Rise and Fall of an Inner Prodigy
An "angry and powerful" girl glares back at Jing-Mei in the bathroom mirror (Tan 1066). The girl is her newly discovered prodigy: a force that comes from within that could potentially empower her to unlimited heights of personal growth and success. Unfortunately, Jing-Mei, the daughter in Amy Tan's "Two Kinds", only allows her will to manifest into a weapon of "won'ts" to lash out at her mother with (Tan 1066). She does not think to create goals of her own because her only drive is to prove her mother wrong, act out in hurtful ways, and sell herself short in the process.Jing-Mei is determined to prove to her mother, self, and family that her mother has no right to have pride and faith in her. After bragging to her sister about how her daughter plays the piano day and night, Jing-Mei's mother and piano teacher, Mr. Chong, arrange to have her perform at a talent show. Paving the way for her mother's shame and her own embarrassment, Jing-Mei does not apply herself to practicing and memorizing the piece she is to perform. The night of her performance, she is so taken with how pretty she looks that she forgets she can't possibly do well. She is even "surprised when . . . [she] hit the first
So short sighted is her vision, that she does not realize how her actions are detrimental to her own approach to life. Her Mother abruptly shuts off the television and drags her to the piano bench and sits her down. After the recital, Jing-Mei "[feels] disappointed" (Tan 1071). By creating and perfecting a mindset that acts for all the wrong reasons and lacks confidence, Jing-Mei lacks the ability to identify and seek much of what life has to offer. Jing-Mei knows this hostile reference will hurt her mother more than anything else will.
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Acceptance Essays
