TWO KINDS SHORT STORY

INSTITUT PENDIDIKAN GURU KAMPUS BATU LINTANG
TSLB3203: MULTICULTURAL LITERACIES

TWO KINDS SHORT STORY

NAME LISA ANAK CHARLES
MATRIC NUMBER 2021041740148
IC NUMBER 020417-13-1160
LECTURER NAME ALYSSA SO SUEZ PINK
COURSE NAME MULTICULTURAL LITERACIES

CONTENTS

1 a background 2 elements of and
research of the author literary devices in the
in relation to the text selected short story

Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

AMY TAN’S BRIEF AUTOBIOGRAPHY

BACKGROUND
RESEARCH OF AMY TAN

Amy Tan, the author, is more concerned
about how complex a mother-daughter
relationship can be specifically for
American-born children of immigrants
from China. Her parents’ experiences
as immigrants inevitably became her
fiction’s basis when we look at her
background. In this short story, for
example, she highlights a coming-of-age
girl’s struggle over identity which she
might experience too during her
childhood. In this case, despite this
struggle the narrator, Jing-Mei must
negotiate the burdens of her mother
hopes for her becoming a child prodigy.

Chapter 2

LITERARY ELEMENTS AND DEVICES

PHYSICAL
SETTING

LITERARY TIME
DEVICES SETTING

POINT OF PLOT
VIEW

PHYSICAL SETTING : CHINATOWN, SAN FRANCISCO, USA

This story takes place in her parents’
home, at Mr Chong’s home where she
takes piano lessons and at the talent
show. So, the physical setting of this
story is in Chinatown, San Francisco,
USA. This is the physical locale in which
Jing-Mei experiences growing up as the
daughter of adults China-immigrant
parents. In my opinion, the piano is the
most crucial element in determining the
physical setting. The mother-daughter
conflicts arise as she is forced to take
piano lessons at Old Chong’s home. It is
also very ironic to have its recital in the
book Joy Luck Club. This is because her
performance is neither joyous nor lucky.
It is just a loss of hope and a fail of
expectation, especially to her mother.
Thus, I believe this setting certainly
provides insight into every conflict that
happens in this story.

TIME SETTING : 1950’S-1970’S

1. Next, the time setting of this story is in the
1950s. At that moment, America had a
prosperous economy and the connection of
immigration between China and the US allowed
a setting up of Chinatown for “traditional”
immigrants. In this story, the narrator is a first-
generation American citizen. Therefore,
conflicts between Jing-Mei and her mother
happen due to the contradictory actions and
beliefs of her mother to the American Ideals
that she is exposed to.

2. Besides that, this setting also influences the
growth and development of Jing-Mei’s
characteristics. This is because her
perspective about her mother gradually
changes as she ages. In this story, the 1970s is
when she is a thirty-year-old adult. 1950’s, on
the other hand, where she talks about her
childhood. In short, we can conclude that she
has a better understanding than what she has
had when she was a child. She is now mature.

STORY PLOT

EXPOSITION

RISING ACTION

CLIMAX

FALLING
ACTION

RESOLUTION

EXPOSITION

Suyuan, Jing-Mei’s mother believes that America is the
Land of Opportunity. Therefore, her mother is clear in her
goals: she wants Jing-Mei to be a child prodigy and famous.
This suggests that the protagonist is Jing-Mei. And her
mother becomes the antagonist because of her overbearing
desire that Jing-Mei finds a hidden talent. Initially, Jing-Mei
was excited about this idea as well.

RISING ACTION

As her mother tries to find her special talents, she attempts to meld her to
something that she is not. It starts with Jing-Mei getting a perm so she could be
the next Shirley Temple.

Then, she also makes Jing-Mei do “tests” to see what she is good at. This
includes memorizing capitals, studying the Bible, acting, singing, and dancing.
Jing-Mei’s mother wants her to be a prodigy like her friend Waverly, a chess
prodigy. One day, she sees a Chinese girl playing the piano on a television show
and gets the same idea for Jing-Mei. Her mother arranges for her to take lessons
with Mr Chong and this begins to take over her daughter's free time.

CLIMAX

Auntie Lindo Jong and Waverly are invited to Jing-Mei’s first piano
recital. Jing-Mei is overconfident and her performance was a disaster.
She disappoints her mother, and also herself and she regrets not taking
lessons more seriously. The next day, her mother expects her to
practice the piano as if nothing has gone wrong. This is when she
rebels. To get her mother to back off, she tells her mother that she
wished she were dead “like them”. This hurts her mother which leads to
her mother finally give up on her being a prodigy.

FALLING ACTION

Jing-mei never did the best she could at anything.
However, she did have some pride in her piano when
her mother tells her that the piano is hers, and she
should take it.

RESOLUTION

Jing-Mei's mother had recently passed away. She
has the piano tuned and sits down to play. She plays
two songs. The first is entitled “Pleading Child”, and
the second one: “Perfectly Contented”. These are the
songs that she had played when she was a child. She
notices for the first time, after all of these years, that
these two songs are two halves of the same song.

POINT OF VIEW

This story is told by the first-person narrator, which is also the main character Jing-Mei. This
is because the point of view in this story is from an adult looking back on her own childhood
experiences. This allows both the hindsight and judgement of a mature woman and also the
freshness and innocence of a young woman trying to discover her own identity.

LITERARY DEVICES

SYMBOLISM

• The first literary device that I detect in this story is symbolism. The
piano represents her mother’s intention to make her into something
that she is not and also symbolises the struggle that she faces. Plus,
this symbolism is used to express the realization of individualism of
Jing-Mei.

SIMILE

• Next is simile. And she also did a fancy sweep or a curtsy, so that the
fluffy skirt of her white dress cascaded to the floor like petals of a
large carnation, is an example of simile. In this sentence, we can
notice that symbolism is used again. The white dress that is
mentioned represent innocence as it is compared to the white petals
of carnation. With this symbolism and imagery, this causes the
transfer hopes to her mother to make Jing-Mei a musical prodigy.

CONCLUSION

I choose to analyse this story because I like the idea that the
narrator uses double perspective to tell the story. I learn that
children, as they are not mature, tend to rebel when they are asked
to do something that they are against with. Meanwhile, an adult is
less rebellious and more able to better understand things. Hence, I
hope other readers can benefit from this story as well.

Thank you

MADE BY LISA CHARLES [TESL(SK)2]