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Chinese and American culture in two kinds
Different cultures'parenting styles
Different cultures'parenting styles
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The struggle with conflict between parents and children is something that almost occur to several teens, especially those who drift into a culture outside of their parents’. In “Two kinds,” by Amy Tan excerpt from The Joy Luck Club,is an example of constant conflict between a strict and overbearing parents, and their child. The main character is a young Chinese- American daughter, who childhood was affected by her overbearing Chinese mother. Throughout the whole story, Jing Mei and her mother had a numerous amount of conflict, which escorted to the central conflict. Jing Mei and her mother is like an apple and oranges, her mother is an imperious and an overbearing Chinese mother. While Jing Mei was an apathetic American upbringing. Jing Mei’s mother is imperious, she was so determined for her daughter to be a prodigy in something. Jing’s mother would challenge Jing with impossible questions. “Test would get Jing’s mother believes that her daughter should do want the she tell her to do. Jing believes that she should be apply to do what she wants and be her own person. Jing’s childhood was destroyed because of her mother cultural believes. Jing’s mother was domineering, she would give a solution that was impossible to answer or do. Jing’s mother would always force her to do things she did not want to do and when she did not get the answer she wanted she would get furious. Jing’s mother was ambitious, she would not have a defiant child. If Jing refuses to follow orders that her mother would assign, her mother would fuss and get physical with her. Jing wanted to be independent, she wanted to do what she want and be her own person. Which was complicated for her to do having a arrogant mother. Jing was sluggish toward the things she do because she was not interested in it. Constant conflict will occur when parents have one pacific cultural and their child is a upbringing of another
I believe that Jing-Mei should have told the truth from before, instead of telling them later. For, this proves to Jing’s half sister’s unnecessary hope of seeing their mother again. If Jing would have told them earlier it would have been less heartbreaking, although it didn’t necessary mess up their joyful reunion; it might have psychologically affected her half sisters more than it would have done if they found out earlier.
One type of effect the Chinese mothers’ expectations has in their relationship with their “Americanized” daughter is negative since the mothers are unable to achieve anything. An-Mei Hsu expects her daughter to listen and obey as the young ones do in Chinese culture, but instead receives a rebellious and stubborn daughter, “‘You only have to listen to me.’ And I cried, ‘But Old Mr. Chou listens to you too.’ More than thirty years later, my mother was still trying to make me listen’” (186-187). Instead of the circumstances improving, the mother is never able to achieve anything; her forcing and pushing her daughter to the Chinese culture goes to a waste. They are both similar in this sense because both are stubborn; the daughter learns to be stubborn through American culture and wants to keep herself the way she is, whereas the mother wants to remove this teaching from American culture and does not give u...
As the four women entered America, which is far from their motherland China, they experience a change of culture, the American culture, which was dominant than the Chinese. The Chinese mothers are faced with a difficult task of how to raise their American-born daughters with an understanding of their heritage. The daughters clearly show a gap in culture between the Chinese culture and American culture. The mothers wanted their daughter to follow the Chinese traditions, but the daughters followed the American traditions and even some of them got married to American men. The mothers tried to tell their daughters the story about the Chinese ancestors but the daughter could not follow them and the daughters thought their mothers were backwards and did not know what they are saying. As much as the mothers tried to show love to their daughters, the daughters usually responded negatively. They often saw their mothers’ attempts to guidance as a failure to understand the American culture. Being Chinese and living in America, both the mothers and the daughters struggle with many issues like identity, language, translation, and others. The mothers try to reconcile their Chinese pasts with their American presents; the daughters try to find a balance between independence and loyalty to their heritage
The imperfect groves and details of the green necklace could show Jing Mei that the ups and downs of her life and her relationship with her mother will ultimately help her learn about herself and other. This piece of jewelry was not ideal for Jing Mei. To her, it was, “too large, too green, too garishly ornate” (197). She had a very critical attitude towards something that was meant to be meaningful and special. Throughout her whole life, she is compared to others and criticized (by her mother, friends, and
The American daughters, on the other hand, the other half of the inseparable pair, tell stories of how their mothers tradition, culture, and beliefs, helped them come to many realizations about themselves. These realizations are both positive and negative. Jing-Mei Woo tells the story of how her mother wanted her to be the next Shirley Temple. "My mother believed you could be anything you wanted to be in America. You could open a restaurant...You could become instantly famous.
Jing-Mei’s story really starts before she was born because Jing-Mei’s mother came to America after she lost her parents, her first husband, and her two twin baby girls. Her mother set really high exceptions for Jing-Mei before she was ever born because she mother wanted a prodigy child. Jing-Mei starts at a young age to defy her mother on the quizzes her mother gave her because she does not want to be a prodigy child. Jing-Mei would daydream and not answer the questions right if she even knew them at all. For example her mother asks Jing-Mei “what is the capital of Finland?” Jing-Mei said “Nairobi” because she did not know any foreign cities. The only capital city she knows was the capital of California and that is because it was the name of the street Jing-Mei lived on (Page 227).
