She never had the opportunity to grow at her own pace and this was something that her mother had to live with every day for the rest of her life.
Parental control can also work against a parent/child relationship because even if a child is talented, rebellion will destroy opportunities and appreciation. Jing-Mei might have possessed what was needed to be a prodigy but she spent all of her energy resisting her mother, so she will never know. While this may seem trivial at the moment, we see how this thought plagues Jing-Mei until her adult life. The piano was like a ghost looming just behind them and even as an adult, Jing-Mei's mother believes her daughter simply did not try. Jing-Mei declares that she could not have been a genius but the truth is that neither one of them will never know because so much energy was wasted on arguing about the piano. It is interesting to not that after her mother offers the piano to her, she looks at it like a "shiny trophy I had won back" (9). In addition, in the final scene when she is looking at the piano and touching the keys, she notices the names of the pieces of the songs. Their titles illustrate the changes Jing-Mei went through as a result of the piano and...
Jing-Mei never believed in herself long enough to know the truth behind her talent because of her rebellion and her mother's control.
Two Kinds" illustrates how destructive parental control can be when a child is forced to do something that he or she does not want, or cannot, do. Jing-Mei suffers at the hand of her mother but it is not intentional. Her mother does not mean to make her suffer but she cannot see beyond her own desires to understand how she is damaging Jing-Mei. Controlling another individual rarely ever works because it is simply unnatural - regardless of the reasons why. Talent becomes secondary in a battle of wills and, as a result, the truth of the situation will never be known. Jing-Mei's rebellion demonstrates that are two ways to encourage a child - one builds dreams and the other squashes them. "Two Kinds" is a story of truth that sometimes takes a lifetime to learn - controlling parents want the best for their children but often get the worst from them because control is more dangerous than productive.
Works Cited
Tan, Amy. "Two Kinds." The Joy Luck Club. New York: Ivy Books. 1989.
