In the stories "Everyday Use " and "Two Kinds,"" the parents heavily try to influence their children's future in order for them to be successful. Each parent tries in their own way to mold their child into the person they envision them becoming in the future. However, the children did not necessarily do what their parents wanted, even though they did gain some of the attributes intended from their parent's ideals. While it's impossible to always get exactly what they want, parents shape the character of their children as they grow into adults. The daughter in Amy Tan's "Two Kinds " began her life completely sold on her mother's ideas about of success and being a "prodigy"." "In all of my imaginings, I was filled with a sense that I would soon become perfect. My mother and father would adore me. I would be beyond reproach. I would never feel the need to sulk for anything" (Tan 336). These high expectations are a direct result from her mother's insistence on becoming academically great. Her mother, being an immigrant, must play a huge role because she had sacrificed so much to give her a great opportunity in America; something she would never see in China. She even begins the story by saying "My mother believed you could be anything you wanted to be in America" (Tan 336). This sets an early tone for how her mother treats her. Her mother fully expects her to grow up and be what her mother wants her to be. .
The relationship between the mother and her two children in "Everyday Use"" brings two separate and almost opposite mother-daughter relationships into play. This story is more focused on the mother and how she grows to realize what type of relationship she values more. In the beginning of her daughter Dee's life she finds a way to give her all the tools to be more successful than anyone in her family previously had ever been. However Dee's condescending attitude made their lives difficult; "She washed us in a river of make-believe, burned us with a lot of knowledge we didn't necessarily need to know.