As we reviewed “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan it was actually a pretty good story. Based off her life, Tan explains themes of expectations vs. reality, and obedience vs. defiance. Also another theme that is looked at is man vs himself. Tan’s mother expects a lot from her. She is always on Tan, but in reality, Tan doesn’t believe she can meet the expectations.
In Tan’s actual life, her parents wanted her to become a neurosurgeon. She, on the other hand, wanted to pursue her love of fiction and become a fiction writer. Working 90 hours a week as a freelance technical writer fiction was her release. Many of us can relate to this today. Wether we use writing, music, sports, drawing, or musical instruments, we all have some sort of release to take our minds off of stress, problems, and sometimes just simply to relax. In the story, Tan’s mother pushed her to play piano and to also be smart. At first, Tan accepted this thought, and she wanted to embrace it. However, after so much push from her mother, she quickly gives up on this dream.
"Two Kinds" of Cultural Differences 
I didn’t see Tan as wanting to pursue the piano one bit. In the being of the story it showed that Tan disapproved of what her mother wanted for her. She lacked the voice to say anything about it until her embarrassment during her show. The only reason she went on to pursue the piano was because of the thought of her parents joy. Towards the end she realized that the mother intension wasn’t to hurt her but to build her.