Literary Devices Found in Two Kinds
Edy Padilla August 24 2012
Setting
This story takes place in San Francisco, California, in the Chinatwon.
Main Characters
Jing-mei and her mother who is an Asian Inmigrant that believe that in the US you can be whatever you want to be as long as you set your self to it. So she wants her daughter that was born in America, to become a child prodigy.
Other Characters
Mr. Chong (old Chong), WaverlyA, unt Lindo, Jing-meis ( Ni Kan) Father
Plot
This is a story about an Asian Immigrant that lost everything in China, that believes that in america you can b e whatever you want as long as you set your self to it. And her daughter that is an american born girl that thinks her mother is pushing her to be someone that she is not.
Internal conflict
Ni Kan would fight against herself to do everything wrong even though she knows she can do better. Ni Kan wants to do good in life, but she doesnt want her mother to be in charge of what she does, so everytime her mother tells her to do something she would sabotage it, so that her mom would give up on her.
external conflict
Ni Kan would do anything to go against her mother because she thinks her mother wants her to be someone that she is not. Like when her mother asked Mr. Chong to give piano lessons to her daugther NI Kan told her that she didn't want to take them evgen when she knew that her mother was cleaning Mr. Chongs house to pay for her lessons.
theme
The theme on this story is that the relationship between parents a childs can be really difficult but at the end your parents would always try to do what they think is best for you, so you just have to give them a chance. For example Ni Kan wont give herself a chance to atleast try to do what her mother thinks is good for her and when her mother finally gave up on her she felt bad even though thats what she wanted.
symbolism
The piano had symbolism to Ni Kan when she grew up and her mother passed away because that piano was the cause for her to understand that her mother only wanted what was best for her.
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?
She saw her face as an ordinary and she started to cry, then she saw the prodigy side of her, it was something she had never seen before. That girl was angry and powerful, something that she wasnt. And then she started to have new thoughts filled with lots of wonts. So since that day she stoped trying to please her mother.This relate to the title of the story because this scene shows her two sides or two kinds.
Two strong-willed characters are pitted against each other in this story. What went wrong in the relationship between mother and daughter?
Mother and daugther both wanted different things but they didn't communicate enough. The mother wanted her daughter to be someone famous but her daugther instead wanted to be rebel, go against her mother in everything so that her mother would gave up on her.
Read carefully the parts dealing with the mother’s earlier life in China. How have her earlier experiences shaped her ambitions for her daughter?
She lost everything in China. She lost her husband, two daughters(twins), her mother, her father and her family home. So when she moved to America and she had a daughter, she wanted her to be someone important, she wanted her to have a good life with a good family. Because she believes that in America you can be whatever you want to be as long as you set yourself to it.
