Hidden Obsession

“Two kinds” is a part of the story from novel “The Joy Luck Club” and it was written by Amy Tan, she is a Chinese American author. From this novel, she draws Chinese American immigrant families in San Francisco. She images of how the Chinese American lives, especially about women and their daughters. Here we can see their dreams, and how they build the dream come true and it is about their life in America. One of the interesting things is the story about mother’s obsession. Suyuan Woo is a mother who has a passion; she considers her daughter becomes success prodigy. 

 Suyuan Woo describes a mother who has a stance on her thought in order to make her daughter to be child prodigy. She wants the daughter to be a pianist, and tend to shape the daughter to be a pianist. Nevertheless, the daughter said that she does not want to be a pianist, but the mother keeps forcing and asks the daughter to take a course. Her idea came after watching TV, and she images her child as a star. Finally, the mother sends her to get Piano course but Jing Mei gets objection, because she does not want to be a pianist and as the result, she is lazy to practice Piano. One day, she made a fool when she performed her first recital, and the mother feels disappointed. Refusal and dispute happens, the mother keep insisting to be a pianist but the daughter does not want it. The story portrays that the mother has very high expectation to the daughter. This story shows that the mother does not realize what she did. She forces her wishes.

  Besides talking about the mother wishes, “Two Kinds” represents the American Dream. Here, the mother believes and she said, “You can do anything you want to do in America and you can make your dream come true”. That is why mother asks to prove them. Mostly, immigrant parents are willing to sacrifice everything. It is including family, career, and property to pursue the dream or a new life in America. Relating to the story, a mother who is a Chinese immigrant tends to transform her ambition to the daughter. Jing Mei is a rebellious child, she catches two cultures as an American and as a Chinese decent. As an American, she is influenced by the American society, which can determine the aspirations, but as a Chinese, she has to follow the family rules. Contradiction and dilemma ties her. Jing Mei feels that she has a right to choose her dream, but the opposite; she has to listen to her mother. She cannot explore her wishes.  

“Two kinds” emphasize two major characters; Mother (antagonist) and Daughter (protagonist). Two major characters are contradiction with the hopes. As the literary works, the author shows the value of life and takes one symbol at the end of the story. The author conveys the value about children’ right and we can conclude how to learn to be a mother, and the piano is the gift to the daughter, which is a symbol of mother’s wish. 

The story is interesting, and the author takes the reader’s emotion when the mother slapped the daughter. She said that she never has intention to force but she wants Jing Mei to do her best, at that time Jing Mei was crying because she felt under pressure. One day, Jing Mei declared herself that she does not want to do what mother said anymore. Here, we can see from the physiology aspects. First point, Jing Mei is willing to do the piano course in which to fill mother’s urge. At the rest, she cannot do her best. She feels her mother obliges her. We know that something to be forced is not good, at the end; this cannot be taken as a maximum result. Second point, Mother has dreams on her child, but she does not want to see deeply and how to encounter the feeling well. She does not know how to persuade her daughter well. Mother’s character is a dominant and as a decisive person.    

This story reflects the relation between mother and daughter. Parents can muse to the reality of life so that parents cannot force the wishes to the children. Parents guide the children and let the children find the goals and dreams. Realizing or not, sometimes parents forget about that. Most of the parents demand their children. They do not think about abilities and competence, which develops as a natural gift. Many parents dominate the decision without asking or discussing first. Of course, it is not good because parents have to contemplate their wishes. After reading this story, we can mark and learn how to be a wise mother. Besides, the story can be an example of how to raise the children without neglecting the children’ dream. Remember, Children are human also, even though they look innocent but they have a right to be independent persons. They also have a right to choose their life and let them create the ideas. Parents should help to develop their dream.