The short stories, Two Kinds by Amy Tan and Powder by Tobias Wolff, seem to be autobiographical accounts of their childhood memories—Tan of her strict mother and Wolff of his estranged father. While the stories may contain some true elements from their youth, these stories are still fiction and seem to contain a lot of wishful thinking on the part of the authors, a wish that somehow things could have been better. As an adult, one can view his or her childhood past in better—and perhaps more grateful—perspective. On cannot be who he or she is without his or her experience in the past. In hindsight, good or bad, almost any childhood experience is something to be thankful for. Parents—although sometimes harsh—have different ways of expressing their love for their children; only in hindsight and with wisdom does one realize this.
Two Kinds is the story of the lead character and her relationship with her mother. The mother is a hard-driving, Chinese woman who was pushing her daughter to the limits. The events the story focused on seem to make the mother in the story may seem unrelenting. “‘Who ask you to be genius?’ she shouted. ‘Only ask you be your best. For your sake.’” . Obviously, while stern, the mother meant well for her daughter. This seems to be the way that the mother expresses her love for her daughter. Unfortunately, the daughter resents her mother in the specific incidents narrated in the story. Also, from the perspective of the Chinese, the mother’s behavior seems to be a matter of culture, common among the Chinese. The story is very similar to the book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua. “In Chinese culture, it just wouldn’t occur to children to question, disobey, or talk back to their parents” . The chief difference is that the book is non-fiction and written from the perspective of the mother ; Two Kinds is written from the perspective of the daughter . Chua also adds, “The Chinese believe that the best way to protect their children is by preparing them for the future”
Given the Chinese way of rearing children, the mother’s behavior is an expression of love. The daughter seems to understand this well. She reciprocates by obeying if she feels resentful or like rebelling.
Similarly, Powder is the story of a father’s love for his son and how the son feels and realizes this love. It is the story of a young boy whose parents are separated. Even in their few moments together, the son feels bored and agitated. He does not understand his father until the end of the story.
Both the mother in Two Kinds and the father in Powder were hard-driving individuals, pushing people to the limits. However, in Two Kinds, the mother was pushing her daughter really hard to do well. When the daughter did not succeed according to her expectations, she gave her sound advice. The daughter need not become a genius only to be the best she could be. In comparison, in Powder, the father was pushing himself to succeed and merely had his son watching him. He took a very big risk in driving through the snow. As he explains to the child, one should only take such risk if he knows what he is doing or is very skilled at the task.
Both the daughter in Two Kinds and the son in Powder associate their pleasant memories of their past to an image or symbol. In Two Kinds, it is the “two kinds” of musical pieces (Tan); in Powder, it is the “powder”-like quality of the snow. Both symbols or images remind the characters of the pleasant side of their childhood experiences.
The musical pieces say much about the daughter’s mother: The mother was right after all. She only wanted the best for her daughter. The daughter would not have succeeded in her own right or way had not the mother been as strict. “‘Pleading Child’ was shorter but slower; ‘Perfectly Contented’ was longer but faster. And after I had played them both a few times, I realized they were two halves of the same song” .
Meanwhile, powder became an insight into what or who the father really was. His actions may seem irresponsible, but he was actually imparting some important lessons or messages to the boy. “My father in his fortyeighth year, rumpled, kind, bankrupt of honor, flushed with certainty” . He loves the boy very much and whatever risk he would take would be very calculated. “He was a great driver. All persuasion, no coercion. Such subtlety at the wheel, such tactful pedalwork. I actually trusted him” .
Written from the first person perspective, the two short stories seem like fictionalized autobiography. However, a review of the biographies of Amy Tan and Tobias Wolff indicate otherwise, especially with regard to that of Wolff who seems not to have seen his father again after his parents separated. “When Tobias was four years old his parents divorced. His older brother, Geoffrey, moved with his father to the state of Washington, and Tobias moved with his mother to Florida” .
The parents in the two stories seem to be in stark contrast to each other. The mother seems to be overly protective; the father seems to be irresponsible to be putting his son at risk. At the same time, the two parents are similar in that they love their children and are both very hard-driven. The mother want to drive her daughter to success; the father wants to drive himself to the limits in matters of particular interest to himself.
The daughter and the son in the two stories reciprocate their parents in similar ways: They remain obedient. The daughter may occasionally rebel and answer back but eventually obeys although in a half-hearted way. The son remains quiet and uncomplaining although he already wants to go home in the story. They seem to have only a shallow understanding of their parents love for them that they realize clearly when they grew older. They are able to appreciate their parents better in later years.
In hindsight and with more wisdom, the past can look better. Parents’ actions can have greater meaning.
Works Cited
Advameg Inc. Amy Tan Biography. n.d. 17 October 2013. <http://www.notablebiographies.com/St-Tr/Tan-Amy.html>.
Chua, Amy. Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. New York: Penguin Press, 2011. Print.
Pennsylvania State University. 2007. 17 October 2013. <http://pabook.libraries.psu.edu/palitmap/bios/Wolff__Tobias.html>.
Tan, Amy. Two Kinds. 1989. PDF. 17 October 2013. <https://olsen-classpage.wikispaces.com/file/view/TwoKindsfulltext.pdf>.
Wolff, Tobias. Powder. 1996. PDF. 17 October 2013. <http://rwwsoundings.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Three-Stories-by-Tobias-Wolff.pdf>.
