Two Kinds
By Amy Tan (谭恩美 )
From The Joy Luck Club
The author
Amy Tan
About the Author
• Amy Tan (谭恩美 )
born in Oakland, California,1952, is an American
writer whose works explore mother-daughter
relationships and what it means to grow up as a
first generation Asian American. Tan’s most popular
fiction is The Joy Luck Club.
The Bonesetter’s Daughter(接骨师的女儿)
The Kitchen God’s Wife(灶神之妻)
The Hundred Secret Senses(一百个神秘感觉 )
two books for children: The Moon Lady and The
Chinese Siamese Cat.
About the author
• Both of her parents were Chinese
immigrants.
• Her father, John Tan, was an electrical
engineer and Baptist minister who came to
America to escape the turmoil of the
Chinese Civil War.
The miserable early life of her mother, Daisy,
inspired Amy Tan’s novel The Kitchen God’s
Wife.
About the author
• In China, Daisy had divorced an abusive
husband. She was forced to leave her
three daughters behind when she escaped
on the last boat to Shanghai before the
Communist takeover in 1949. Her
marriage to John Tan produced three
children, Amy and her two brothers.
About the author
• Tragedy struck the Tan family when Amy’s
father and oldest brother both died of brain
tumors within a year of each other. Mrs.
Tan moved her surviving children to
Switzerland, where Amy finished high
school, but by this time mother and
daughter were in constant conflict.
About the author
• Mother and daughter did not speak for six
months after Amy Tan left the Baptist
college her mother had selected for her
and follow her boyfriend to San Jose City
College. Tan further defied her mother by
abandoning the pre-med course to pursue
the study of English and linguistics.
About the author
• She received her bachelor’s and master’s
degrees in these fields at San Jose State
University. In 1974, she and her boyfriend,
Louis DeMattei were married. They were
later to settle in San Francisco
• DeMattei, an attorney, took up the practice
of tax law, while Tan studied for a
doctorate in linguistics, first at the
University of California at Santa Cruz, later
at Berkeley.
About the author
• By this time, she had developed an
interest in the problems of the
developmentally disabled. She left the
doctoral program in 1976 and took a job
as a language development consultant to
the Alameda County Association for
Retarded Citizens and later directed a
training project for developmentally
disabled children
About the author
• With a partner, she started a business
writing firm, providing speeches for
salesmen and executives for large
corporations. After a dispute with her
partner, who believed she should give up
writing to concentrate on the management
side of the business, she became a fulltime freelance writer.
About the author
• Just as she was embarking on this new
career, Tan’s mother fell ill. Amy Tan
promised herself that if her mother
recovered, she would take her to China, to
see the daughter who had been left behind
almost forty years before.
About the author
• Mrs. Tan regained her health and mother
and daughter departed for China in 1987.
The trip was a revelation for Tan. It gave
her a new perspective on her often-difficult
relationship with her mother, and inspired
her to complete the book of stories she
had promised her agent.
About the author
• Her most recent book, Saving Fish From
Drowning explores the tribulations （艰难）
experienced by a group of people who
disappear while on an art expedition into
the jungles of Burma.
The Joy Luck Club
• Amy Tan’s first and most successful novel.
• The book comprises a series of short-story-like
vignettes that move back and forth in time and
space, between the lives of four Chinese women
in pre-1949 China and their American-born
daughters in California.
• It tells stories about four pairs of mothers and
daughters-Suyuan Woo and Jing-mei(June);
Anmei Hsu and Rose; Lindo Jong and Waverly;
Ying-ying St. Clair and Lena.
The Joy Luck Club
• These stories are told by seven voices,
those of the mothers and daughters
except for Suyuan Woo, who is dead
when the story begins in the book. The
different points of view enable us to look
at the bittersweet mother-daughter
relations from different angles.
