"Two Kinds" is truly an extraordinary work; captivates readers by telling the story of a young girl trying to find herself. Amy Tan does a phenomenal job, not only portraying a very real relationship between mother and daughter, but showing how much a girl can change. Jing-Mei evolves throughout the story in a way that many people can relate to; shattered hopes, obeying your parents even if it means doing something you don't want to do, and finally standing up for what you believe in. Ever since "You could be anything you wanted to be in America" ​​(Tan 348) Jing-Meis' my mother thought this meant you had to be a prodigy. While this makes "Everything [seems] too simple and too easy to accomplish; [Jing-Mei] doesn't paint a picture of her mother as ignorant or foolish" (Brent). Indeed, in the beginning, Jing-Mei and her mother both try to "choose the right kind of prodigy" (Tan 349). “At first, [she] was as excited as [her] mother,” (Tan 349) she wanted to be a prodigy, she wanted to “become perfect… [she wanted her mother and father to adore her]” (Tan 349). As she strived for perfection, she and her mother tried many different things to try to find the “right kind of prodigy” (Tan 349). "Every evening after dinner, [Jing-Mei and her mother] sat at Formica [Her mother] presented new tests, taking examples from stories of extraordinary children she had read in Ripley's Believe It or Not, or Good Housekeeping, Reader's Digest and a dozen other magazines… [His mother] flipped through them all, looking for stories about extraordinary children” (Tan 350) As time passed “The tests became more difficult: multiplying the numbers in [his] head, finding the queen of hearts in a deck of cards, trying to... of paper......the mother never spoke of the "disaster at the recital or [her] terrible accusations afterwards at the piano bench" (Tan 356) , was surprised when her mother "offered to give her the piano, for her thirtieth birthday" (Tan 357) At first she does not accept it, but then "[h]e reconditioned the piano, for purely sentimental reasons" (Tan 357). ) When her mother dies, Jing-Mei really shows what a dynamic character she is. She realizes that, just like the songs in the piano book, her mother and her "were two halves of the same song" (Tan 357). Works Cited Bernheimer, Kate. "Two guys." Short Stories for Students, Volume 9:287-302Brent, Liz. "Two guys." Short Stories for Students, Volume 9: 287-302Tan, Amy. "Two guys." Literature: a portable anthology. Ed. Janet E. Gardner, et. Al. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2004. 348-357.