Amy Tan: life, works, and literary significance

Amy Tan is one of the most prominent voices in the contemporary literary world. Despite the fact that her popularity is based in the United States of America, she is most likely to achieve the deserved credit in other countries as well in the following years. The purpose of the present paper is to describe her background and analyze two of her works in order to demonstrate her genius.

It is worth mentioning right from the very beginning the fact that, just as her name suggests it, she was born from a family of Chinese origin. This must have definitely influenced her work, since coming from what can be called a different cultural paradigm, may have allowed her to have a better understanding of the world. The fact that her family travelled for a period also played an important part in her cultural development.

At personal level she was surely marked by two tragic events involving her younger brother and her father dying from brain tumours. The fact that their deaths were caused by the same factor must have amplified the drama. These are some of the factors which contributed to her becoming a workaholic. It could be stated that the negative personal experiences have played a relevant role upon her creative energies.

The search for identity is another important personal factor. The fact that she met her Chinese sisters only as an adult must have had a strange impact. It could be assumed that her sisters were associated with her Chinese part and that all the charity actions in which she was involved in China wee nothing more but an attempt to get closer to her Chinese roots, perhaps the ones which she felt were the real ones.

After having lost her father and her adolescent brother, having contact with no less than three sisters once you have reached an adult age must have signified a great deal at the level of the construction of the self. Ironically, because of a misunderstanding her access to China was restricted. Symbolically this meant that she was denied the return to her origins.

From this point one can understand the difficulty of her status as a Chinese woman in the country of white men (America) and as a woman in the Chinese universe, also dominated by man (especially after the loss of the male family members). It is easy to understand that her situation was not easy, nor was finding balance.

Creativity at this point must have become on the one hand a process of catharsis and perhaps the most relevant instrument for the expression of the self on the other one. Otherwise it could be assumed that she had a natural born talent for writing taking into consideration the fact that she won tens of awards at an early age and in a limited period of time. Her studies in the area of linguistics demonstrate her interest in the manner in which language influences values and viceversa.

Another difficulty that she had to face was represented by the fact that she had to demonstrate that her creativity went beyond the experiences from her personal life. After having to deal with her status as a Chinese woman she had to face the status of a Chinese female writer living in the American society. The achieved awards, through their number as well as through their quality are a proof that at least professionally she managed to achieve really important results which include not only fame, money, popularity but also the general acknowledgment of her valuable style. Among the books which she has published one can mention The opposite of fate: a book of musings, The Bonesetter's daughter, The Moon Lady, The Chinese Siamese Cat, The Hundred Secret Senses, The Kitchen God's Wife. Her work has been translated in more than 35 languages, a factor which tells something about the depth of her books and the manner in which she manages to touch people.

The fact that her Chinese identity marked her life can be seen in her works. This identity factor, together with her interest in language and its relation to the human brain can be seen in one of her short stories which is called Mother Tongue. Just as the title of the story suggests it, the theme regards the manner in which she was influenced by language in her life. The fact that she had a Chinese origin but lived in a country where she had to speak another language taught her an important lesson regarding one's identity. Since language implies certain values, thinking, not just speaking in two languages might result into a contradictive way of being since one language might consider some values more important than others.

The theme is obviously autobiographical. Naturally the author will explain her audience the mechanisms through which she realized that what she actually wanted to do was write. Creating through the use of language was a means of self-expression, an instrument which she used for the discovery and the creation of the self. The manner in which she writes was in fact a helpful factor for her to realize who she is and who she wants to be.

Language was a very important element in the development of the writer. It is worth underlining the fact that in her house they used to speak both English and Chinese but her mother did not speak English well. This resulted into building a sort of barrier between them. As she grew up Amy Tan had to become a type of interpreter for her mother.

Breaking the barriers of language symbolically meant overcoming the barriers she was facing in order to understand her real identity (based on Chinese roots). The fact that she was not brilliant in English at school influenced her determination in becoming an important writer. Succeeding to do this may have become a demonstration of the fact that the human being can overcome his own condition if he is motivated enough and if he believes in his own power and potential.

Two kinds is another shirt story written by Amy Tan. Just like the other one this is also based on a personal experience. The main character in the story is a Chinese girl living in America. Her mother wants to become a famous piano player, but the problem is she does not want to do that. She manages to skip practice. At some point she needs to prepare for a contest but she doe sit a superficial manner.

She does everything wrong in the contest making her mother feel ashamed. Afterwards the mother keeps insisting that her daughter would follow this path, but she refuses. Years pass and the mother will insist with the same request even when the young girl has turned into an adult. This time, the girl will take her mother's request into consideration seriously.

The plot is different compared to the other short story, but the basis of both is autobiographical. The Chinese girl in Two kinds is obviously Amy Tan who did not succeed in making her mother's dream of seeing her a doctor come true. In the fact that the girl refuses to take practice seriously but does not tell her mother about her personal desires is a proof of the communication barrier between them. The shame which they both feel at the contest is a feeling derived from failure, but the girl is even angrier because she was humiliated doing something that she did not want to do in the first place.

The fact that she accepts to take into consideration piano playing as an adult is nothing but a demonstration of her adulthood. She does not do it because she has changed her mind but because she must have learned a lesson about respect for one's parents. The decision that she takes is a symbolical gesture. On the one hand it can be interpreted as sign of appreciation for her mother. Taking into account the fact that the writer lost both her parents one may state that this type of attitude is only comprehensible.

The most important message that she tries to communicate in both the short stories is that the cultural heritage that one has is fundamental for realizing one's potential. On the one hand a person must acknowledge who he or she is. Language is fundamental in this process.

The personal desires are just important on the other hand. A further message regards the fact that one should never stop fighting for what he wants to achieve. Succeeding to achieve the personal goals is a manner to develop oneself and apparently this development and realization of the self is the key to achieving happiness.