In "Two Kinds", what is the most important element of fiction?

Obviously, everyone will differ in their interpretation of
this story and what is most important, but to me you will want to focus on the ending of
this challenging short story about growing up and gaining independence from your
parents.

The end of "Two Kinds" represents both the end of
the conflict between Jing Mei and her mother that can be traced throughout this short
story and Jing Mei's own self-acceptance of herself as an
individual.

Before her mother dies, Jing Mei is given the
piano by her mother. It is interesting that she describes this as a "shiny trophy" - a
metaphor that clearly indicates her feelings about the piano and about her conflict with
her mother over her piano playing. Jing Mei regards the piano as a "shiny trophy"
because she has won it, but on her own terms, rather than through being forced to do
something by her mother.

Jing Mei's discovery of the
partner-song to "Pleading Child" indicates her own development as an individual and her
arrival at a stage where she is happy with who she is and is no longer trying to be
someone she is not or live her life for someone else (namely her mother). The title,
"Perfectly Contented" clearly suggests that having gone through a stage where Jing Mei
was a "Pleading Child", desperate for her mother's approval, she is now happy with
herself.

Jing Mei's realisation that they were "two halves
of the same song" perhaps indicates that this is a universal struggle that all must go
through: we all go through a stage when we are a "Pleading Child", wanting our parents'
approval and aprobation, yet eventually have to learn to live our own life and make our
own choices, and become "Perfectly Contented." The use of the names of these two pieces
of music therefore to me encapsulate the message of this powerful work of
fiction.