Jing-Mei’s identity is formed by her mother’s expectations in Amy Tan’s story “Two Kinds.” Jing-Mei’s mother, Suyuan, leaves her life in China and moves to America, hoping to obliterate her bad memories. She believes in the “American Dream” of prosperity for people who work hard and apply their talents. She believes her daughter can be a prodigy in America, and in the beginning, Jing-Mei, who is known as June, is drawn into her mother’s plan. The pair look through magazines and watch television programs to find talents for Jing-Mei. “We didn't immediately pick the right kind of prodigy. At first my mother thought I could be a Chinese Shirley Temple.”
When she does not seem to be a natural at anything, her mother decides that she will play the piano but Jing-Mei has no desire to practice and finds ways to sabotage her progress.
So maybe I never really gave myself a fair chance. I did pick up the basics pretty quickly, and I might have become a good pianist at the young age. But I was so determined not to try, not to be anybody different, and I learned to play only the most ear-splitting preludes, the most discordant hymns.
After her recital is a disaster, mother and daughter argue, exchanging cruel words, which deeply affect the mother. Jing-Mei no longer agrees with her mother’s expectations and spends years forming her own identity. She performs adequately in high school, and drops out of college. “Unlike my mother, I did not believe I could be anything I wanted to be, I could only be me.”
The rift between mother and daughter exists for years. Shortly before her death, Suyuan offers the piano to June. True to her identity, June sees it as a symbol of proving her mother wrong. It is only after her mother dies that June realizes her mother only wanted her to be “her best.”
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