Two Kinds

An anecdote is a short story that often supports a larger story. Amy Tan chooses to provide anecdotal evidence in “Two Kinds” through the placement of Jing-mei’s childhood memories as examples supporting claims she makes from the distance of an adult. Since she took lessons from Mr. Chong for approximately a year, Jing-mei has a plethora of anecdotes to highlight his incompetence: “He went through the motions in half-time. To help me keep rhythm, he stood behind me, pushing down on my right shoulder for every beat. He balanced pennies on top of my wrists so I would keep them still as I slowly played scales and arpeggios. He had me curve my hand around an apple and keep that shape when playing chords. He marched stiffly to show me how to make each finger dance up and down, staccato like an obedient little soldier” (14). These individual scenarios add up to a scene that articulates how she discovers his handicap.

An antihero is a main character who is not heroic and possesses some negative traits. Jing-mei is an archetypal antihero in “Two Kinds.” While she is the narrator and the