1. Two Kinds by Amy Tan Introducing the Story
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Introducing the Story
Literary Focus: Conflict and Motivation
Reading Skills: Making Inferences About Motivation

2. Two Kinds by Amy Tan

3. Two Kinds Introducing 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

4. Two Kinds Introducing 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.
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5. Two Kinds Literary Focus: Conflict and Motivation
Conflict is the struggle between opposing characters, forces, or emotions.
external conflict—clash between a character and some outside force (another character, society, nature, a situation)
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.

6. Two Kinds Literary Focus: Conflict and Motivation
Motivation—the 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.

7. Two Kinds Literary Focus: Conflict and Motivation
Conflict and motivation are closely tied. If characters weren’t motivated to fulfill certain wishes or desires, there would be no conflict.
Character is motivated to get something he or she wants.
Something or someone gets in the way.
Conflict

8. Two Kinds Literary 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 mother’s approval.
Conflict clash of wills
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9. Two Kinds Reading Skills: Making Inferences About 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.
Clues from Text
the character’s words and actions
how others react to the character
Inferences About Motivation
Prior Experience
experiences with people
knowledge of how stories work

10. Two Kinds Reading Skills: Making Inferences About Motivation
As you read “Two Kinds,” pay attention to
the mother’s words and actions
Jing-mei’s 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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11. Two Kinds Quickwrite 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 didn’t want to do? Write about your experience and how you felt before, during, and after it.
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12. Vocabulary

13. Two Kinds Vocabulary 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.
discordant adj.: clashing; not in harmony.

14. Two Kinds Vocabulary 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 another’s hopes. Betrayal also means “act of disloyalty; deception.”

15. Two Kinds Vocabulary Vocabulary Activity: Synonyms and Antonyms
Clues to a word’s 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:
Signal Words for Synonyms
similarly as
like too
resembling also
Signal Words for Antonyms
although unlike
yet but
instead still
however not

16. Two Kinds Vocabulary Vocabulary Activity: Synonyms and Antonyms
Jing-mei’s mother had a stricken look, like a woman who was heartbroken.
Like is a signal word for synonyms. Heartbroken is a synonym for stricken.
Antonym
Jing-mei’s mother expected loyalty, not betrayal, from her daughter.
Not is a signal word for antonyms. Loyalty is a antonym for betrayal.

17. Two Kinds Vocabulary 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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18. Meet the Writer

19. Two Kinds Meet the Writer
Amy Tan’s parents emigrated from China to California in the late 1940s, and Amy was born in 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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