The secret to understanding is the willingness to try. Since the existence of the company, people have always tried to do their best. However, some individuals don't want "the best." Jing-mei, the protagonist of Amy Tan's story “Two Kinds,” is one of these people, convinced that she can never achieve something great. Jing-mei refused to hope that she could be someone special, leading her to stubbornly reject her mother until she finally understood what her mother was trying to do, demonstrating how people will only be happy when they choose to do things of their own free will. .When Jing-mei's mother pushed her to become a prodigy, she refused to try because she believed she couldn't do it and, as a result, became very stubborn. At first, Jing-mei believed that her mother could become anything she wanted in America, the land of opportunity. However, after yelling at herself in the bathroom mirror for constantly raising hopes and failing expectations too miserably, Jing-mei changed her attitude. “I won't let her change me, I promised myself. I will not be what I am not” (Tan 477). Jing-mei began to believe that she was destined to be mediocre, never to be extraordinary. She convinced herself that she could only be herself, which was certainly no wonder. Jing-mei became very determined, but towards the wrong goal, refusing to try. She half-heartedly participated in her mother's tests, and when she started playing the piano, she found a loophole and never tried hard enough. After the recital fiasco, in which Jing-mei miserably failed her piano performance, she decided that “I no longer had to do what my mother said. I was not her slave... I listened to her before and look what happened" (Tan 483), blaming the disaster...... middle of paper......for which his mother held. Yes she realized that her mother only wanted one thing: for her to try. Jing-mei differed from her mother in one way: "I didn't believe I could be whatever I wanted to be" (Tan 484), leading her to stubbornly refuse to try, until, over time, she hadn't finally understood what her mother wanted for her: the best she could be. From the haircut incident to the magazine tests, Jing-mei had more or less tried to live up to her mother's expectations. However, after the piano fiasco, Jing-mei gave up, and soon after, her mother also lost hope in her daughter. It was only years later, after her mother's death, that Jing-mei realized her intentions mother Jing-mei was once a pleading child fixated on the idea that "I could only be myself" (Tan 484), but twenty years later she became perfectly content, understanding that there is no limit to efforts and dreams..