Two Kinds Reader Response

Connections:
1. There were times when I also thought that there was no need to practice my instruments or try hard because I'd never be the best at it anyway.
2. I also played at monthly recitals for piano. OK, maybe not monthly, but I played frequently at recitals that my piano teacher arranged. She would tell all her students to prepare one piece and we got together one night at a room in the arts center and performed. I got to wear a pretty, velvet purple dress.
3. I thought the same things Jing-Mei said: "Why don't you like me the way I am? I'm NOT a genius!" My mother and my father are both good at studying, and are really smart, and so they have these high expectations for me. And I had been meeting them all the time. Until one math test. And I kept thinking "GOSH I'm not perfect, I'm not a robot made to solve math problems and do everything right. So WHAT if I make a few mistakes, at least I can fix it next time!"
4. There was a time when I wanted to quit piano. The teacher was so scary and piano just wasn't fun anymore. But my mom wouldn't let me quit. She MADE me keep playing. But she told me a story first. She told me how her mother let her quit so easily, and now she regretted it so much because she wishes she could play piano well still. So she made me continue. But she changed teachers, and with the new teacher, it was much better. Jing-Mei's mother made her go to the piano and practice.
5. Jing-Mei's rant about wishing she were never born is the classic tantrum line in stories that kids say when they're mad at their parents. I don't remember which book or movie, but I remember a child shouting this out when arguing with parents or someone they weren't getting along with.
6. At the end, Jing-Mei started playing piano again and was shocked to find it came easily. I was shocked when, after a whole month of not playing piano, I was actually able to play my songs easily. It amazed me that my fingers hadn't forgotten what my brain had.

My personal perspective:
Well, this story was pretty funny to me. I know, funny isn't really the first adjective that comes to mind when thinking of "Two Kinds", but it was to me. It was, because these thoughts that kept running through Jing-Mei's mind, were identical to mine. She kept thinking "I'm not a genius, I can't do this, so I might as well not try," and my thoughts are "I'm not good at this, why am I doing it?" There are really sometimes when I think this. I'm not quite at giving up, but still, it was so funny to me how I could connect so well with a character's feelings. "Two Kinds" is a story about a girl and her mother. The mother wanted her daughter to become a prodigy, to become famous, but the girl gave up trying, thinking that she couldn't be anyone else but herself. And eventually, her mother gave up to. She started piano lessons, but then gave up on it. And years later, when she is back on the piano her parents had bought, she realizes she had a natural talent. It was just that she never cared enough to try. It was a good story; the rising action added to the conflict and it was sad reading the climax scene. I was shocked she could take the feelings in my head and carry them out to that extreme extent. But this story was a very interesting one that I won't forget.