literary devices in "two Kinds"
Case Thompson August 24, 2012
Setting
The story is located in China Town in San Francisco. This story is set in the late 1950 and the early 1960.
Characters
The main character in this story is Jing-mie. she is a young girl who is presured by her mother to be something great. The protaganist in the story is Jing-meis mom. Her mom wants her daughter to become a prodigy. another character is Mr. Chung who is Amy Jing-meis piano teacher.
Plot
This story is about a mom who wants her daughter to be a genious. The mother pushes her from when she is really young. Jing-mei begins to not try with what her mom wants her to do. At one point she tells her mom she wont do what she wants. After that incident her mom does not push her and gives up trying to make her something she wasnt. In the end she asked her if she wanted the piano that she had when she was a kid that caused the arguement. she took this as a sign of forgivness.
internal conflict
the internal conflict in this story is between jing-mei and her self. she has the conflict of not knowing her true identity. she doesnt know her identity because she has to try to be what her mother wants her to be and never can be herself.
external conflict
the external conflict in "two kinds" is between jing-mei and her mom. the coflict is that her mom forces her to try to be a genious and eventualy jing-mei does not want to be and stops trying. this infuriates her mother causing a conflict.
Theme
the theme in this story is hard family relationships. jing-mei and her mom have a difficult relationship because her mom expects her to be more than she is.they are most of the time upset with eachother during jing-meis childhood but as she is an adult she is able to understand the situation more.
symbolism
the main symbol in the story is the piano. the piano represents how she feels. the piano is worn down and not very nice. it shows how she feels like she is not worth very much and is not cared for.
8.In the first part of the story there is a scene in which the daughter sees herself in the mirror. What does she see? What thematic significance could this scene have? How does it relate to the title?
this is a significant because in this event she realizes that she is not who her mother wants her to be. She decides to start being who her mather doesnt want her to be because she is so angry. it relates to the title because she realizes she has been trying to be who her mother wants her to be but she can only be who she really is.
9.Two strong-willed characters are pitted against each other in this story. What went wrong in the relationship between mother and daughter?
in the story the mother and the girl Jing-mei are both stronge willed. Because of this they get in confrintations and arguements with each other. they mainly argue with each other about what her mom wants her to do to become a child prodigy.
10.Read carefully the parts dealing with the mother’s earlier life in China. How have her earlier experiences shaped her ambitions for her daughter?
When the mother lived in China she lost everything she lost her whole family and her possesions. she saw America as an oppertunity to do something with your life. she was so hard on her daughter jing-mei because she wanted her to be something big and be able to have what she didn't have.