Introducing the Story

Literary Focus: Conflict and Motivation

Reading Skills: Making Inferences About Motivation

Two Kindsby Amy Tan

Feature Menu

Two Kindsby Amy Tan

. . . the aspiring immigrant . . . is not content to progress alone. Solitary success is imperfect success in his eyes. He must take his family with him as he rises.

Mary Antin, 1912

Two KindsIntroducing the Story

Two KindsIntroducing the Story

The mother in “Two Kinds” is a Chinese immigrant who sees promise in all that America has to offer. She pushes her daughter Jing-mei to become a prodigy. What will happen when Jing-mei pushes back?

What events helped shape the character of Jing-mei’s mother?

Click here to find out.

[End of Section]

Two KindsLiterary Focus: Conflict and Motivation

• external conflict—clash between a character and some outside force (another character, society, nature, a situation)

Conflict is the struggle between opposing characters, forces, or emotions.

• internal conflict—struggle between opposing needs, desires, or emotions within a character

An external conflict can often lead to an internal one, and vice versa.

Motivation—the reasons characters behave as they do.

Two KindsLiterary Focus: Conflict and Motivation

• Literary characters, like real-life people, are motivated by their wants and needs. They make choices and behave in a certain way in order to get what they want.

Conflict and motivation are closely tied. If characters weren’t motivated to fulfill certain wishes or desires, there would be no conflict.

Two KindsLiterary Focus: Conflict and Motivation

Conflict

Something or someone gets in the way.

Character is motivated to get something he or she wants.

The mother and daughter in “Two Kinds” are strongly motivated to influence each other.

Two KindsLiterary Focus: Conflict and Motivation

Mother wants . . .her daughter to excel so the mother can feel proud and brag to her friends.

Daughter wants . . .to be allowed to be ordinary and still have her mother’s approval.

Conflictclash of wills

[End of Section]

InferencesAbout

Motivation

To understand a character’s motivation, you must make inferences, or intelligent guesses.

Base your inferences on clues from the text as well as on your own life experience.

Two KindsReading Skills: Making Inferences About Motivation

Clues from Text• the character’s words and actions• how others react to the character

Prior Experience• experiences with people • knowledge of how stories work

As you read “Two Kinds,” pay attention to

• how the two react to one another

Two KindsReading Skills: Making Inferences About Motivation

• the mother’s words and actions

• Jing-mei’s words and actions

Use your powers of inference to determine what motivates each of these characters.

[End of Section]