Conformity and Two Kinds

Amy Tan's Two Kinds is a story that, like some of her relationships in The Joy Luck Club, is concerned with the conflict and complexity within the relationship between mothers and daughters -- particularly those mothers who are first-generation immigrants, born in China before the Communist revolution and their American-born daughters who must choose which parts of traditional culture they will adhere to, and which they will reject in favor of their desire to conform to a new culture. In Two Kinds, the narrator is Jing-mei, who wishes with all her heart to be just a regular American "kid." Her mother, however, is overbearing and wants Jing-mei to become a musical prodigy so that she can compete with one of her friend's daughters. Jing-mei tells the store after two decades, but she still struggles in trying to understand her mother's viewpoint, motivations, and attitudes.

The idea...
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