In Two Kinds by Amy Tan, the eye-catching literary element is conflict. This short story depicts the life of a young Chinese immigrant girl, Jing-mei, and her family. Jing-mei's mother always wanted the best for her daughter, but the definition of "best" for Jing-mei was different from that of her mothers'. Often the modern notions of a daughter conflict with the traditional values of her mother, Jing-mei suffers both internal and external conflicts in this war of wills with her mother.

One of the key examples of external conflict in this story occurs when Jing-mei's mother scheduled piano lessons for Jing-mei without her consent. Jing-mei's mother decides she wants Jing-mei to try her hand at being a pianist so that she can be famed like the little Chinese girl on the Ed Sullivan Show. Jing-mei was upset when she heard this, she said, "When my mother told me...