Out of Place

"Just be yourself," is a commonly used phrase to motivate others during stressful situations. Telling one to do the opposite rarely ever ends well. However, the latter occurs in both the short story "Two Kinds" and the poem "Poet as Housewife." Amy Tan’s short story “Two Kinds” describes a young Chinese girl who throughout the story makes deliberate attempts to avoid the pressure of her strict mother. Elizabeth Eybers’ poem “Poet as Housewife” describes the life of a housewife who aspires to be a poet. Although the premise of the story and the poem are different, the role of the characters are similar. Both the story and the poem explore the idea of characters who are forced into being something that they are not.
The characters in Tan's story and Eyber's poem are similar because they both have a specific role/job that is expected of them. The girl from “Two Kinds” was held to an extremely high standard from her mother, and was expected to be a “genius” or a “prodigy.” Her mother would constantly force her to try activities such as playing the piano, as shown in the line “Three days after watching the Ed Sullivan Show my mother told me what my schedule would be for piano lessons and piano practice (Tan)." The fact that her mother would organize piano lessons without asking whether or not she wanted to shows how the girl was forced to do so. Eybers' poem is shorter than Tan's story, and nothing is explicitly stated, but based off of the title "Poet as Housewife" and other parts of the poem, it can be concluded that the main character has a similar role to the girl from "Two Kinds." The main character desires to write poetry, but she is forced to be a housewife, and thus does not perform her job as well as she is expected. "Always a broom leaned against the wall / meals never on time, if they come at all (Eybers)." The line describes how the character from "Poet as Housewife" doesn't perform her assigned task with any effort, perhaps due to the fact that she desires to be a poet. Tan's character's role as a genius, prodigy, or a piano player is similar to Eyber's character's role as a housewife, which shows the similarity between the two stories.
The characters in both the story and the poem are also both stubborn and strongly opposed to the "job" forced upon them. Amy Tan's character purposely chose not to listen to her mother, and made deliberate attempts to do what was not asked of her: “I won't let her change me, I promised myself. I won't be what I'm not (Tan)." This shows that the girl from "Two Kinds" doesn't want to do what her mother told her to. Her mother's actions only made her more rebellious. The increased pressure pushed her to the point where she no longer wanted to cooperate. Eybers' poem is slightly different because nothing explicitly states that the main character is opposed to her assigned job, but it can be inferred since she doesn't seem to make an effort to work, and often finds herself confused and out of place in her job. "Days without dates through which she moves / empty and stubborn, slightly confused (Eybers)."  When tied together, it can be concluded that being forced to do something against one's own will incite a new desire to do exactly the opposite. This desire hinders any progress made in the fields of their "job," as shown in both stories.
    The character in Tan's "Two Kinds" does differ from Eyber's character in a huge way. The girl from "Two Kinds" does not desire to become anything else in particular, she is only opposed to her mother for the sake of stopping her mother's pride. She never focused on her mother's tests, she never practiced the piano with any effort, and she purposely deceived her piano teacher. “So now when my mother presented her tests, I performed listlessly, my head propped on one arm. I pretended to be bored (Tan).” The character from "Poet as Housewife," however, has a desire to become a poet. She isn't opposed to her forced job for no reason. This is shown in both the title and the quote "Leave her alone, let her read (Eybers)." This is significant since it shows the difference between the girl in "Two Kinds" and the woman from "Poet as Housewife." It can also be concluded that “Poet as Housewife” takes place somewhere earlier in the past, when most women were expected to be housewives. Female poets weren’t a part of society at the time, and she would probably not be accepted by others. Meanwhile, Amy Tan’s character wouldn’t receive any backlash for being a piano player, a genius, or a prodigy. The two characters are in somewhat similar scenarios, but Tan’s character is still in a much better situation than Eyber’s.
    Amy Tan’s “Two Kinds” and Elizabeth Eyber’s “Poet as Housewife have a number of similarities and differences. The story and the poem both explore the reaction of characters who are forced to be what they are not. Tan’s character is forced to become anything her mother tells her to (piano player, genius, prodigy, etc.). Eyber’s character is forced to be a housewife, and is not allowed to pursue her dream of becoming a poet. The characters are different because Tan's character doesn't have a  dream to be something in particular. The stories can relate to each other but aldo differ in this aspect.