...An Essay about ‘Two Kinds’ by Amy Tan The short story ‘Two Kinds’ was written by Amy Tan and published. It’s about a woman from China who immigrated to America with great success, and therefore has big expectation of her daughter. Tan herself is also the daughter of a couple who emigrated from China which explains why she writes about this topic. The narrator is first-person which gives the impression that Tan is telling her story. The story is set in Chinatown, America during the late 1950’s. Amy Tan doesn’t tell us a lot about the setting other than the narrator lives with her mother and father in an apartment. They don’t have a lot of money. The mother works as a cleaning lady, and earns her money from cleaning people’s houses. It also shows how little money the family has that the mother has to clean a blind retired piano teacher’s apartment in order for her daughter to get piano lessons. Even though they don’t have a lot of money they seem to be quite happy with their situation. This may be because the mom came from China where she lost everything because of the war, so the little they have is still a lot more then what she would have in China. Most of the story takes place on the floor of the apartment they live in, either in their own or else in the apartment of the protagonist’s piano teacher Mr Chung. The narrator is a girl. She has short hair, because her mom thought it would help her get to be a famous child actress. She’s properly in her teenage years, because...
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...“Two Kinds”, By Amy Tan In “Two Kinds” (Tan, 206) Suyuan; mother, and June Mei; daughter are mother and daughter who struggle to find a common ground on many things. Suyuan is a Chinese immigrant from China. Suyuan arrived in America after losing everything. This includes, “mother, father, family home, first husband, and two twin daughters”. (Tan, 206) Even after all that was lost, she knew her decision to go to America was the right one. She now has a new life, a new husband, and a new daughter; June Mei. Suyuan has high expectations of her daughter. She had such a fascination with young white girls in film that she would try and force that image onto her daughter. Unfortunately, the results left her daughter looking like a “Negro Chinese” (Tan, 206) With all of the emulating forced on her daughter; the strive to be exceptional, June Mei didn’t want to be that. She just wanted to be normal. When her mother put her in piano classes, June did her best to not be good at it. June Mei didn’t want to be genius. She felt that her mother didn’t like her the way she was. Suyuan became so angry that she slapped June Mei. She accused her daughter of being ungrateful. I don’t think June Mei understood all that was sacrificed by her mother so that she could live a live with plenty of opportunity. “Two Kinds” for Suyuan meant, “Two kinds of daughters’, she said, “Those who are obedient, and those who follow their own mind”. (Tan, 211) Suyuan only wanted one kind of...
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...Two Kinds By Amy Tan I was born in Korea and was raised in a Korean family. Korean society has been developing rapidly compared to other countries that have gone through war. Korean people assume that the education is the key that led the society to develop rapidly. My parents never had an opportunity to have a dream and have a greater education. Both of my parents only graduated high school since their parents believed making money by learning technical skills was more important. Paying money to receive higher education was a waste of money. Back then making money was more important since Korea was a very poor country. But now a lot of things have changed. Now the society thinks that Education is the key to success. While seeing how Tan’s mother talk to Amy Tan it reminded me of my mother a lot. My mother always said that if you try hard enough you would be able to be who ever you want. Since my mother never had the opportunity to dream she started to brainwash me by giving me ideas of what type of job I should get when I grow up. In the end she concluded that I should be a doctor. Since in Korea that is one of the most stable and respected job. So she started to find private tutors for math, history etc… so that I would be on top of my class. But I would always be against her since I knew that I don’t like studying deep inside of my heart. I knew that I could never follow my mother’s expectation. It was her dream of me being a doctor not mine. I was never interested in...
