Emily Eguchi-Miller
English 1B 11:40-1:05
Elizabeth Carlyle
February 2, 2015 Reading Response 1: “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan
Many asian immigrants come to America because they believe it's the land of opportunity. Amy Tan's mother immigrated from China and is what you might call a Tiger Mom, who had very strict rules and ambitions for her child. In the short story “Two Kinds,” Amy discusses the complexity of generational and cultural identification by giving examples of the different aspirations between a mother and daughter. The mother was born in China and the daughter was born in America. The mother wants her daughter to be a famous child musical prodigy but the daughter is asserting her right to be ordinary and not meet her…show more content… Amy's mother begins to present a test each night from magazines she got from cleaning houses. She had ambitions for her daughter to be recognized of notable achievements. The mother remains influenced by the television shows that come on their TV at home. She was fascinated by The Ed Sullivan Show and the sound of the piano. Now she had an ambition for Amy to play the piano and thought this is something her daughter would try hard at. Amy however doesn't want any part of it. She decides to push back because she was feeling emotionally unfulfilled and a pawn in her mother's competition with Auntie Lindo. For example Amy yells to her mother, “You want me to be someone that I'm not! I'll never be the kind of daughter you want me to be!” I think Amy is realizing that she is tired of living this broken life dealing with her mothers unrealistic expectations. By speaking up and sharing her feelings of frustration, Amy only wants her mother to accept who she is. She can only be…show more content… Amy discusses the complexity of generational and cultural identification by giving examples of the different aspirations between a mother and daughter. Amy did not internalize her mothers goals because she had different aspirations. There was a cultural dissonance because Amy is Americanized and was exposed to American customs and values at a young age. This is why she felt the need to assert herself and not meet her mother's high expectations. Amy wanted to be independent and discovered a powerful feeling inside of her that didn't allow her mother to change who she was. At the end of the story Amy Tan says, “I never found a way to ask her why she had hope for something so large that failure was inevitable” (247). It seems Amy had regret that she didn't try to understand where her mother was coming from. However, it was hard having a mother who was born in China and didn't share the same living