Unfulfilled Dreams in Amy Tan’s Two Kinds Essay - 797 Words

The short story â€Å"Two Kinds† written by Amy Tan is about conflict between a mother and daughter. A mother tries to live her life through her daughter and her daughter rebels. The prominent theme of this short story would seem to be unfulfilled dreams†. After losing everything in China, the mother of Jing Mei comes to America with the dream that Jing Mei will have it all: fame, fortune, and most of all success unlike herself. Little does she know, her dream will be short-lived. All Parents have dreams for their children. A lot of parents want their children to succeed in life and push them to do so. Some parents want their children to be just like them, but most of the time parents push their children to do things that they were never†¦show more content†¦Jing Mei’s mother is desperate to find a skill her daughter can succeed in. It is hard to let our children to choose their own dreams. When parents show constant disappointment in their children, children can eventually become disappointed in themselves. Seeing her mothers disappointment over and over again starts killing something inside of her. Jing Mei breaks down, â€Å"I looked at my reflection, blinking so I could see more clearly. The girls staring back at me was angry, powerful. This girl and I were the same. I had thoughts, willful thoughts, or rather thoughts filled with wont’s. I won’t let her change me, I promised myself. I won’t be what I’m notâ€Å" (19). Hopes for making your parents proud can shatter after so much pressure as did Jing Mei’s. Pulling a child off the path of their dream can cause them to rebel. Rebellious children can be almost impossible to deal with. Jing Mei’s mother decides Jing Mei will take piano lessons and makes arrangements with a retired piano teacher named Mr. Chong exchanging housecleaning services for weekly lessons. Jing Mei shows a lot of anger when her mother tells her of the lessons. â€Å"Why don’t you like me the way I am? I’m Not a genius! I can’t play the piano. And even if I could, I wouldn’t go on TV is you paid me a million dollars!† (32) Jing Mei takes the lessons and after a year of daydreaming during practice