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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. Of Auntie Lindo’s daughter, Jing-Mei says “We had grown up together and shared all the closeness of two sisters squabbling over crayons and dolls. In other words, for the most part, we” what?
(a) Loved each other
(b) Pestered each other
(c) Hated each other
(d) Envied each other

2. After Jing-Mei’s hair debacle where it was cut off like a boy’s, what statement does she make about her feelings of the haircut?
(a) I liked the haircut and it made me actually look forward to my future fame
(b) I hated the haircut and it made me feel like I would never live up to my mother’s expectations
(c) I liked the haircut and felt like I would now no longer be bullied in school
(d) I thought the haircut made me look like a villain from a Disney movie

3. Jing-Mei describes her mother having given her a Bible page to study and then report everything she could remember when she was a child. What does Jing-Mei tell her mother is all she can recall from the passage?
(a) Now Jehoshaphat had riches and honor in abundance
(b) For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith
(c) And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose
(d) In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth

4. What musical term in the story refers to the sounding of notes in a chord in rapid succession instead of simultaneously?”
(a) Arpeggio
(b) Sonata
(c) Bass
(d) Trill

5. What does Jing-Mei’s mother tell her she looks like after she’s been given a bad perm at the beauty school?
(a) Raggedy Anne
(b) A Cupie Doll
(c) Negro Chinese
(d) An orphan

Short Answer Questions

1. The little girl that Jing-Mei and her mother watch playing piano on The Ed Sullivan Show is said to have what kind of haircut?

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

3. How do Jing-Mei and her parents travel home after the talent show?

4. Jing-Mei describes the fingers of Mr. Chong’s mother as feeling like what?

5. Of her first lessons with Mr. Chong, Jing-Mei says, “I would play after him, the simple scale, the simple chord and then I just played some nonsense that sounded like” what?

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 are Suyuan Woo’s views of opportunity in America, as noted by the narrator in the opening of the story?

3. How does Jing-Mei describe her mother’s immigration to America in the opening of the story? What did she leave behind?

4. What theme connects “Two Kinds” to the other stories in The Joy Luck Club?

5. When does Jing-Mei’s mother first introduce to her the concept of a child prodigy?

6. How does Jing-Mei respond to her mother’s comment about her to Auntie Lindo? What foreshadowing follows this scene?

7. What does Jing-Mei overhear her mother saying about her to Auntie Lindo midway through the story?

8. How does Suyuan Woo go about discovering her daughter’s “genius” in the beginning of the story?

9. How does Jing-Mei feel as she prepares to perform at the talent show?

10. How do the subjects and themes in Amy Tan’s works relate to those of other Asian American authors?

(see the answer keys)

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