Research Paper on:
Amy Tan's Short Story 'Two Kinds'

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
novel The Joy Luck Club. In this work, Chinese-born mothers and their American-born daughters struggle to comprehend each other (Souris 99). Another persistent thematic concern that pervades the book is  the quest for identity (Hamilton 125). "Two Kinds" features American-born daughter Jing-meis struggle for identity against the hopes and dreams of her Chinese-born mother. Tan quickly sets the  story of Jing-mei against the background of her mothers life in China, as Jing-mei informs the reader that her mother came to the US after losing everything in China  in the late 1940s. She lost "her mother and father, her family home, her first husband, and two daughters, twin baby girls" (Tan 53). However, her mother never looked back  because of her upbringing and her steadfast belief in the American Dream. Held back by Chinese tradition, never allowed to pursue any of her own dreams -- whatever they may  have been -- Jing-meis mother saw in America a promise that if a person tried hard, anything could be accomplished. Therefore, Jing-meis mother saw it as her duty to  lead her daughter towards becoming an American success, which, in this case, her mother interpreted as being a child prodigy. Jing-mei tells the reader that "we didnt immediately  pick the right kind of prodigy" (Tan 53). Her mother tried different roles on Jing-mei to see which would fit. At first, she tried to make her little girl over  into a Chinese "Shirley Temple." However, each time her mother tested her and Jing-mei saw the disappointment in her mothers eyes, she states that "something inside...began to die" (Tan 54).  She began to hate the dream, with its nightly tests, raised hopes and disappointment. Jing-mei tells of looking in the mirror and realizing that hers would always be an "ordinary