The two Kinds-Amy Tan
From the story, it is clear that the relationship between Jing-Mei and her Mother is tense. The Mother is not sure about her daughter’s talents and forces her to try careers she perceives best. She expects the daughter to live the American dream as she believes she is a prodigy. She has exaggerated expectations for the daughter, the best Chinese Shirley Temple, the best intellectual, and the best Pianist. Unfortunately, Jing-Mei was not a prodigy in any of them. Despite practicing and believing that she is perfect at playing the piano, she did severely during the competitions. She is not talented in such areas, and the imposition from the Mother frustrated her more.
Generally, the Mother is unsympathetic. She does not give Jing-Mei a chance to do things she likes. For instance, she didn’t sympathize with her poor performance in the Piano contest but expects her to practice harder. This issue shocked Jing-Mei, who busted her with harsh and emotional words ‘”I wish I’d never been born! I wish I were dead! Like them!”
At the end of the story, Jing-Mei feels remorseful for her late Mother. She realizes that she wanted the best out of her and did all she could to instill a spirit of hard work and positive thinking to her daughter.