Joy Luck Club
• The mother and daughter treat one another
cautiously, playing a game of love and fear, need
and rejection. The older women, who suffered in Old
China and emigrated to the United States with new
hopes, are ambitious for their daughters, but while
they expect them to succeed in America, they want
them to remain Chinese. The daughters consider
themselves American and regard their mothers a
source of embarrassment, for they speak fractured
English, behave with Chinese manners, and wear
funny-looking dresses with high, stiff collars and slits
up the sides. They want to be different from their
mothers, and break loose from their mothers’ cultural
gravity. They yearn to leave tradition behind
The Joy Luck Club
• The mother-daughter relationships are a
mixture of love and hostility,
expectations and disappointments,
conflicts and reconciliation. When the
daughters become older and more mature,
they begin to reconsider their identity and
reevaluate their cultural heritage. They
discover that their mothers are “in their
bones”, and that heritage is not something
they can ignore and shake off easily.
Theme of Two Kinds
• THEME of Two Kinds: the mother’s attempt
to change her daughter into a prodigy and
the daughter’s resistance to such a change
represent a bittersweet relationship between
mother and daughter and a sharp conflict
between tow generations and two cultures.
Characters in Two Kinds
• main characters (protagonist): the
daughter by the name of Jing-mei (June),
and her mother Suyuan (宿愿in Chinese);
• minor ones: the girl’s father, Suyuan’s
friend,--Lindo and her daughter—Waverly,
the piano teacher Old Chong.
Two Kinds
• Part I- the beginning. Paragraph 1- 3
• Part II- the middle. Paragraph 4-76.
6 subsections.
• Part III- the end. Paragraph 77-93.
2 subsections.
Two Kinds
• Part I para. 1-3
Main idea→it tells about the mother and
her hopes for her daughter. This paves
the way for the development of the
conflict between the daughter and the
mother. These paragraphs show that the
mother was very optimistic about the
future, and in fact she was rather
ambitious for her daughter.
Two Kinds
Language points:
1. You could buy a house with almost no
money down. →You could buy a house
without any down payment(首付), that is,
completely on loan.
Down: adverb. “in cash”(付现款) e.g. You
can pay five dollars down and the remainder
in installments (分期付款).
Two Kinds
2. “ Of course you can be (a) prodigy, too.”
Prodigy n. →a young person who is
extremely clever or good at doing sth. e.g.
Mozart was a prodigy.
3. Family home.
here family is not redundant. In China, a
family home is one where a big, extended
family with three or more generations living
together.
Two Kinds
• Part II Paras. 4-76
• Subsection 1 (Paras. 4-11)
Main idea: the mother’s unsuccessful attempt
to change her daughter into a Chinese
Shirley Temple.
At this point, the conflict was not visible
because the child was as excited as the
mother about becoming a prodigy.
Two Kinds
Purse v. →To gather or contract (the
lips or brow) into wrinkles or
folds; pucker.使皱起，噘起聚拢或皱
起（嘴唇或眉毛）
e.g. She pursed her lips with dislike.
她不高兴地噘起嘴唇。
other usages: national purse 国库
Who holds the purse rules the
house.有钱就有势。
A heavy purse makes a light heart.
[谚]袋里有钱, 心里不慌。
Two Kinds
2. She lamented, as if she had done this on
purpose.
Lament v. →to lament is to express
annoyance or disappointment about sth you
think is unsatisfactory. To regret deeply; 非常
懊悔；痛惜
e.g. He lamented his thoughtless acts.他非常懊
悔自己轻率的举动
Two Kinds
3. The instructor of the beauty school had
to lop off these soggy clumps.
Lop off v.phr.: to cut a part of sth off, esp. a
branch of a tree
Soggy adj.: unpleasantly wet and soft. e.g. The
ground is soggy from the rain.
Clump n.: a group of trees, bushes or other
plants growing very close together.
Here “lop off” and “clump” are used figuratively.
Peter Pan
Two Kinds
4. In fact, in the beginning, I was just as excited
as my mother:
Her mother’s attempt to change her into a
prodigy roused in her many fanciful ideas and
made her quite excited.
5. I pictured this prodigy part of me as many
different images, trying each one on for size:
I imagined myself as different types of
prodigy, trying to find out which one suited me
the best.