In analyzing these two stories, it is first notable to mention how differing their experiences truly are. Sammy is a late adolescent store clerk who, in his first job, is discontent with the normal workings of society and the bureaucratic nature of the store at which he works. He feels oppressed by the very fabric and nature of aging, out-of date rules, and, at the end of this story, climaxes with exposing his true feelings and quits his jobs in a display of nonconformity and rebellion. Jing-Mei, on the other hand, is a younger Asian American whose life and every waking moment is guided by the pressures of her mother, whose idealistic word-view aids in trying to mold her into something decent by both the double standards Asian society and their newly acquired American culture. In contrasting these two perspectives, we see that while ...
Since "You could be anything you wanted to be in America" (Tan 348) Jing-Meis' mother thought that meant that you had to be a prodigy. While that makes "Everything [sound] too simple and too easily achieved; [Jing-Mei] does not paint a picture of her mother as ignorant or silly" (Brent). In fact, in the beginning, Jing-Mei and her mother are both trying to "Pick the right kind of prodigy" (Tan 349). "In the beginning, [she] was just as excited as [her] mother,"(Tan 349) she wanted to be a prodigy, she wanted to "become perfect [she wanted her] mother and father to adore [her]"(Tan 349). As she strived to achieve perfection she and her mother would try many different things to try and find the "right kind of prodigy" (Tan 349).
The struggle of self identity as she realized that all this while, her mother was right. Once you are born Chinese, you cannot help but feel and think Chinese. Amy Tan’s “A Pair of Tickets” presents an incredibly interesting perspective of a woman named Jing mei who is traveling through her native country of china, embarks on this journey of self-discovery to find her true chinese roots. The opening scene of "A Pair of Tickets" is an appropriate setting for Jing mei remark of becoming Chinese, because the introduction grabs the audience attention. We are first starting out in the story as reading Jing mei turning from American to Chinese in an instant second of the moving of a train from one city to the next. The narrator
She sees the opportunities that America has to offer, and does not want to see her daughter throw those opportunities away. She wants the best for her daughter, and does not want Jing-Mei to ever let go of something she wants because it is too hard to achieve. "America is where all my mother's hopes lay. . .There were so many ways for ... ...
The two pieces of textual evidence I have to support this claim are both from paragraph #67 in the reading. The first one is whenever Jing-mei and her mother get into an argument about not wanting to play piano anymore. Jing-mei's mother shouts “Only two kinds of daughters!” and then she goes on to say “Those who are obedient and those who follow their own mind!” These two pieces of evidence from the text are crucial to the story as a whole. They are important because Jing-mei’s mother wants Jing-mei to follow the chinese culture, and play instruments, and to be a talented young girl like the ones on T.V. While Jing-mei’s mom wants her to follow the chinese culture, Jing-mei is growing up in america, and wants to follow her own mind, and she wants to do her own thing. This causes big conflict between the two during the story. So her mom does kinda force culture onto Jing-mei and that’s where culture is noticed, but Jing-mei also has personal experiences at school that make her want to express her own thoughts and be herself and do what she wants to do, making her not listen to her mom that
The language between a mother and a daughter can create a huge brick wall in their relationship because they have different views on life, and how they should handle it. In the book "The Joy Luck Club," by Amy Tan, a story is told of An-Mei Hus and her daughter Rose Hsu Jordan, who is going though a divorce. An- Mei wants her daughter, Rose, to try and save her marriage. But Rose knows it’s pointless to try and upon that she decides to learn to stick up for her self, get a lawyer, and fight her soon to be ex-husband for the house. The relationship between An-Mei Hsu and Rose Hsu Jordan shows that language is a brick wall, because they don’t understand why wants what they want. Rose doesn’t care to save her marriage; she only wants to get the house. When her mother, An-Mei, wants Rose to fight to save her marriage, because it’s the Chinese way, and how the only way to keep her honor among her family.
The complexitities of any mother-daughter relationship go much deeper then just their physical features that resemble one another. In Amy Tan’s novel The Joy Luck Club, the stories of eight Chinese women are told. Together this group of women forms four sets of mother and daughter pairs. The trials and triumphs, similarities and differences, of each relationship with their daughter are described, exposing the inner makings of four perfectly matched pairs. Three generations of the Hsu family illustrate how both characteristics and values get passed on through generations, even with the obstacles of different cultures and language.
Write an Essay (900-1200 words) in which you analyze and comment on Amy Chua’s article “Why Chinese Parents Are Superior”. Part of your essay must focus on how the writer engages the reader and on possible consequences of adopting Amy Chua’s values and methods of upbringing.
...ith Jing Mei and her mother, it is compounded by the fact that there are dual nationalities involved as well. Not only did the mother’s good intentions bring about failure and disappointment from Jing Mei, but rooted in her mother’s culture was the belief that children are to be obedient and give respect to their elders. "Only two kinds of daughters.....those who are obedient and those who follow their own mind!" (Tan1) is the comment made by her mother when Jing Mei refuses to continue with piano lessons. In the end, this story shows that not only is the mother-daughter relationship intricately complex but is made even more so with cultural and generational differences added to the mix.