A minor character in a short story often plays an important role. Amy Tan proves this in the short story "Two Kinds". Mr. Chong, the old, strange and deaf music teacher plays a very small role, yet is so vital in this story. .
Suyuan, Jing-Mei's mother, has always seen America as a land of hope and fulfillment wanting her daughter to have every advantage in this land of opportunity, she gave her various lessons, such as piano and acting, and encouraged her to apply herself in school so she could have intellectual excellence. Jing-Mei resented her mother's interference and insistence on excellence. For Jing-Mei's thirteenth birthday she gave her daughter the piano, and with that lessons were to be given. .
Mr. Chong was not like a regular piano teacher, "He was deaf. Like Beethoven!" (p. 503). Though he was deaf, he did hear the music, but only in his head. Jing-Mei decided that because of that, she could very well take advantage of that. You see, his eyes were too old to follow along to see if she was hitting the right notes. Though she honestly didn't care that much as to how it sounded, to Mr. Chong, it sounded wonderful and he always applauded her after she was done. .
A few weeks later, Mr. Chong planed to have Jing-Mei play in a talent show at the Church, not knowing that it would only humiliate her in the end run. As Jing-Mei finished her performance, Mr. Chong was the only one to applaud her as he heard her performance as he saw her-content, beautiful, well together and organized. .
Amy Tan has appropriately titled this chapter as "Two Kinds." Suyuan and Jing-Mei are opposites in their natures and attitudes. The title also refers to two pieces of music on the piano. As a child, Jing-Mei had considered the two parts .
to be separate pieces, neither of which she could master. After her mother's death, however, she takes up the piano again and discovers that the pieces are two parts of a whole.