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...Two Kinds The story “Two Kinds” is written by Amy Tan. The story comes from a collection of short stories called “The Joy Luck Club” with was published the year 1989. The text questions whether a mother should press her child to be something big or whether the child should do the things it wants to do. The story takes place in the United States of America in the 1950s. The perspective in the story is seen from a first person narrator. The family is working class because they cannot afford a piano but they have a TV that not a thing everyone had in the 1950s. The narrator of the text is a girl named Ni Kan. She is nine years old in the start of the text. Her family comes from China but she lives in the USA with her mother and stepfather. In the start of the text Ni Kan´s relationship to her mother is fine because she agrees with her mother. She wants to be famous like her mother wants her to be. She tries a lot of different things like being ballerina girl or an actor. And at the night the mother asks a lot of question to Ni Kan. But one day Ni Kan, has had enough of it and do not want to do those things anymore and thus defy her mother's will. Form that day on the relationship to her mother gets bad. The relationship becomes even worse because Ni Kan still don’t wants to do the stuff her mother wants so her mother force her to play the piano and one day she had to play a concert. The concert when really badly and her mother was very disappointed over Ni Kan. The next...
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...“Two Kinds” by Amy Tan Parents in a perfect world want what is best for their children, and sometimes it can appear selfish as it did in the beginning of “Two Kinds”. Jing Mei’s mother only wanted to push Jing Mei to succeed only because she didn’t want her to have to go through all she had been through in her early years. “America was where all my mother's hopes lay” suggested her mother has already lost everything and was desperately hoping to create a better life in America for Jing Mei. Throughout the story Jing Mei’s mother pushed Jing Mei to be the best she can be and explained to her that there are only two kinds of daughters, “Those who are obedient and those who follow their own mind.” In the first part of the story, Jing Mei’s mother pushes her to become a child prodigy, a genius and famous. Jing Mei has internal conflicts with herself because she only wants to be herself. What she doesn’t realize is she can be herself while becoming the things her mother is trying to push her to be. Since Jing Mei’s mother doesn’t yet know that Jing Mei will soon start to rebel, her mother seems to push harder and harder. With Jing Mei’s mother desperately trying to live up to the “American Dream”, she buys Jing Mei a piano. The piano plays a substantial role in the story. It seems as if the piano represents what her mother wants for Jing Mei. However, Jing Mei does not want these things for herself. Some may think that the mother is trying to live her life through Jing Mei,...
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...Mekhaiel 1 NAME: Mina Mekhaiel Date: Feb 12/2015 Essay 3 Are the story’s ideas and messages still relevant today? Mostly, immigrant people move to the United States with their cultures, and they still intend to apply those cultures on their children; however, there is a problem here that those immigrant people don’t realize. Most of the time, either their children come with them when they are young, or they get to be born in the states, but the parents don’t realize that the time, the place, the environment, and the culture are different, and they can hardly enforce it on their children. In this story, which was in 1960, the narrator, Jing-Mei stood up to her mother and tried not to follow her mother’s will to make her a prodigy, so she could compete with one of her friend’s daughter. Very important questions here, Are those ideas and thoughts still can be applied nowadays, and what are the children’s actions against those ideas? What is the influence of those ideas on the children’s lives? First of all, is it a fact that those ideas and thoughts can still be enforced these days? The way that the mother grew up in her country, which was china, was totally different from the way that children grew up in America. She thought that she could make her daughter a prodigy in any matter. “Of course, you can be a prodigy, too” (1), the mother said. She tried to make her daughter be like people on the TV programs, when they sing a song, dance in fantastic way, or do some unbelievable...
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...A. The main character in “Two Kinds” is a little Chinese-American girl, who has been battling constantly with her mother over her identity. The struggle between mother and daughter begins when they move from China to America. Most of the time is spend with watching Shirley Temple movies and reading stories in magazine about perfect children. To success with making succeed in making their girl a prodigy they even cut her hair, to make her look like a famous star. One night the mother is watching a show on Ed Sullivan a show with Ed Sullivan with a little Chinese girl playing the piano. That’s when the mothers mother’s ambitions start to grow. She arranges piano lessons but the girl lies and takes advantage of the fact that her piano teacher is deaf. In the meantime her mother does not know about her lack of participation. Unfortunately her mother enrolled her for a piano show. It started out fine, but because of her being unpracticed she embarrasses herself and her family. Even though this happened, her mother insists on continuing the piano lessons only this time the wants to see results. The girl does absolutely not want to play the piano and she goes as far as saying she is not her mother’s daughter. The harsh statement makes the piano discussion go away. But then at the main characters character’s thirtieth birthday, her mother tries to give her the piano back as a peace offering. It works and they forgive each other, even though she is still unable to fulfill for...
