This is a story of a young girl trying to find her own identity, and distance herself from her parents and their ideas. The young girl defies her mother because she feels the need to be herself, but she hurts herself in the process. She never tried to be better or grow from her experiences, and because she believes she is ordinary, she really is. She does not push herself or test herself in any way, and so, she does not achieve anything. This really only hurts her in the end. Her mother is wise enough to know that she could have done more, but she stops pushing her to succeed. The daughter takes a lot longer to understand things, and by then, it is too late to make amends with her mother. The ultimate theme of this story is the love between a mother and daughter, and how that love can be lost or forgotten many times.
This girl is the "second" kind of Chinese daughter, the kind who follows her own mind (Tan 353), and this is terrible to her mother. The story title is "two kinds," and it refers to this part of the story, the two kinds of Chinese daughters, "obedient," and the other kind. This character is definitely not the obedient kind, and it costs her in the end. She loses a close and loving relationship with her mother, and she loses the feeling of being special, unique, and willing to try new things. Not only that, she is spiteful, and hurts her mother...
She gains freedom from the piano lessons, but she hurts her mother and their relationship so badly that they never really regain it. She is ordinary, and that may give her
power in her own mind, but it limits her life and her relationships.
This character is like many other willful children. She does not understand what she has until she loses it. Her mother dies before she takes the piano back, and that is when she finally understands the
music she was playing so many years ago. Just like she and her mother, the music blends two pieces of music together, but differently. It took her all these years to realize it, and all these years to realize she was a piece of her mother, even though she did not want to admit it. She finally begins to appreciate some of her
culture, and some of her mother's desire for her to do great things. This character is round, but sad, because in gaining her independence, she has lost a lot. She has lost the chance to be close with her mother, and she has lost many other experiences, too. Because she was so determined to be ordinary, she will never know what she could have accomplished if she had pushed herself to be great, and that is probably the biggest loss of all in her life.
References
Tan, Amy. "Two Kinds." Mothers and Daughters. 346-354.
