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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Jing-Mei says in the end of the story of her mother that she had “never found a way to ask her why she had hoped for something so large that” what “was inevitable”?
(a) Revenge
(b) Despair
(c) Failure
(d) Sadness

2. What does Jing-Mei say Mr. Chong would balance on her wrists as she practiced piano so that she would keep them still?
(a) Apples
(b) Dimes
(c) Pennies
(d) Quarters

3. When Jing-Mei has a revelation while staring at herself in the bathroom mirror as a child, how does she describe the girl who is staring back at her?
(a) Angry, powerful
(b) Broken, ashamed
(c) Soft, radiant
(d) Confused, lost

4. Edvard Grieg was a composer and pianist from what country?
(a) France
(b) England
(c) Norway
(d) Germany

5. When Jing-Mei and her mother get into an argument about Jing-Mei beginning piano lessons, Jing-Mei’s mother exclaims, “If she had as much talent as she has temper, she would be” what?
(a) Famous now
(b) Easier to deal with
(c) Rich now
(d) A better daughter

Short Answer Questions

1. As Jing-Mei sits down to begin her piano solo at the talent show, she envisions whom rushing up to introduce her to everyone on TV?

2. How many days after the talent show is it when Jing-Mei is surprised that her mother insists she practice piano?

3. What is the name of the song that Jing-Mei finds next to the Schumann piece she played for the talent show at the end of the story?

4. What is the name of Auntie Lindo’s daughter in the story?

5. When Jing-Mei’s mother still lived in China, her husband was serving as an officer where?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Jing-Mei describe the piece she is to play at the talent show? How does she describe her practice for the performance?

2. What is the most significant element of the communication and culture gaps between Jing-Mei and her mother in the story?

3. How does Jing-Mei respond to her mother’s news that she will be taking piano lessons?

4. What does Jing-Mei overhear her mother and Auntie Lindo talking about after she’s studied piano for a year?

5. What does Jing-Mei say to her mother to hurt her during their conflict in the climax of the story? How does Suyuan respond?

6. How does the narrative style in “Two Kinds” shift throughout the story? Why does it shift?

7. How did critics receive The Joy Luck Club and “Two Kinds” upon publication?

8. What performer fascinates Suyuan Woo while watching the Ed Sullivan Show early in the story? How does Jing-Mei respond?

9. How does Jing-Mei describe her life as she passed from childhood to adulthood? In what ways does she say she disappointed her mother?

10. How does Jing-Mei’s mother respond when Jing-Mei refuses to practice piano after the talent show?

(see the answer keys)

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