Two Kinds is a story about the mother-daughter relationship: Suyuan and Jing-mei. Suyuan believed that America was the place where her dreams would be realized. He thought that his daughter, Jing-mei, would be the one to make them. Jing-mei, on the other hand, was a confused child at first. She was led to believe she could be someone. At first she followed her mother, but when she felt that her mother was already forcing her and stealing her youth, she told herself that it was the end. The story is a clash between two individuals of two generations and different beliefs (Suyuan, who basically grew up in China, and Jing-mei, who was born and raised in the United States). The theme of the story has a lot to do with Amy Tan's life. own experience – in particular his relationship with his mother. It tells of the difficulties of mother and daughter in understanding each other. Although the episodes narrated in the story never actually happened in his life, they were very close to reality. And in his interview he said that was the closest thing to describing his life. Furthermore, we see not only cultural differences, but also the need for immigrants to demonstrate that they definitely have a place in the United States and that they are as talented or more talented than Americans. Literary Approach Biographical and Marxist/sociological approaches are the most appropriate tools to better understand history. As already mentioned, Amy Tan's life is very similar to Jing-mei's. Tan was born in Oakland, California to parents who immigrated to the United States from China. So, this caused Tan... middle of paper ...... not to reach perfect contentment without her mother giving her the chance to realize what she truly wanted. The two songs may be opposites but as Jing-mei played them, she noticed that they were two halves of the same song. Suyuan and Jing-mei prefer the songs to be more or less similar, but still make a perfect melody. It means that without the other you can never be a better person. Both shaped each other. REFERENCES Interview with My Tan. Retrieved January 2, 2007, from the World Wide Web: www.achievement.org/autodoc/printmember/tan0intCritical Approaches to Literature. http://brainstorm-services.com/wcu-2002/critical-approaches.htmlMicrosoft ® Encarta ® 2007. © 1993-2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Two types of Amy Tan. Anti-essays. Retrieved January 4, 2007, from the World Wide Web: http://www.antiessays.com/free-essays/2219.html