Character Analysis

A well-developed character is an important element in a short story. It stirs up emotions in the reader, making for a powerful story. The success of a short story depends greatly on the strength and authenticity of the characters. In interpreting a story, the reader must be able to understand the characters behind the events of a story. The mothers in Amy Tan’s “Two Kinds” and Joyce Carol Oates’ “Shopping” are contrasting examples of such traits.
In Amy Tan’s “Two Kinds”, we are introduced to a nameless character simply referred to as “my mother” throughout the story. Although her daughter, Jing Mei, held the narrator’s microphone, her mother was the pulpit on which the theme of a mother-daughter relationship was projected. She was a first generation Chinese immigrant who "believed you could be anything you wanted to be in America." (pg 211) Early in the story she was portrayed as a survivor of the devastating loss of her entire family in China, includi...