Two Kinds, a short story by Amy Tan, depicted a strained relationship between mother and daughter. These characters emulated the types of the over demanding mother and rebellious daughter. The harder the mother pushed her vision of what she wanted her daughter to be, the more her daughter turned from her mother-the more she committed herself to failure. The author used the voice of the daughter as narrator, and therefore created very little distance between the narrator and story. The masterplots of disobedience, family pressures, failure, and identity, were used as well. These narration type techniques were used to really allow for the reader to understand the daughter’s perspective and perhaps the notion that one’s upbringing can carry throughout the rest of his/her life.

In this narrative piece a typical story of an overbearing mother and rebelling daughter is portrayed, with a focus on the child’s growing feeling of inadequacy and the mother striving for perfection. Even though the mother shouts “who ask you to be genius?…Only ask you be your best” (p.2), the need for her daughter to be better than others (her cousin) at something sets the bar very high. In her learning process, the daughter is not as good as the prodigies she is compared to, and thus, through her mother’s dissatisfaction, is dissatisfied with herself. Rather than fail in her learning process and eventually achieve some level of success, the daughter spites her mother, and harms herself by settling for the least she can possibly be. With the loss of her other children, the mother puts all of her hopes on to her daughter. She doesn’t give her daughter a voice as she doesn’t place importance on her feelings or desires. Therefore the author brings the daughter’s voice to the forefront. The mother seems to wish for her daughter to succeed so she will have produced something “good” in her life and be better than others. While this is true, some level of care is portrayed about the daughter near the end of the narrative as she gives the piano to her daughter saying “You have natural talent” (p.5). This acknowledgement of her daughter already possessing good in her is necessary and should’ve been portrayed through her childhood.

The author uses a first-person narrative where the main character is highly involved in the story so that there is no distance. This places importance on the child’s perspective as she tries to assert what control she has in a world dominated by her mother. The author also used many masterplots in this story. Child disobedience is portrayed in an interesting way in this story, as the form the daughter uses to rebel is harming her growth as well. It’s self destructive. She lives in the self-hate produced by her mother and perpetuates it. “After seeing, once again, my mother’s disappointed face something inside me began to die. I hated the tests, the raised hopes and failed expectations. Before going to bed that night I looked in the mirror…Such a sad, ugly girl” (p.2). Her way of fighting back is by accepting the identity of someone who is destined to fail in every area of her life. “I won’t let her change me, I promised myself. I won’t be what I am not” (p.2). The masterplot of identity is illustrated as the child is struggling to make her own name, but it is inextricably tied to her mother. Her new identity is rooted in lack of self worth. She has no real independence through her childhood and into most of her adult life. The author uses these masterplots that would normally be associated with a child finding her way and succeeding in the areas she chooses to, staking a claim against wrong treatment, and prevailing despite the forces against her. However these masterplots are twisted in the story as the child rebels against the family pressures by giving up on herself. This isn’t a triumphant story of finding the best version of oneself despite outside pressures, it’s a story of reacting to such pressures with loss of self and in trying to escape these notions, trapping oneself in the idea of never being able to reach anything. The masterplot of overbearing mother was also portrayed differently as the mother claimed she only wanted her daughter to try her best. These characters were round character so that multiple opinions could be drawn from the story.

The author manipulated these narrative techniques to portray her message of a bad childhood upbringing affecting later years. The masterplots were represented in untraditional ways, just as the story was an altered version of a typically told story. It is important that the characters portrayed are types and not stereotypes as it allows for the reader to understand that each character is more than just its initial characteristics. The use of the first person also contributes to the strength of the character of the daughter. As there isn’t any distance between the main character and story, the narrative might be a little bit skewed. The daughter is recounting her childhood memories from a much older age therefore some of the facts may not be as accurate. A slightly unreliable narrator is used so that the reader can understand that while the daughter’s voice is important, the events she is recounting have multiple perspectives. The story of rebellious child is often portrayed. However, this daughter reacts differently than characters in other stories This narrative gives a voice for her character.