Parent-child conflict

Conflict between parents and their children is all too common. Many of times I felt like my parent s did not understand me. In every generation there are every day struggles between parent and child. Sometimes the parents are accused of pushing their children too far and expecting too much, and the child is accused of not trying or of being stubborn. Who is right? Of course from a child’s point of view, he/she is right. Now that I am older I know that my parent’s just wanted the best for me and never wanted me to settle for less. Amy Tan’s, “Two Kinds” and Flannery O’Connor’s, “Everything That Rises Must Converge” does a great job depicting the parent-child conflict.

In Amy Tan’s, “Two Kinds”, conflict is present between the mother and daughter throughout the entire story. “My mother believed you could be anything you wanted to be in America. My mother thought I could be a Chinese Shirley Temple.” This is how the narrator (the daughter) begins the story. Everyday the mother had some new talent or hairstyle that she wanted the daughter to try. This got so frustrating for the young girl. She felt as if her mother wanted her to be someone else. “Why don’t you like me the way I am?” she screamed at her

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“I told you not do that!” Julian screamed at his mother angrily. Julian tried to persuade her not to do it for it would be insulting to the child’s mother. Even then, the mother would not give up on her child. “The tide of darkness seemed to sweep him back to her, postponing from moment to moment his entry into the world of guilt and sorrow.

In, “Two Kinds” the little girl was so determined to go against her mother that she sold herself short. He thought the whole situation was funny and served her right. Julian said that he would have liked it better if she were selfish or was a drunk hag that screamed at him all of the time. The whole time Julian went on and on about how he hoped she learned her lesson. At a local talent show, she embarrassed herself and her parents when she played a whole song completely wrong. Although she talked highly of him to others, he still looked at her with despise. The boy’s mother swung around a struck her with her pocket book. The narrator never tried when she practiced. As children, we think we know about everything that comes our way.

Approximate Word count = 871
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

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