"Two Kinds" by Amy Tan is a short story that focuses on the mother-daughter relationship. Jing Mei’s mother came from a poor background, and she did not want her daughter to go through what she did. As a result, she pressurized Mei to do well in school and become successful. This is the case with any other parent more especially mothers; all they want for their children is prosperity in future days to come. This is not to say that the bond between a mother and daughter is usually smooth. Parent-child relationship has been brought out clearly in these pieces of writing. The relationship brought out brings about the smooth aspect of the relationship as well as the conflict side of the relationship.
Despite feeling pity for Jing Mei’s mother for what she underwent through there is some resentment on how cruel she is to her daughter. She had hopes that Jing must excel since she was in America a place where she had an ample environment to do so (Qun). She makes us believe that in America anything you wished for could be achieved. This justifies why she was so strict in pushed her daughter. Partially it was all so that Mei can thrive and have the prosperity that she was never able to have in her life and childhood. Jing is never given the opportunity to live as per her free will. What her mother had pictured for her and demanded was based on ideologies from popular American magazines, movies and television.
Additionally, the mother being an immigrant and having had to work incredibly hard forced her into being harsh in an attempt to help her daughter (Natalie J. Friedman). This frustrated the little girl who was curious to explore on her own her identity and interests. In her younger years, Jing-Mei was just as determined and obstinate as her mother. But we are made to see how her character changes by her increasing resentment of her mother and her yearning to be herself.
Throughout the short of Jing-Mei and her mother, we are made to feel sympathy for the daughter and bitterness towards the mother. But this changes when Jing retaliated and said to her mother that she wished she was dead just like her other siblings. This is where we are shown that in the mother-daughter relationship the child will not always be the victim. All along Jing-Mei has no desire of cooperating with her mother. She rebels all that the mother says claiming that she was not her slave. It was only late after the death of her mother when she began to appreciate all that her mother wanted for her.
The main characters in "Two Kinds” are comparable in their resolute nature and stubbornness. Jing Mei's mother insisted on ways to mold her daughter into a genius for many motives. Mainly she wanted this for pride and also for Jing's benefit. But having different motives made them always collide and be resentful to each other. Most probably this would not have been the case if they would have understood each other and her mother was less strict on her (Mulyadi, Rahardjo, and Basuki 605).
In conclusion, the parent-child relationship does not necessarily have to be smooth always. When need is parents have to be strict and pressurize their kids in what they firmly believe will best suit them. Parents giving children so much freedom might result to them losing focus in life. Parent-child relationship should be considerate of what is to be achieved in the long run.
Works Cited
Mulyadi, Seto, Wahyu Rahardjo, and A.M. H. Basuki. "The Role of Parent-child Relationship, Self-esteem, Academic Self-efficacy to Academic Stress." Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 217 (2016): 603-608. Print.
Natalie J. Friedman. "Adultery and the Immigrant Narrative." MELUS: Multi-Ethnic Literature of the U.S 34.3 (2009): 71-91. Web. 31 July 2016.
Qun, Wang. Double Consciousness," Sociological Imagination, and the Asian American Experience 4 (1997): n. pag. Web. 31 July 2016.
