z In the short story: Two Kinds by Amy Tan, Jing-Mei is a young, immature, and rebellious

Asian-American girl who desperately wants to be a prodigy and find her true identity. In the
beginning, the character decides to be a prodigy, an idea encouraged by her mother, who tries to
help her become one. Jing-Mei was just as excited as her mother, maybe even more so, because
parental approval and fame are what she wants. "In all my imaginings I was filled with a sense
that I would soon become perfect. My mother and father would adore me." (Tan, 10) The
character is different from typical children. For example, her mother moved from China after
losing everything there, and her mother also has unrealistic expectations of her. "Soon after my
mother got this idea about Shirley Temple, she took me to the beauty training school in the
Mission District and put me in the hands of a student who could barely hold the scissors without
shaking." (Tan, 6) Suyuan(the mother), who continuously tries to make her daughter a prodigy,
begins to give up hope. Jing-Mei rebels against her mother after the disappointment one night,
but her mother doesn't understand and keeps trying to make her do her best. Her mother then gets
an idea of a pianist, as she had been impressed by a young girl that played the piano and had a
striking resemblance to Jing-Mei. The mother "sends her to hell" by scheduling piano lessons.
Jing-Mei then starts rebelling pretty roughly from here. "When my mother told me this, I felt as
though I had been sent to hell. I whined, and then kicked my foot a little when I couldn't stand it
anymore." (Tan, 29) After Jing-Mei plays the piano horribly at a recital as a repercussion of her
careless practicing, her mother continues to make her play piano, and this is where the story
reaches its climax. "I wish I'd never been born! I wish I were dead! Like them." (Tan, 75) After
these sentences, emotional damage damaged her mother too much, and she will always be
disappointed with her daughter. At the end of the story, both the daughter and the mother had
signs of forgiveness. The mother gave the piano back to her, and

Jing-Mei packed her things lovingly. Both characters forgive and are content at the end of the
story.