When a Broken Past Tries to be a Bright Future

When a Broken Past Tries to be a Bright Future

By: Max Patel

Lyrics that appear in “Small Bump” by Ed Sheeran reflect the exact same thoughts that the mother in “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan is depicted feeling. An example of this is the lyric of the repeating pre-chorus: “I'll hold you tightly, I'll give you nothing but truth. If you're not inside me, I'll put my future in you.” This shows how the mother loves Jing-Mei, her daughter, and is only pushing her as hard as she is in hopes of helping her attain a brighter future. She, herself, is the only piece of history that has survived from her broken past, leaving her with nothing to use to raise Jing-Mei with. This is explained with the line, “If you’re not inside me, I’ll put my future in you.” Her daughter is not “inside her” because her daughter is not obedient the way she wants her to be. They do not connect enough to feel like parts of each other has been ingrained within the other. Instead, the mother feels like Jing-Mei is almost foreign. Because the mother both no longer has a future to hold on to, and doesn’t feel the strong bond with Jing-Mei she hoped she would, she desperately throws her love at Jing-Mei in ways that Jing-Mei doesn’t understand or appreciate by giving her all the opportunities she can to succeed. Another way to interpret the lyrics and text is that the mother’s horrible past has left her with a dull future revolving around Jing-mei, so she is in turn putting all of her dreams into her daughter hoping that she will come to be her great accomplishment. Her future.