How do you define family?

A family can be defined as a basic social unit where two or more persons are living together regularly, who are either related by common ancestry/ blood, marriage, guardianship, adoption, sharing common values and goals and have long-term commitment to one another, and reside usually in a common dwelling place. It comprises of: elderly family, single persons, disabled family, a kinship care or a foster care arrangement. Other persons termed as family members include those who are temporarily absent maybe doing their endeavors away from the household. Within the family, different people play different roles. Parents take the leading role by providing the required needs to the family. Parents also act as first degree mentors and role models to their children thus directly involved in modeling career and morality. Since the parents are the leaders in the family they make the major decisions in the home, For instance they rule over the childrens career choice, this may cause the child to be torn between the parents dream and his/her own if at all her/his dreams conflict with those of parents. This is clearly evident in the story of Amy tan called two kinds which shows the complex relationship between a mother and a daughter. "Two Kinds'' is concerned with the complex relationships between a mother and a daughter. In particular, authors subject is the distance between mothers who were born in China before the communist revolution and therefore had been cut off from their native culture for decades, and their American-born daughters who must make it through the twin burdens of their Chinese ancestry and American expectations for success. This story was narrated by jing-mei, a Chinese-American girl who was locked in struggle over her identity with her Chinese immigrant mother who believed that one could be anything he/she wanted in America. Her mothers desire was to mould her into a musical prodigy in order to compete with one of her friends daughter. Even though her mother expected more from her, jing-mei was happy just being herself. She thought that was whats best for her daughter. Just like you, she said, Not the best because you are not trying. (Amy Tan, pg. 35) She tried everything to make Jing-mei talented in some way. She pushed Jing-mei right over the edge, making Jing-mei find her true, aggressive nature. Every time her mother snapped at her to try harder, she snapped back. For unlike my mother, I did not believe I could do anything I wanted to be. I could only be me. (Amy Tan, pg. 41) Because of Jing-meis different view she began to fight with her mother a lot. The more they disputed, the farther away their relation drifted. Until they came to realize that the piano wasnt only the root of their problems, but the solution as well. After her mother died, she went back to the piano. She began to play the song that caused the breaking point of her relationship with her mother. Then she played the song next to it with great satisfaction. And after I played them both a few times, I realized they were two halves of the same song. (Amy Tan, pg. 42) her relationship with her mother may have seemed disastrous and apart, but together they shared a strong bond that made them whole, they were a family. Jing-meis resoluteness to stay that way she was, was much like the song Perfectly Contented, she was satisfied with the way things were. Yet her mothers aggressive, pushy attitude was a lot like Pleading Child. As she pushed and begged her daughter Jing-mei to cooperate and become

famous. Even though the two disagreed, like the songs, they formed one beautiful song, Family has issues like seen above where jing-meis mother wanted her daughter to have American dream so much so that she had gotten on her own daughters actual intellectual level and happiness leading to the scarred and ruined relationship between her and the daughter. Work cited. 1) Levia dinardo Hayes And Bradley waltman Words on paper (essays on American culture for college writers) Page 42 The Good Daughter By Caroline Hwang Page 68 Two kinds By Amy Tan. 2) http://www.mbednarzyk.com/files/tguginTanAnalysis.pdf 3) Kirszner, Laurie G., and Stephen R. Mandel. Literature: reading, reacting, writing. Di 1 ban, ying yin ben. Ed. Beijing: Beijing da xue Chu ban she, 2006. Print, pg311. 4) Amy tam, two kinds, philadalphia, 2001, pg 35, 41, 42.