Two Kinds
6. Beyond reproach =above reproach → So
good as to preclude any possibility of
criticism.无可指责，完美无缺
reproach 1)n.: blame
2) v. e.g. Do not reproach yourself, it was
not your fault.不要责备你自己，这不是你的过错。
7. Sulk v.: To be silently angery； 闹别扭，生
闷气
e.g. When we told her she couldn't go with us,
she went and sulked in her room.当我们告诉
她她不能和我们一起去时，她回房间里生闷气了。
Two Kinds
Subsection 2 (para.12-20)
Main idea: in this part, we can learn that the
mother was trying very hard to train her
daughter to be a genius. As the tests got
more and more difficult, the daughter lost
heart. She said, “…sth inside of me began
to die. I hate the tests, the raised hopes and
failed expectations.” She decided that she
would not let her mother change her. This
change of attitudes would lead to the
gradual development of the conflict.
Two Kinds
Language points:
8.Multiply numbers in my head.心算乘法
9. Finding the queen of hearts in a deck (pack/set) of
cards:在一副纸牌中找出红桃皇后来
Hearts: suit(同样花式的一组牌) of playing cards
marked with heart figures in red. Playing cards are
arranged in decks of four suits: spades(黑桃),
hearts(红桃), diamonds(方块), and clubs(梅花),
with a total number of 52.
Two Kinds
10. Para. 19
1). What did the girl see in the mirror?
She looked at her reflection and saw an angry and
powerful girl. She felt that the true prodigy side of
her was a strong character and an independent
mind.
2). What new thoughts did she have now? What did
she decide to do?
She had new thoughts which were filled with a
strong spirit of disobedience, rebellion. She
decided not to cooperate with her mother’s plans.
Two Kinds
3). I won’t let her change me, I promised myself…:
The girl is asserting her self-identity. The idea of
“I’m what I’m. I’ll always be myself” reflects an
aspect of American Individualism which is the
most important part of American value. Growing
up in America, the girl was inevitably influenced by
this value. Obviously this notion of individualism is
not in conformity with the traditional Chinese
family education, which emphasizes the principle
that the children should listen to their parents.
After the girl made up her mind to resist change,
the conflict between mother and daughter
escalated.
Two Kinds
Subsection 3 (Para. 21-28)
Main idea:
While watching a Chinese girl playing the
piano on an Ed Sullivan Show, a new idea
flashed into the mother’s head. With the
new plan introduced, the conflict would
develop further.
Two Kinds
Language points:
11. Short out：short-circuit 短路
12. Para 21 is one of the fine examples showing how
the author uses simple but vivid impressive
language in her depiction. When the sound of the
TV set shorted out, the mother would get up from
her seat to adjust the set. This action was repeated
so many times that in the eyes of the child it was
like a dance between her mother and the TV set. In
her depiction, the author uses simple and small
words like “up and down, back and forth, quiet and
loud”.
Sound dial: a piece of
equipment of an oldfashioned radio or TV
set that you turn to
adjust the volume of
the sound.
Two Kinds
It was like a stiff embraceless dance
between her and the TV set: 她和电视机好
像上演了一段舞蹈，二者不相互拥抱，动
作僵硬。
Two Kinds
13. Para 22
entranced: very interested in and pleased with sth
so that you pay a lot of attention to it. e.g. He was
entranced by the sweetness of her voice.使狂喜，
迷惑，着迷
mesmerizing: to mesmerize is to make someone
feel that they must watch or listen to sth or
someone, because they are so interested in it or
attracted by it. 施催眠术,迷惑，吸引
e.g. He was mesmerized by her charm and beauty.
tease: to make fun of; mock playfully.取笑；开玩笑
地嘲弄
lilt: to say, sing, or play (something) in a cheerful,
rhythmic manner.快轻的有节奏的说、唱或演奏
Two Kinds
• 13. Para 22: 她似乎被这音乐吸引住了。这
钢琴曲不长，但有点狂乱，有着迷人的特
点，乐曲一开始是快节奏的，接着是欢快
跳动的节拍，然后又回到嬉戏的部分。
Two Kinds
• 13. Para 24: pound: to strike vigorous,
repeated blows连续重击猛烈连续地打击
e.g. He pounded on the table.他连续地重
重击打桌子
saucy: Impertinent in an entertaining way;
调皮的，顽皮的. sauciness. n. impertinence;
rudeness in an amusing way.
