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Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.

The Piano

The piano in ”Two Kinds” symbolizes Jing-mei’s mother’s hope. When Jing-mei’s mother thinks Jing-mei is making an honest attempt to learn piano, she saves up her money to buy one for their living room. She is proud of Jing-mei and allows her hope to take up substantial space in their home. Jing-mei’s continued disillusionment with her mother’s expectations makes the piano undesirable, and her unwillingness to properly play it stems from her desire to stifle her mother’s hope. Jing-mei expects that her terrible performance at the talent show will kill her mother’s hope, but she finds that it lives on when her mother forces her back onto the piano bench to practice. When Jing-mei lashes out with the worst insult she can think of, she both breaks her mother and silences the piano for the rest of her mother’s life, though the closed-lid piano continues to sit in the living room. As years pass, Jing-mei fearfully wonders why her mother gave up hope. When Jing-mei’s mother offers her the piano on her thirtieth birthday, Jing-mei feels a sense of relief and begins to view the piano as a trophy. She now understands that her mother never gave up hope. Instead, she chose to give Jing-mei the freedom to be an individual. Jing-mei’s gentle treatment of the piano after her mother dies shows that she cherishes the hope she feared she had stolen from her mother. 

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