Point of View in Amy Tan’s Short Story, Two Kinds Essay -- Two Kinds, A

Point of View in Amy Tans Short Story, Two KindsIn her short allegory Two Kinds, Amy Tan utilizes the daughters register of view to share a mothers attempts to control her daughters hopes and dreams, providing a further understanding of how their relationship sours. The daughter has gr birth into a young woman and is telling the story of her coming of age in a family that had emigrated from China. In particular, she tells that her mothers attempted rise upal guidance was dominated by foolish hopes and dreams. This double perspective allows both the naivete of a young girl trying to identify herself and the hindsight and judgment of a mature woman. Two Kinds is a powerful example of differing personalities causing struggles between parent and child. In every parent-child relationship, there are occurrences in which the parent places expectations on the child. Some children fall dupe to a parent trying too unverbalized or placing expectations too high, or, in the case of Two Kinds, a parent trying to live her life through that of her child. However, the mother is also a victim in that she succumbs to her own foolish dream that you could be whateverthing you wanted to be in America. Knowing that her own time has passed, she wants her daughter to succeed by any means necessary, but she never stops to think of what her daughter might want. She strictly adheres to her plan, and her overbearing parenting only leaves the daughter with feelings of disapproval and questions of self-worth. The mother does not go through the controversy that she creates, and she cannot understand that her actions could be wrong. She also does not realize that she is hurting not only her daughter, but also the relationship that should bind the two of them ... ...by the wrong person. Only after the death of her mother can she let her guilt override her pride. Only after the death of her mother, when she can act on her own accord and not please her mother, does she truly play th e piano. Their conflict has gone unsolved, and the mother has died believing that she was a failure as a parent. Throughout the daughters childhood, both are trapped in their own selfish illusions. Their personalities clash, and neither is willing to compromise. It is unfortunate that neither can realize the extent to which they have damaged themselves individually and jointly. They are fundamentally the same, but, blinded by tenacity, neither realizes that they are two halves of the same song.Works CitedTan, Amy. Two Kinds. Literature, Reading Reacting,Writing. 5th ed. Ed. Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell. Boston Heinle, 2004.