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...Analysis and interpretation of “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan Most parents wish their children the best. That can be through spoiling the child materialistic, but it can also be seen, as they want their children to unfold their wings and become the greatest among basically everyone. From time to time it can even occur, that they want more than that as they choose to live out their own dreams through their children. The latter is what the text ”Two Kinds” by Amy Tan deals with. The short story Two Kinds is a text written with a first-person narrator. The agonist in the text is a girl named Jing-Mei. Both of her parents are from china, but they now live in America, where Jing-Mei is born. As the story moves on, we follow Jing-Mei, and how her parents, mostly her mother, have always had extremely high expectations to her. We see, that she enjoys this in the beginning: “In fact, in the beginning, I was just as excited as my mother, maybe even more so. I pictured this prodigy part of me as many different images, trying each one on for size.”(P. 107, L. 22-24). What we also can draw out of this quote, is the aforementioned expectations from her mother, as we hear that the mother is excited for her daughter perhaps being a prodigy. Following Jing-Mei further, we see that she goes through a development. Every night after dinner her mother gives her some tests, in hope of her daughter becoming a prodigy – and as time goes on, she grows tired of these tests. Ultimately this results in her disappointing...
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...Two Kinds of Entrepreneurs Alia Dangerfield BA540 Managerial Economics Dr. Jonathan Green May 8, 2013 Two Kinds of Entrepreneurs In today’s market economy I believe the scenario of lower interest rates and more capital is important today. I choose scenario number three because when interest rates are low people tend to borrow money. “When interest rates are low, capital is easier to acquire. This can spur economic development because, human nature being what it is, the more cash you have available, the more you are likely to pay for something you want – whether it is a car or that new plasma screen television” (Kennon, J., Internet). On the other hand lowering interest rates can cause an additional devaluation of the dollar. Not to mention, lowering interest rates may not actually help increase spending if confidence is low (e.g. the falling of house prices). A market economy of lower interest rates and more capital is more conducive toward economic growth and that is why I choose scenario number three. Socialist and communist economists argued that a total government controlled and planned economy would take satisfaction in a more rapid economic growth than a capitalist economy, mainly basing their case on the idea that an intended economy would maintain a steadier and higher rate of investment, free of the broken slowdowns of investments caused by periodic financial crises in the capitalist business cycle. It was also understood that a more democratic socialist...
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...Two Kinds of Righteousness Two Kinds of Righteousness is a sermon that Luther prepared in 1519, in which he discussed two different types of righteousness a person could have. First, there was the “alien righteousness”. This righteousness is given to you at birth and when you accept Christ as your Lord and savior and have been baptized; you believe that Jesus died on the cross for your sins and you believe that Christ lives in you. With these actions, it is said that you become as righteous as he and are covered by God’s grace. Faith is what drives this righteousness. The “alien righteousness” requires no work but is given to us, we have to nurture this faith and grow it through God’s word and carry it with us through life and abide by it through our everyday actions. We have choices and are expected to always make the godly choice because of our “alien righteousness”. Luther said that when our faith and knowledge in Christ grows our “alien righteousness” grows and is perfected at death. The second kind of righteousness is “proper righteousness”. This righteousness is judged by our works and how we treat our neighbor on a daily basis. Luther states that with “proper righteousness” it’s not at all about you, in fact, you hate yourself and love your neighbor. According to “proper righteousness,” you should not be jealous of your neighbor and their possessions or success. You should be happy for your neighbors and serve those that are less fortunate than you. “Proper righteousness”...
