Unobtainable Expectations

Both Beyonce and Jing-Mei share a similar struggle of never living up to others expectations despite how hard they try. In the song “Pretty Hurts,” Beyonce is living under the microscope of beauty pageant judges, who constantly “shine a light on whatever’s worse.” Her hair is never blonde enough, her boobs are never big enough, and her body is never thin enough. Although Beyonce tries to fix all of her imperfections and live up to the unachievable goals of the pageant world, they never seem to run out and it always wants more from her. In the end, Beyonce is left is a state of despair and self-hate because she isn’t enough despite all of her self-detrimental efforts. In Amy Tan's "Two Kinds," Jing-Mei also struggles with never living up to expectations in her quest to become a prodigy. Jing-Mei’s Mother believes that she must be a prodigy at something. Jing-Mei’s life becomes a series of tests to discover her special secret talent. As the tests progress and Jing-Mei fails to find a gift, she feels more and more like a disappointment because she isn’t living up to her mother’s high expectations. She says, “I hated the tests, the raised hopes and the failed expectations.” No matter how hard she tried to be a prodigy, it never worked out and Jin-Mei’s mother was always disappointed, similar to the pageant judges in “Pretty Hurts”. In both “Pretty Hurts” and “Two Kinds”, Beyonce and Jing-Mei strive for the goal of perfection, always falling short because perfection is an ideal that no one can achieve.