Two Kinds
curtsy: n. curtsy is a gesture of respect or
reverence made chiefly by women by bending
the knees with one foot forward and lowering
the body.屈膝礼一种主要由妇女做的表示尊重
或恭敬的动作，弯曲双膝，一脚向前迈并使身
体下坐 v. to make a curtsy.行屈膝礼
fluffy: Light and airy; soft轻柔的；蓬松的，松
软的fluffy curls松软的卷发。
cascade: v. To fall or cause to fall in or as if in
a cascade泻落瀑布似的或使瀑布似的下落
ream: often reams, a very large amount of
writing on paper.大量极其多的量 e.g. He
showed me reams of notes he had taken.
bad-mouth: informal. Esp. AmE. To find fault
with, to criticize or disparage,说…的坏话, .苛
刻批评e.g. His former colleagues accused
him of bad-mouthing them in public.
Two Kinds
Para 25
In spite of these warning signs, I wasn’t worried.
What were the warning signs?
The girl had so many similarities with the narrator
that she should have known what her mother was
thinking about: if that Chinese girl could be a
Shirley Temple-like prodigy, why not her own
daughter? Watching that girl’s performance, the
mother had a new idea-to make her daughter learn
piano. The narrator saw those warning signs, but
she was not worried. The reason is explained in
the following sentences.
Two Kinds
Pick on sb.: to blame someone for sth,
especially unfairly, e.g. Why does the boss
always pick on me?
Sound dial: dial is the control on a radio or
television set that is used for tuning.
Encore: An additional performance in
response to the demand of an audience.应
观众要求而加演的节目
Two Kinds
Subsection 4 (para 29-46)
Main idea: It tells about how the girl was made to
learn the piano under the instructions of Old Chong.
The girl hated the piano lessons because she
didn’t want to be sb. she was not. The relationship
between mother and daughter was getting more
and more tense. When her mother was using her
in competing with Auntie Lindo, she could not put
up with her mother any more, and she decided to
put a stop to “her foolish pride”. What was she
going to do? That naturally arouses our
expectation. With this anticipation, we continue our
reading into the next part.
Two Kinds
My mother had traded housecleaning
services for weekly lessons…until six.
My mother would do housecleaning for Mr.
Chong. As a form of payment for her
services, she got free weekly piano lessons
and a piano for her daughter to practice on
every day, two hours a day from four until
six. At this stage, the little girl was too
young to appreciate the efforts and sacrifice
her mother had made for her.
Two Kinds
Whined: I complained in a sad and annoying
voice.
My mother slapped me: this tells us two
things: first, the mother was rather quick
tempered. Secondly, we are reminded that
she was a Chinese mother. American
parents would have hesitated to use
physical punishment in dealing with their
children.
Two Kinds
Keep time: to play a piece of music using
the right rhythm and speed.保持正确的节奏
If she had as much talent as she has
temper, she would be famous now.
如果她的才气和脾气一样大的话，她早就
出名了。
Two Kinds
Subsection 5 (para. 47-60)
Main idea: Jing-mei was to perform in a talent show
held in the church. This was a good opportunity for
parents to show off their talented children to their
friends. Jing-mei started all right and soon made a
mess of her performance. Undoubtedly this was a
heavy blow to her mother. The girl expected angry
accusations from her mother. To her surprise as
well as disappointment, nothing happened when
they got home. As readers we can’t help
wondering what this silence means. We feel a
storm is imminent. If we think of the story in terms
of the five stages mentioned before, then our
guess is that the crisis or the climax is about to
come.
Two Kinds
Old Chong and my mother conspired to have me
play…in the church hall.
Conspire: it reveals the narrator’s relationship with
her mother: they were opponents of the sharp
conflict. It means to plan sth harmful or illegal
together secretly, e.g. He had conspired with an
accomplice to rob the bank.
A talent show: is a competition in which people show
how well they can sing, dance, tell jokes, etc.才艺
表演
It was the only showpiece of our living room.这是我
家起居室的唯一摆设（陈列品）。
Dawdle: To take more time to do sth. than necessary
浪费时间
Two Kinds
The part I liked to practice best was the
fancy curtsy…and smile.
