to Jefferson, she is ignored and feels rather alone.She is looking for a solution from her precarious situation, but she fails all the way. Her childish and artless nature is suddenly forced to behave as a woman, who seems to be lost.

Then when she started having all the yelling from her mom when she did not do something right she was not feeling the fun. Everything was not all happy when it came down to her being perfect liked her mom wanted her to be. Well one day Jing- mei did not want to go practice the piano and her mom did not like the word no! So Jing- mei got really upset and her mom tells her “ too late to change this” (Tan 231). Jing- mei decided that she was not going to do what her mother wanted her to do.