Two Kinds by Amy Tan

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Two Kindsby Amy Tan
Feature Menu
Introducing the Story Literary Focus Conflict
and Motivation Reading Skills Making Inferences
About Motivation
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Two Kindsby Amy Tan
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Two KindsIntroducing the Story
. . . 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
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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-meis mother?
Click here to find out.
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Two KindsLiterary Focus Conflict and Motivation
Conflict is the struggle between opposing
characters, forces, or emotions.

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

• internal conflictstruggle between opposing
  needs, desires, or emotions within a character

An external conflict can often lead to an
internal one, and vice versa.
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Two KindsLiterary Focus Conflict and Motivation
Motivationthe reasons characters behave as they
do.

• 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.

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Two KindsLiterary Focus Conflict and Motivation
Conflict and motivation are closely tied. If
characters werent motivated to fulfill certain
wishes or desires, there would be no conflict.
Something or someone gets in the way.
Character is motivated to get something he or she
wants.
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Two KindsLiterary Focus Conflict and Motivation
The mother and daughter in Two Kinds are
strongly motivated to influence each other.
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 mothers approval.
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Two KindsReading Skills Making Inferences About
Motivation
To understand a characters motivation,
you must make inferences, or intelligent guesses.
Base your inferences on clues from the text as
well as on your own life experience.
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Two KindsReading Skills Making Inferences About
Motivation
As you read Two Kinds, pay attention to

• the mothers words and actions

• Jing-meis words and actions

• how the two react to one another

Use your powers of inference to determine what
motivates each of these characters.
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Two KindsQuickwrite
Make the Connection
Disagreements sometimes arise when what we want
to do differs from what others want us to do. Has
anyone ever expected you to do something you
really didnt want to do? Write about your
experience and how you felt before, during, and
after it.
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Vocabulary
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Two KindsVocabulary
Previewing the Vocabulary prodigy n. child of
highly unusual talent or genius. lamented v.
said with regret or sorrow. Lamented also means
mourned for regretted intensely. listlessly
adv. without energy or interest. mesmerizing v.
used as adj. spellbinding fascinating. discordan
t adj. clashing not in harmony.
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Two KindsVocabulary
Previewing the Vocabulary dawdled v. wasted
time lingered. stricken adj. heartbroken
affected by or suffering from something painful
or distressing. fiasco n. total
failure. nonchalantly adv. without interest or
concern indifferently. betrayal n. failure to
fulfill anothers hopes. Betrayal also means act
of disloyalty deception.
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Two KindsVocabulary
Vocabulary Activity Synonyms and Antonyms Clues
to a words meaning often can be found by
identifying synonyms (words with similar
meanings) or antonyms (words with opposite
meanings) in the sentence. Look for signal words
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Two KindsVocabulary
Vocabulary Activity Synonyms and Antonyms
Synonym
Jing-meis mother had a stricken look, like a
woman who was heartbroken.
Like is a signal word for synonyms. Heartbroken
is a synonym for stricken.
Jing-meis mother expected loyalty, not betrayal,
from her daughter.
Antonym
Not is a signal word for antonyms. Loyalty is a
antonym for betrayal.
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Two KindsVocabulary
Vocabulary Activity Synonyms and Antonyms Each
sentence contains a bold-faced Word Bank word.
Find the synonym or antonym of the bold-faced
word.
1. The math prodigy was hailed as a
genius. 2. Although she approached the task
listlessly, she soon began to apply herself more
energetically. 3. He spoke nonchalantly of his
accomplishments, as if indifferent to his
success. 4. Instead of the melodious music they
had expected, the audience heard only discordant
sounds.
synonym
antonym
synonym
antonym
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Meet the Writer
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Two KindsMeet the Writer
Amy Tans parents emigrated from China to
California in the late 1940s, and Amy was born in
1952. Her Chinese name is An-mei it means
blessing from America. When Amy Tan was growing
up, her family moved frequently. They finally
settled in Santa Clara, California. After winning
an essay contest at age eight, Tan began to dream
of becoming a fiction writer, although her
parents wanted her to be a neurosurgeon.
More About the Writer
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