我最喜欢练习的部分是花哨的谢幕行礼动作：
先出右脚，脚尖点在地毯上的玫瑰图案上，
身子侧摆，左腿弯曲，抬头，微笑。
Debut: a first appearance in public as of an
actor.
Two Kinds
They recited simple nursery rhymes, squawked out
tunes…enthusiastically.
他们背诵简单的童谣，用微型小提琴拉出又粗又响的
调子，跳呼啦圈舞，穿着粉色的芭蕾舞短裙蹦蹦跳
跳。当他们鞠躬行礼时，观众同声发出“啊，啊”
的赞叹，然后热烈地鼓掌。
Squawk: to utter a loud sound, harsh cry, as a parrot
or chicken.
Prance: to rise up on the hind legs in a lively way
while moving along:
This is it: this is the chance for my prodigy side to
come out.
Two Kinds
I looked out over the audience, at my Mother’s blank
face…Waverly’s Sulky expression.
Here the narrator saw four people with four
different facial expressions. The mother had a
blank face because her feelings at this moment
were mixed. She had high hopes and expectations
and she was nervous, too. Whatever she felt she
must hide her feelings. Her father yawned,
showing he didn’t care so much as the mother and
he was bored by this children’s activity. Auntie
Lindo’s stiff-lipped smile revealed that she tried to
put on a polite smile but only succeeded in an
awkward, unnatural smile. Obviously she was
afraid that Suyuan’s daughter’s success might
overshadow her own daughter. Waverly, being a
child, failed to hide her unhappy feeling very well.
Two Kinds
A chill started at the top of my head…switching to the
right track.
一股凉气从头顶开始，然后一点点的传到全身。但我
却不能停止演奏，双手好像着了魔似的。我不停的
想，我的手指会调整好，就像火车会被扳到正确的
轨道上。
Bewitch: to get control over someone by putting a
magic spell on them.
I played this strange jumble …all the way to the end.
Jumble: an untidy mixture of things, e.g. These notes
recorded a jumble of thoughts and feelings.
Sour notes: notes that are gratingly wrong or off pitch.
Two Kinds
But when I saw my mother’s face.
1). When I saw my mother’s face, I knew that
was not mere illusion: I really gave a awful
performance. Otherwise my mother’s face
would not be looking so painful and
distressed.
2).stricken:(formal)afflicted or affected by sth
painful or distressing; very badly affected by
trouble, illness, etc. e.g. He had to live with
a stricken conscience for the rest of his life.
Two Kinds
Anchor: an anchor is a heavy object, usually a
shaped iron weight, lowered by cable or chain to
the bottom of a body of water to keep a vessel
from drifting. To anchor sth means to keep sth
from drifting or giving away, etc. by or as an
anchor; to fasten sth firmly so that it cannot move.
My parents remained firm in their seats
throughout the show, probably out of pride and
some strange sense of honor.
Two Kinds
…juggled flaming hoops while riding a
unicycle.
Juggle: to keep three or more objects
moving through the air by throwing them
very quickly.
Unicycle: a one-wheeled vehicle straddled by
the rider who pushes its pedals.
Uni-:(prefix), one, having or consisting only
one e.g. unicorn, unicellular, unilateral,
bicycle, tricycle
Juggle flaming hoops
while riding a unicycle
Two Kinds
Subsection 6 (Para. 61-76)
Main idea: the girl assumed that her failure at
the show meant that she would never have
to play the piano. Yet tow days later her
mother urged her to practice as usual. She
refused and the mother insisted. They had
the most fierce quarrel they had ever had.
This is the crisis of the story when the plot
reaches a point of the greatest emotional
intensity.
Two Kinds
I assumed my talent-show fiasco…play the
piano again.
Since my talent show ended in a ridiculous failure, I
took it for granted that my mother had given up on
me and would not make me play the piano again.
I wedged myself more tightly in front of TV.
1) I pushed myself more tightly in front of TV (to
show her reluctance to go away for the piano
practice).
2) A wedge is a piece of wood, metal,etc. that has on
thick edge and one pointed edge and is used esp.
for keeping a door open or for splitting wood. To
wedge is to force sth firmly into a narrow space.
