Literary Devices Found in Two Kinds
Sutton Beckwith
SETTING
This story took place in Chinatown in San Francisco, California. They live in a small appartment.
Chinatown in San Francisco
Where they lived
Chinese dragon
Part of their culture
Chinatown in San Francisco cont.
Where they lived
CHARICTERS
Jing Mei - a daughter pushed by her mother to be a prodigy. Mother- trys to get her daughter to be great. Mr. Chong- piano teacher. cant hear at all so doesnt do a good job.
PLOT
The story starts with a mother trying to get her daughter to be great. The daughter trys at first, but soon gives up from lack of intrest. Despite the daughter giving up, the mother does not heaitate to throw more prodigy opertunities at her. The daughter starts taking piano lessions against her will. She soon realizes her teacher is def and she can get away with doing mediocre work. The mother, thinking her daughter has been working hard, enters her in a talent show. the daughter knows she has been slacking during practice, but still is confident she will do great. she get up there and misses keys and does terribly. she is very embarressed and her parents are ashamed. Her and her mom get in a huge fight. After the fight and the daughter bringing up some hard times in the mothers past, the mother backs off and desides not to push the daughter any more. The the daughter ends up not being so succesful and drrpping out of college. When the mother dies she realizes why she did all of these things for her and takes the piano and some of her moms possesions to remember her by.
INTERNAL CONFLICT
The daughter had an internal conflict. she wanted to be a prodigy for her mother but she just couldnt find her natural talent. She faught her self about it and at the end just gave up, and took the easy way out.
EXTERNAL CONFLICT
The daughter was giving up on the idea of being a prodigy, but her mom kept on pushing her which resulted in fighting.
THEME
One theme found in "Two Kinds" is you cant force people to be who their not. For example. The mother foreces Jing-Mei to play the piano when she has no intrest in it and doesnt even plan on trying. The mother didnt even stop to think if this is what Jing-Mei wanted to do.
SYMBOLISM
The piano represents the mothers efforts and dreams for her daughter to be great. It shows how dedicated she was to help her daughter suceed in life.
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?
At first she sees her normal self she doesnt like what she sees. Then she sees the prodigy version of her self, and it looks angry and unhappy. This makes her realize she will never be a prodigy and wont let her mom change her. She sees the "two kinds" of Jing Mei and has two decide what she wants to be.
9.Two strong-willed characters are pitted against each other in this story. What went wrong in the relationship between mother and daughter?
The mother wanted the daughter to be obediant, and the daughter wanted to be her own person. So this ended in desaster.
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? (cant touch this)
She lost some kids during birth, so she wanted the one that lived to be great. She felt like she could leave all the hard time back in china, and start over in the land of opertunities.