Summary

Amy Tan’s story ​Two Kinds​ ​centres around the relationship and ongoing conflict over many
years between a Chinese immigrant Mother and her daughter, Jing-mei. The Mother had
experienced great tragedy in China, including the death of two young children, before moving to
San Francisco​. She believed in the American Dream that you could be or have anything you
wanted. Throughout the story, the Mother obsessively searches for that one thing that would
turn Jing-mei into a prodigy. As a child, she initially embraces her Mother’s desires and comes
to imagine her prodigy self - a self that would be adored by her parents and be beyond
reproach. They try many different activities in search of that one activity that will define her and
distinguish her as exceptional.

The Mother finally settles on piano for her daughter after watching an episode of the ​Ed Sullivan
Show​ on TV. Her Mother puts everything into pursuing the dream for her daughter, exchanging
house cleaning services for piano lessons and a piano. But Jing-mei begins to see her prodigy
self as someone she does not recognize, as a self that is unachievable. Her belief is that you
are born with innate talent and abilities. She starts to become defiant with her Mother, unwilling
to put any effort into practicing or honing her abilities. Jing-mei’s defiance with her Mother leads
her to fail, culminating in a terrible performance at a recital that becomes an embarrassment to
her Mother in front of her extended family and her Mother’s friends. The growing divide
between them reached its peak in a physical and verbal confrontation that led Jing-Mei to shout
that she wished she weren’t her Mother’s daughter and that she wished she were dead like the
young children her Mother had lost in China. The relationship changed - she and her Mother
stopped communicating. They never talked about the recital or the confrontation again. From
that point forward, Jing-mei continued to fail, allowing her to assert her will over her Mother’s
expectations. She eventually dropped out of college.

Shortly before her Mother’s death, her Mother gifted the piano to Jing-mei for her 30th birthday.
This was the start of Jing-mei understanding what her Mother had been trying to do all those
years when Jing-mei was young. Jing-mei started to understand that her Mother had wanted
the best for her and that her Mother always believed that anything was possible with hard work
and determination. She didn’t take the piano but everytime she saw it in her parents’ living
room, it made her feel proud. A few years later, after her Mother’s death, Jing-mei had the
piano tuned and reconditioned for sentimental reasons. She started to play and was surprised
how quickly it came back to her. She realized that she had been wrong and perhaps that she
had more potential than she realized if only she had been willing to try.
Two Kinds

 Two Kinds is a short story based on Amy Tan’s novel, ​The Joy Luck Club​, that was published in
1989. A theatrical release of a movie based on the novel occurred in 1993 and was received
with critical praise.

To find out more information about ​The Joy Luck Club,​ ​click here​.

 
San Francisco

Located in California on the Pacific Ocean approximately 380 miles north of Los Angeles, San
Francisco has one of the 20 largest metropolitan populations of cities in the United States. A
tourist hotspot, San Francisco is well known for the Golden Gate bridge, Alcatraz penitentiary,
FIsherman’s Wharf and its professional sports teams (baseball’s Giants and football’s 49ers).

To find out more about travel in San Francisco, ​click here​.