Two Kinds
Budge: to move or stir slightly, (略为)挪动，微微移动,
To alter a position or attitude改变立场或态度
I wasn’t her slave. This wasn’t China: in her mind, a
daughter was as obedient as a slave in China. She
regarded herself as an American and was
determined not to be a Chinese daughter. This
shows that this mother-daughter conflict was not
only between two generations but also between
two cultures.
She was the stupid one: she was to blame for what
happened at the talent show. She was the one who
caused the ridiculous failure.
Two Kinds
I saw her chest heaving up and down in an
angry way.
1). I saw her breathing hard in great anger.
2). To heave means to swell up, bulge out; to
rise and fall rhythmically
“No!" I said, and I now felt stronger, as if my
true self had finally emerged:
This “no” signifies disobedience and rebellion.
Her true self had finally emerged and she
found strength in her true identity.
Two Kinds
Only two kinds of daughters. Those who are
obedient and those who follow their own
mind…obedient daughter.
只有两种女儿：顺从听话的和自行其事的。这个家里
只能有顺从听话的女儿。
These words clearly reveal the mother’s firm belief
in parental authority. Her traditional Chinese
views convinced her that her daughter should
listen to and obey their mothers’ commands. She
was aware that American daughters were not
obedient. She wanted her daughter to have a
Chinese character in the American circumstances.
Two Kinds
It felt like worms and toads and slimy things
crawling… had surfaced, at last.
1)When I said those words, I felt that some very
nasty thoughts had got out of my chest, and I was
scared. But at that time I felt good and relieved,
because those nasty things had been suppressed
in my heart for a long time and now they got out at
last.
2) Simile is used to describe her feelings vividly.
Peter Pan, Cinderella and nursery rhymes are all
examples that show how the author uses a child’s
point of view successfully.
3) slimy: covered with a thick slippery substance that
looks or smells unpleasant.
Two Kinds
And I could sense her anger rising to its breaking
point…it spill over.
1) I could feel that her anger had reached the point
where her self-control collapsed, and I wanted to
see what my mother would do when she lost
control of herself.
2) Breaking point: the point at which one’s
endurance, self-control, etc. collapse under trial.
Alakazam: is part of a series of names. A magician
says abra, kadabra, and alakazam, and a
miracle will happen.
Two Kinds
…and her face went blank, her mouth closed…a
small brown leaf, thin, brittle, lifeless.
1) 她的脸部失去了表情，嘴巴紧闭，双臂无力地垂
下。她退出了房间，神色惊异，好像一小片枯黄
的树叶被风吹走，那样单薄，脆弱，毫无生气。
2) What would one expect the mother to do when
her daughter said those terrible words? She
could fly into a great rage and probably she
would punish the daughter for being so
ungrateful. Maybe she would scold and slap her.
After all she was a quick-tempered woman, and
she had scolded and slapped her daughter
before for less sufficient reasons. Yet nothing of
the sort happened. She said nothing and did
nothing.
Two Kinds
…and her face went blank, her mouth
closed…a small brown leaf, thin, brittle,
lifeless.
1) What magical effect did those words
produce? Those words were like magic
words, transforming the mother, in a flash
of second, from a frightening strong woman
into a silent, stunned and helpless woman
like a small thin leaf blown away. She
looked as if she had been defeated by an
invisible enemy.
Two Kinds
Part III (Para77-93)
This concluding part is narrated from a different
point of view. Now the daughter had grown up
from a little girl to a mature woman. This part is
divided into two subsections.
Subsection 1 (Para 77-89)
Main idea: the clash between mother and
daughter subsided. They stopped quarrelling and
made peace with each other.
Two Kinds
Language points:
In the years that followed, I failed her so
many times…I dropped out of college.
1) These sentences sum up what happened
in the many years that passed between the
time when the daughter was a small child
and when she was thirty. Although this part
is still narrated by the daughter, now she
had grown up to be a mature woman. While
the narrator remains the same, the
viewpoint has shifted.
Two Kinds
2) I failed her so many times: this is
explained by the next sentences: I didn’t get
straight As. I didn’t become class president.
I didn’t get into Stanford. I dropped out of
college.
