Two Kinds by Amy Tan

Amy Tan makes her readers think about the meaning behind her story “Two Kinds”. She tells the story from her own point of view to state her experiences and how she is feeling all throughout the story. She does not state what is right or wrong based strict on her opinion. She does not give instruction about solving a family crisis, instead, she writes her story as a sort of diary expressing how she felt about her childhood events. Readers are offered an accounting of those events, as well as insight about how the author felt frustrated because she failed to meet her mother’s high expectations of her. This led to a strong argument between the narrator and her mother.

The author gives her readers a chance to interpret for themselves what the reason for the conflict might be by stating how the other people interact in the story. There are many people that can be considered to be “stuck up” in the story. For example, her piano teacher praises himself by comparing himself to “Beethoven” (Tan, 389). Every conversation in the story depicts a distinct characteristic which makes the narrator differ from other people. In example, there is a conversation between the narrator and her mother, and her mother is bad-mouthing a girl playing piano on TV who is similar in age to the author. At first, she quite carelessly questions her mother asking “What are you picking on her for? Maybe she’s not the best, but she’s trying hard” (Tan, 388). What she is actually doing is defending herself and indirectly saying that she feels uncomfortable with her mother’s disregard for her own hard work. Understandably, she would much rather get her mother’s compliments rather than her constant criticisms. Instead, her mother responds with “Just like you” and “No...

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...re only about herself, but for her daughter’s future (Tan, 392). The author’s intention is to give clues of her further understanding throughout the story so that it will not be felt as simple complaints about her mother.

The readers become sympathetic to the author by looking into her frustrations of continually falling short of her mother’s expectations, her resistance to being changed, and even the way she describes others. They can further understand the desire to be loved, which leads to her misbehaviour. This story suggests that both the mother and the daughter have their own strong standpoints, and will behave in the way which is most suited to her own beliefs.

Works Cited

Tan, Amy. “Two Kinds” Literature the Human Experience. Ed. Richard Abcarian, Marvin Klotz and Samuel Cohen. 11th ed. Boston: Bedford/St Martin’s, 2013. 386-394. Print.