A Mothers Dream for her Daughter in Amy Tans Two Kinds Essay

A Mothers Dream for her Daughter in Amy Tans cardinal KindsAmy Tans short story, Two Kinds begins with a brief introduction to one mothers adaptation of the American dream. The Chinese mother who lost her family in her native motherland now hopes to recapture part of her loss through her daughter. Those of us who ar parents demand what is best for our children. We strive to make our childrens futures better. In some cases, when our admit dreams have either been destroyed or not realized, we project our dreams and wishes on our children. In Two Kinds, Amy Tan tells of such a story through the eye of a young girl who initially mimics her mothers dreams but lastly rebels against them. Tans use of a common theme that most parents can fix to expresses the frustrations that parents and children feel when obsession takes the place of nurturing.In the beginning the young girl, Ni Kan is just as excited as her mother about the opinion of fit a prodigy (528). She imagines herself in d ifferent roles and believes that once she has achieved her side as a prodigy, her mother and father testament adore her and she will become perfect (528). Ni Kan may feel that she will not be loved completely by her parents if she does not achieve the status her mother has set for her. It is natural for any young child to want to please a parent that has taken special interest in them. Ni Kan feels that her prodigy side is saying to her, If you dont hurry up and blend me out of here, Im disappearing for good (528). This may indicate that Ni Kan is becoming impatient about becoming a prodigy and she fears that if it does not materialise soon she will always be nothing in her mothers eyes (528). Tan reinforces this feeling in the story... ...aughter. In the story, Ni Kan stated that, It was comme il faut that she had offered it to me and that it had made her feel proud, as if it were a trophy I had win back (535). The author also seems to use a piece of medicine to reflect how Ni Kan has felt about the conflict with her mother. After the wipeout of her mother, Ni Kan looks through the music at the piano. She finds two pieces of music opposition each other in the book. The first piece is Pleading baby bird and the second is Perfectly contented. These two titles suggest the emotions of Ni Kan as a child and her emotions now as an adult. These emotions are symbolically brought unitedly when Ni Kan realizes they were two halves of the same song (535).Works CitedTan, Amy. Two Kinds. Literature, tuition Reacting,Writing. 5th ed. Ed. Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell. Boston Heinle, 2004. 527-535.