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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. How does Jing-Mei describe her school achievements in “Two Kinds”?
(a) I got straight A’s
(b) I skipped two grades
(c) I didn’t get straight A’s
(d) I flunked every class twice

2. 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?
(a) Perfectly Contented
(b) Peter’s Waltz
(c) Pleading Child
(d) Anita’s Dance

3. How many mothers comprise the Joy Luck Club in the story?
(a) 5
(b) 7
(c) 6
(d) 4

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

5. When Jing-Mei has a revelation while staring at herself in the bathroom mirror as a child, she says, “I had new thoughts, willful thoughts, or rather thoughts willed with lots of” what?
(a) Don’ts
(b) Hates
(c) Won’ts
(d) Can’ts

Short Answer Questions

1. What musical term from Jing-Mei’s piano lessons means characterized by abruptness and disconnectedness?

2. What is Auntie Lindo’s last name in the story?

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

4. When her mother offered to give her the piano for her birthday, Jing-Mei says she saw this action as what?

5. What color does Jing-Mei say her mother knitted sweaters in, which were also “all the colors I hated”?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. 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?

3. How does the conflict that marks the climax of the story begin? How much time has passed since Jing-Mei’s performance at the talent show?

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

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

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

8. Why does Amy Tan employ the techniques of oral tradition in “Two Kinds”?

9. What cultural similarities can be seen between the author’s childhood and that of Jing-Mei in “Two Kinds”?

10. How does Jing-Mei describe her relationship to the piano after her fallout with her mother after the talent show?

(see the answer keys)

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