3) Fall short of expectations: to fail to meet
the expectations.
Two Kinds
The lid to the piano was closed, shutting
out the dust, my misery, and her dreams.
When the lid to the piano was closed, it
shut out the dust and also put an end to my
misery and her dreams.
“No, this your piano. Always your piano.
You only one can play.”
No, this is your piano. It has always been
your piano. You are the only one who can
play.
Two Kinds
“You could been genius if you want to.”
You could have been a genius if you had
wanted to. After so many years, this is the first
time that the mother said such encouraging
words to the daughter. These words show that
the mother knew her daughter very well. She fully
recognized her natural talent and clearly knew
that she did not want to try her best.
Two Kinds
And she was neither angry nor sad.
This calm tone shows that she had completely
reconciled (bring herself to accept) herself to the
reality.
And after that, every time I saw it…I had won back.
1) The bay window: a window or set of windows
jutting out from the wall of a building and forming
an alcove within, usually with glass on three
sides.
Two Kinds
2) Why did the daughter feel proud and see the
piano had become a symbol. When she was
forced to learn to play it, it was a symbol of her
misery and her mother’s dreams. When her
mother offered it to her for her thirtieth birthday,
the offer meant forgiveness and reconciliation.
Now she heard her mother praising her. Her
mother’s appreciation was like a trophy that she
had won at long last.
Two Kinds
Subsection 2 (Para 90-93)
Main idea: it is narrated a few years later
after the previous scene. Now her mother
had died. This part not only brings the
story to its end but also contains an
epiphany, a moment of discovery, insight,
and revelation, by which the narrator’s
view is altered.
Two Kinds
Language points:
Tuner: a person who tunes musical
instrument ( a piano tune) 调音师
Recondition: to put back in good condition
by cleaning, or repairing.
All the colors I hated: the colors were too bright,
loud for a refined, sophisticated taste.
Moth-proof: treated chemically so as to repel the
clothes moths. Waterproof boots, bulletproof cars
Two Kinds
I rubbed the old silk against my skin…take
them home with me.
What the girl did has symbolic meanings. It
tells us that she loved and missed her
mother and she decided to keep those
typical Chinese dresses as part of her
Chinese heritage.
Two Kinds
And for the first time, or so it seemed, I noticed the
piece…longer, but faster.
1)第一次，或好像感觉是第一次，我注意到右边的乐
曲。它的名称是“心满意足”。我也试着弹这首曲
子。它的曲调比较轻松，但节奏同样流畅，不是很
难。“祈求的孩子”较短、较慢，而“心满意足”
更长，更快一些。
2)Or so it seemed: since she practiced “Pleading
Child” so often she must have seen the other piece
on the right-hand side, but at that time with all her
attention concentrated on “Pleading Child”, she
simply didn’t notice it.
Two Kinds
And after I played them both a few times, I
realized they were two halves of the same
song.
1)在我弹了几遍后，我意识到，原来这两个曲
子是同一首歌的两个组成部分。
2)What did the narrator mean when she said
they were two halves of the same song?
Why does the author end the story this
way?
Two Kinds
The last sentence is very meaningful. At this
stage, the narrator was able to see that her
childhood was made up of two sides.
Although there were unhappy moments, on
the whole, it was filled with perfect
happiness. The titles of the two different
piano pieces are clearly suggestive. When
she was a little girl, she only saw one side of
her childhood. She couldn’t understand her
mother, regarding her mother’s hopes and
expectations as tormenting pressure that
only brought misery to her. So she saw
herself as a pleading child.
Two Kinds
Now as she realized how her mother loved
and appreciated her, she felt perfectly
contended. This last sentence is significant
because it contains the narrator’s
epiphany(领悟，顿悟), a moment of insight,
discovery or revelation, by which the
character’s view is greatly altered.
The Joy Luck Club
Thank You
Homework
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Point of View of Two Kinds
The Character of Jingmei in Two Kinds
A Mother’s Dream for Her Daughter
Rebellion in Two Kinds
Parental Control Vs Guidance in Two Kinds
Mother-daughter Relationships in Two
Kinds
• Internal and External Conflict: Amy Tan’s
Two Kinds