The story Two Kinds is about a Chinese girl, Jing-Mei, who lives life trying to find herself under her over-bearing mother’s envisions and high expectations of what she feels Jing-Mei should become. The subject of the mother-daughter dynamic and lack of obedience is revealed from the beginning of the story; as well as the fact their relationship is rather conflicted. Throughout the story Jing-Mei is very obstructive to the ideas her mom puts forth. Her constant acts of disobeying and rebelling against her mom orders, express how the tension arose between Jing-Mei and her mom. The fact her mom had an extremely difficult life in China until she lost everything and moved to America, explains and sort of justifies why she was so obsessed with Jing-Mei excelling and making something of her, life in addition to her desire of wanting to be able to brag. Unfortunately, rather than allowing Jing-Mei to find something she was comfortable with and make an independent decision of what she wanted in her life, she forced activities and ideas on her which eventually resulted in Jing-Mei becoming rebellious. As Jing-Mei became rebellious, her mom implemented her…
In the short story “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan, with the use of epiphany and turning points the reader is able to see the protagonist’s growth and change in personality throughout the story. The protagonist, Jing-Mei and her mother emigrated from China to the US, thus the family struggled in adapting to the new culture and lifestyle. Heavily influenced by the opportunities and hopes with a new life in US, Jing-Mei’s mother wanted Jing-Mei to become a prodigy like the other girls on television. Jing-Mei was determined and eager to prove to her mother she was a prodigy, and thereby had full confidence in herself. She believed “[her] mother and father would adore [her and she’d be] beyond reproach.” (pg4). As Jing-Mei’s mother quizzed Jing-Mei with countless questions and tests, Jing-Mei started getting frustrated by her mother’s disappointments and “something inside [her] began to die” (pg 5).…
1. What is Leah’s attitude to her Chinese identity as she travels to China? How do we know? (page 10)…
My sister and I were sitting and waiting. We were finally going to meet our baby sister. What if she did not like us? What if we did not like her?…
Author: Amy Tan First Published: 1989 Type of Plot: Vignette Time of Work: The late 1980's Setting: San Francisco Principal Characters: Jing-Mei “June” Woo, Suyuan Woo Genres: Social realism, Short fiction Subjects: North America or North Americans, United States or Americans, Mothers, Parents and children, 1980’s, California, West, U.S., Asia or Asians, San Francisco, Pacific Northwest, Asian Americans, China or Chinese people, Chinese Americans Locales: San Francisco, CA…
Like past immigrants who came from Germany, Ireland and other places around the world. Chinese people in America faced many challenges when migrating. They felt like outcasts. Some experiences for the Chinese were in racist encounters and the feeling the way that Nazli Kibra felt when she came to America. She had always thought of herself as an American when she thought of herself as “the American kid on the block,” (Source F) until she went to school and she felt outcast and that “Whites think they own the world and the rest of us are just here for them.” (Source F) They felt as though they did not fit in in America. For Kibra, the Americans that she noticed at her school were people who were “VERY white, very wealthy. These kids owned sports cars and went to Rio for the weekend.”…
Jing-mei, the main character, represent for her mother that had passed way. Jing-mei becomes the fourth member of the Joy Luck Club taking her mother place. The Joy Luck Club mothers feel that by giving their daughters American opportunities and independence they have aliened them from their Chinese culture. Jing-mei being there can help the daughters of the members who can’t speak up for themselves. This because she moves away to America then comes back to China to tell her mother’s…
Through the meeting with the half sisters, Jing- Mei finds her heritage and identity of who she really is. At first, she is amazed that her half sisters resemble her mother. The more she looked, the further the resemblance of the twins look to Jing-Mei. She sees a similarity in what she considers her Chinese part, until her father takes a picture and shows them the resemblance that all three of the girls looked like the mother. Finally, she realizes that what lies beneath their facial features, their flesh and blood, is what makes them all look so alike. This theme grasps its climax as the concluding image of the book. All three of her children share “her same eyes, her same mouth, open in surprise to see, at last, her long-cherished wish.” Which ties in the mothers meaning to her name “Long- Cherished Wish” has become factual.…
“ A Pair of Tickets” is about a women named June May who is traveling through her native country of China. I really enjoyed this story because I could relate to it in my own life experiences. After June May’s mom passes away she starts thinking about all the questions she wishes she had asked her about her life. Just like when any family members of mine passes away, I always think back and think about what type of questions could I have asked him or her before they passed away.…
