View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Who performs first at the talent show where Jing-Mei makes her piano debut?
(a) The adults
(b) The oldest children
(c) The youngest children
(d) The trombone players

2. What does Jing-Mei say she mostly did do while she was practicing her music for the talent show?
(a) Daydreamed about being elsewhere
(b) Practiced her scales and chords
(c) Focused on the keys she was playing
(d) Listened to all the errors she made

3. When her mother offered to give her the piano for her birthday, Jing-Mei says she saw this action as what?
(a) A sign of repentance
(b) A sign of apology
(c) A sign of hope
(d) A sign of forgiveness

4. 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) Broken, ashamed
(b) Angry, powerful
(c) Soft, radiant
(d) Confused, lost

5. How does Jing-Mei describe Auntie Lindo’s smile when she looks out at the audience before beginning her piano solo at the talent show?
(a) Slivery
(b) Terse and comical
(c) Stiff-lipped
(d) Broad and happy

Short Answer Questions

1. Jing-Mei says in the end of the story that “unlike my mother, I did not believe I could” what?

2. What does Jing-Mei wear in her hair at the talent show?

3. Jing-Mei is surprised after her “talent-show fiasco” that her mother did not do what?

4. Describing her mother’s reaction to her hurtful words, Jing-Mei says, “she backed out of the room, stunned, as if she were blowing away like” what?

5. Edvard Grieg was a composer and pianist from what country?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the concept of identity relate centrally to the conflicts in “Two Kinds”?

2. Who attends the talent show when Jing-Mei performs? How does Jing-Mei take the stage?

3. What does Jing-Mei describe doing every night with her mother at the kitchen table as a child in the beginning of the story?

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

5. What comment does Waverly Jong make to Jing-Mei after her performance at the talent show? How does this make Jing-Mei feel?

6. What “transformation” does Jing-Mei undergo while looking into the mirror as a child?

7. What does Jing-Mei say in defense of the performer on the Ed Sullivan Show when she is criticized by her mother? How does this defense backfire?

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

9. How and when did the repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act influence immigration in the U.S.?

10. How does the central conflict of the story begin to manifest in Jing-Mei’s mind following her revelation in the mirror?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 954 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample