Everybody no matter where they come from has hopes and dreams of becoming extraordinary, but how much are we willing to fight for our dreams? And are we doing it for ourselves or are we just doing it for others’ approval? This is a short story called ‘’Two Kinds’’ (1997) by writer Amy Tan dealing with a mother and daughter who have two different ideas of what succes is.

The short story is about a young Chinese immigrant girl called Jing-Mei who lives with her mother and father in the United States of America. The mother set voyage for America in the 1950’s after she had lost her family, her home and her first husband and children in China. She has hopes and dreams for herself and her daughter that the American dream surely will happen to them at some point. She wants her daughter to be a child prodigy while the daughter is trying to live up to her mother’s expectations. As I wrote earlier, the story takes place in the United States of America. Unlike her mother, Jing-Mei has lived her whole life in the U.S.A. Her mother did not have the same opportunities as Jing-Mei back in China, so she is frustrated that her daughter is not even trying to seize any of the many opportunities that she has got in her life, and that she is ignoring the fact that she can become anything, even a genius. She is sacrificing a lot for her daughter by cleaning for Mr. Wong and in return he will teach her daughter to play the piano. The only piano teacher she can afford is Mr. Chong who is deaf and retired, which shows that perhaps the money is a bit scarce and that she must have worked hard to get it.

The daughter is at first just as exited as her mother about accomplishing the American dream but that changes after she realises that she constantly disappoints her mother.
‘’And after seeing my mother's disappointed face once again, something inside of me began to die. I hated the tests, the raised hopes and failed expectations.’’ (p. 3, l. 18)
All her failures take a toll on her because no matter what she did to make her mother proud, she always seemed to fall short. This is the beginning of her defining who she is.
’’I had new thoughts, willful thoughts – or, rather, thoughts filled with lots of wont’s. I won't let her change me, I promised myself. I won't be what I'm not.’’ (p. 3, l. 28)
This quote shows a turning point; she will not try to accomplish the ‘’dream’’ she was trained to do. She begins to despise the fact that her mother could not accept her for who she was. Then, this caused her to become bitter and stubborn to not try her best any more, because what good did it do. She becomes her own person and realises that she does not need to be the person her mother wanted her to be.

She feels a great deal of regret of the hurtful remarks she had made at her mother, and years later her mother forgives her by offering her the piano.
‘’I had not played in all those years. I saw the offer as a sign of forgiveness, a tremendous burden removed. (…) "You pick up fast," my mother said, as if she knew this was certain. "You have natural talent. You could be a genius if you want to." "No, I couldn't." "You just not trying," my mother said.’’ (p. 8, l. 37)
This quote tells us that she realises what the piano had meant to her mother all along.
It was a symbol of the eternal hope and affection that her mother had always had for her, and in the end she sees the piano as a trophy, something she had fought to get, and she feels proud of the fact that her mother never gave up on her but always believed that she could be anything, even a genius.

The title of the short story “Two kinds” also refers to the theme.
Mother and daughter are very different and they both need to grow as individuals in the short story. The mother for example has experienced a lot of sorrow and tragedy, and is searching for a new start in the United States of America. She puts all her hopes and dreams on her daughter. Some of which may be hard to achieve. She needs to see that her daughter is her own person and that the she cannot outlive her dreams through her daughter. The daughter on the other hand has a lot of pressure from her mother to succeed, which later makes her turn into a rebel. She needs to undergo a search for her individuality. Defining who she is and not who her mom wants her to be.

Finally, the main purpose in this short story ‘’Two kinds’’ is as the title indicates the daughter’s search for her own individuality and the mother who needs to realise that she cannot live out her own dreams through her daughter. She needs to accept her daughter as whom she is.

‘’Two kinds’’ can relate to the fact that there is a huge pressure on children of immigrants. Some immigrants may have left all behind back at their homeland to assure that their children have more opportunities than what they had growing up.
The hopes and sacrifices, which parents frequently place on their daughters/sons, are sometimes too much for them to handle.