Two Kinds: Quotes that Drive the Plot

Before going to bed that night, I looked in the mirror above the bathroom sink and when I saw only my face staring back—and that it would always be this ordinary face—I began to cry. Such a sad, ugly girl! I made high-pitched noises like a crazed animal, trying to scratch out the face in the mirror.

The tests and pressures Jing-mei’s mother has put on her daughter have culminated in both Jing-mei’s failure and her mother’s increasing disappointment, which she doesn’t hide from her daughter. After the test in which Jing-mei is supposed to recite details from a Bible page and can’t, Jing-mei begins to break down. This moment where she stares at her reflection in the mirror marks a turning point for Jing-mei in which she sees herself as an embodiment of her mother’s disappointment and dashed hopes. This is devastating to a child who is still figuring out who she is, and she loses all sense of herself, characterizing herself as animalistic in her pain.

Quote 2

And right then, I was determined to put a stop to her foolish pride.

After her breakdown, Jing-mei builds herself back up based on her strongest emotion at the time: anger. She becomes determined to find her individuality and to never give her mother that power again. To ensure this, she believes she must fail because it is the opposite of what her mother wants. In this moment, Jing-mei has heard her mother’s unwarranted bragging about her natural talent for music. Her anger makes her see her mother’s pride as foolish.

Quote 3

And I could sense her anger rising to its breaking point. I wanted to see it spill over. And that’s when I remembered the babies she had lost in China, the ones we never talked about. ‘Then I wish I’d never been born!’ I shouted. ‘I wish I were dead! Like them.

After her horrible performance at the talent show, Jing-mei expects that her mother will abandon her hopes of Jing-mei becoming a piano prodigy. Her mother, however, stubbornly forces her to sit down at the piano to practice again, and an angrily tearful Jing-mei refuses to play. In this quote, Jing-mei attempts to transfer her anger to her mother by hurting her just as Jing-mei feels hurt. She uses the one subject that is taboo in the house as a weapon: the traumatic losses of her mother’s past. Though Jing-mei has expected her mother to scream and rage, she instead deflates and retreats in defeat. In this moment, the power of Jing-mei’s anger is fully realized.

Quote 4

So she surprised me. A few years ago, she offered to give me the piano, for my thirtieth birthday, I had not played in all those years. I saw the offer as a sign of forgiveness, a tremendous burden removed.

Jing-mei gains perspective in adulthood and reconsiders the incident with the piano. Her wonder as to why her mother gave up hope signifies that Jing-mei never really wanted to rob her mother of hope; she only wanted space to discover who she was. In adulthood, however, she is burdened by guilt for her actions. When Jing-mei’s mother offers the piano and reminds her of her potential, Jing-mei is comforted by the fact that her mother never lost hope and has forgiven her for her wounding behavior.

Next section Quotes by Character