Amy Tan’s “A Pair of Tickets” is the account of Jing-mei, an American woman on a pilgrimage to China to meet her half-sisters, abandoned by her mother in China during World War II. Jing-mei’s mother always hoped of reuniting with her daughters she left behind long ago, but she died of an aneurysm before the opportunity arose. Through chance, a friend of Jing-mei’s mother, still in China, spied the twins while shopping. The mother was already deceased, so with encouragement from her aunts, Jing-mei made the journey to China with her father to meet her long lost family. Ms. Tan’s story conveys the importance of finding one’s roots, Jing-mei’s Chinese heritage and family fifty years separated. In the beginning of the story, Jing-mei relates that she “vigorously denied that I had any Chinese whatsoever below my skin.” Her mother responds, “It is in your blood, waiting to be let go.” Additionally, Jing-mei dreads the reception she will receive from her half-sisters, thinking they will blame her for her mother’s death, reasoning that Jing-mei did not appreciate her mother while alive. By the conclusion of the story, Jing-mei exhibits Chinese traits she once loathed in her mother and is overcome with joy when a picture taken with her and her new found half-twin sisters shows that “Together we look like our mother…to see, at last, her long cherished wish.” Jing-mei successfully carried out her mother’s wishes, finding her Chinese heritage along the…
Being immersed in the American culture her entire life, Jing Mei believes that her Chinese heritage was only through her blood. Since the early age of 15, Jing Mei had denied her heritage. Mei states“…and all my Caucasian friends agreed: I was about as Chinese as they were. But my mother had studied at a famous nursing school in Shanghai and she said she knew all about genetics. So there was no doubt in her mind, whether I agreed or not: Once you are born Chinese, you cannot help but feel and think Chinese” (Tan 147). This statement highlights the fact that Jing felt like she was Americanized. She lived in a cultural home but felt as though she was connected to any of it. She believed herself to be a normal American child with just the physical features of a Chinese woman. In a way she resented it, Jing Mei describes this feeling like seeing “myself transforming like a werewolf, a mutant tag of DNA suddenly triggered, replicating itself insidiously into a syndrome, a cluster of telltale Chinese behaviors,” (147). The slight chance of becoming Chinese was a fear of hers. She viewed it as becoming a monster. Jing Mei was accustomed to the American…
In the short story "A Pair of Tickets," by judging from the title one might think that this is a simple story more about adventure than anything else. In “A Pair of Tickets” The author Amy Tan uses a symbols to help us understand the theme the story. Family and Culture are the most important topic in this story therefore; it gives us a better understanding of the story. As stated in the context of the story “Jing-mei is on a train to China, traveling with her seventy-two-year-old father, Canning Woo. As the train enters Shenzhen, China, Jing-mei begins to "feel Chinese." Their first stop will be Guangzhou. After her mother's death, a letter arrived from China from her mother's twin daughters from her first marriage. These were the two children whom she was forced to abandon on the side of the road On the hand, the internal conflict that the narrator faced while find her true identity is what helps to present the main theme of this story is ultimately love, the sacrifices that people make for love.…
Suyuan had to make the hard decision to leave her twin babies on the side of the road in hopes some kind stranger would take them in, that way she would not have to see them die. Suyuan searches for her babies all through her life in America, sending multitudes of letters; they finally get in touch with her two months after she has died. Because her mother is not alive to meet her children, Jing Mei takes her place and the trip enables her to finally recognize her Chinese ancestry. The minute she enters China she "feels different" and can realize that she is "becoming Chinese" (306). At fifteen Jing Mei believed she was only as Chinese as her "Caucasian friends" (306). Yet her mother counters thoughts, telling her: "Once you are born Chinese, you cannot help but feel and think Chinese" (306). Once in China Jing Mei decides her mother was right and she "has never really known what it meant to be Chinese" (307). She has never understood her mother or her heritage. This trip is the connecting link to understanding her life. She begins to feel natural in China, thinking to herself on the train: "I am in China It feels right" (312). Jing Mei sees the landscape, the people, the histories, and the families in China and sees where her mother was speaking from all of those years. She knows a "little percent" of her mother know (15). It becomes "obvious" to Jing Mei to see what "part of [her] is Chinese"; it is "in her family, in her blood"…
Isolation from others can cause individuals to feel lonely and torn. This isolation will cause them to feel outcast from the world while makes them work hard for what makes them happy. Gene Yang makes us feel this throughout the novel. In the beginning of American Born Chinese, Jin is on the playground when some kid comes up to him and makes stereotypical insults. “Come on. Let’s leave buck tooth alone so he can enjoy lassie” then the kids walk away smiling. (Yang 33). In this case, Yang uses stereotypical remarks to show that the kids didn’t like hanging out with Jin because of his race. This discrimination causes Jin to push away from the crowd, which only made Jin feel lonely. Whereas, the author of Linh Lai shows that race isn’t the only way to feel isolated from others.…
In the beginning of the story, Jing-Mei entertains the idea of changing herself because of her age. She imagines the different personas because finally her…