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...Respone to “Two Kinds” I found Amy Tan’s short story “Two Kinds” to be an emotional and touching story. It centers on the idea figuring out what is best for someone else. This is often a major conflict between parents and their children. Initially, I thought that it would be about a parent trying to exploit their child, which it was, but I felt so sympathetic for it. Then I came to know that the mother of the main character has lost some close family members and their family home in China. With a past like that, which parent wouldn’t want the best for their child? However, the more I read the story, the less sympathetic I felt for the mother and the more I started feeling for the daughter. She made her daughter try to play the piano, which I don’t have problem with, but even though she played badly in the talent show, her mother shouldn’t be disappointed. Afterwards, I found out what the title of the story meant when the daughter and her mother got into an argument about her not wanting to replay the piano. The mother claims that there are only two kinds of daughters, those who are obedient and those who are not. Even though the daughter seemed disobedient when refusing to play the piano again, I still felt sympathetic towards her as I can relate myself with the girl. I was forced to study in medical school for six years even though I never wanted to be a doctor. I personally think that it’s wrong to exploit the children to better their life. The mother of this story...
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...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...
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...currently know. I love to also network with people I meet out in public like stores or even restaurants, people are usually pretty easy to talk to about just anything and one conversation can lead to a full on introduction and sometimes a job offer if you play your cards right. I currently network with people at my work that I have not met yet and usually broaden it there by going out later and having lunch or drinks with them and people they know or their families. When I do this I expose myself to a lot of new people and different kinds of fields that are out there, and once I make them see how good of a person I am and that I am skilled at what I do usually they try to be helpful and tell you what’s available if there are opportunities. I recently changed jobs and asked two supervisors to write a letter of recommendation for me, this turned out to be a great addition to my portfolio and that it shows how much my employers enjoy my work. When I have this kind of...
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...When i heard about the assignment, i couldnt believe that it was actually true. i thought that my friend was just joking and laughed so hard of how crazy an assignment like that was. Apparently, she was really telling the truth and from that moment, i kind of froze. i asked her what we should do. i felt really scared about the assignment and i dont know how i would do it alone. when im done asking questions about it to my classmates, i keep on complaining about it for every person i met, to my classmates in finance, to the people who are done in socio 111 , to those people who have the knowledge or experienced in buying this thing, and most especially to my mom and dad. i was telling them what and how should i do it without feeling awkward and is it allowed for us young people to buy this kind of things? and ofcourse i know the answer was yes, but i was just really over reacting that time that if only i could pay someone to buy for me, then i will do it. well, they kinda gave advices but all were just forgotten because at the end of the conversation, i should do it alone, to make the activity succesful and meaningful. tuesday, october 8, 2013, was the day that i had the courage to get the assignment done. so, at around 8 in the evening, i went to the convenience store to buy a condom. i was very uneasy during that moment. i had mixed emotions. i was shaking, i was very tired because it was already late, and still i have a lot to do at home. assignments, quizzes, examinations...
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...PL/SQL Chapter 3 Solutions Review Questions 1. C 2. D 3. B 4. A 5. C 6. C 7. A, C 8. A 9. A 10. A 11. Variables are named memory areas that hold values to allow retrieval and manipulation of values within our programs 12. A SELECT statement within a PL/SQL block must include an INTO clause to indicate the variable/s that will hold the data being retrieved. The INTO clause follows the SELECT clause and precedes the FROM clause. In addition, a SELECT statement that returns no rows will raise an Oracle error. 13. The %TYPE attribute is used to declare the data type of a variable based on the data type of a database table column. The data type declaration must include the table and column name in the form: tablename.columnname%TYPE. 14. The %ROWTYPE attribute is used to declare the data type of a record variable based on the row structure of a table. The data type declaration must include the table name in the form: tablename%ROWTYPE. 15. Composite data types allow the creation of a variable that can hold multiple values with various data types as a single unit. Examples include a record and a table of records. Advanced Review Questions 1. B 2. C 3. D 4. A 5. B Hands-On Assignments Assignment 3-1 VARIABLE g_basket NUMBER BEGIN :g_basket := 3; END; / DECLARE lv_ship_date bb_basketstatus.dtstage%TYPE; lv_shipper_txt bb_basketstatus.shipper%TYPE; lv_ship_num bb_basketstatus.shippingnum%TYPE; BEGIN SELECT dtstage...
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