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. What does Jing-Mei’s father do as they travel home after the talent show?
(a) He slaps Jing-Mei
(b) He hums
(c) He apologizes
(d) He silently weeps

2. What does Auntie Lindo’s daughter say matter-of-factly to Jing-Mei after her performance at the talent show?
(a) You aren’t a genius like me
(b) You did a wonderful job
(c) You should really be a singer
(d) You’re not as talented as you think you are

3. What does Mr. Chong live in relation to Jing-Mei’s family when she’s growing up?
(a) In the basement of the apartment building
(b) Next door to Jing-Mei’s apartment on the second floor
(c) On the top floor of the apartment building
(d) On the first floor of the apartment building

4. Jing-Mei describes the sound of the “bellows of the foghorns out on the bay” as sounding like what?
(a) The sound of whales crying
(b) The cow jumping over the moon
(c) The sound of my fury
(d) The bellows of a church horn

5. When did the Japanese invasion of China take place, leading Jing-Mei’s mother to flee China?
(a) 1911
(b) 1937
(c) 1943
(d) 1929

Short Answer Questions

1. Jing-Mei says that Mr. Chong would have her curve her hand around what object and then keep that shape while playing chords?

2. Who does Jing-Mei tell her mother she wishes she were like as they argue about piano practice after the talent show?

3. What U.S. President signed the Chinese Exclusion Act into law?

4. Jing-Mei says to her mother as they argue over piano practice after the talent show, “I’ll never be the kind of daughter you want me to be!” Her mother responds, “Only two kinds of daughters.” What are these two kinds?

5. In the 1993 film adaptation of The Joy Luck Club, what actress played the role of Jing-Mei?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. How does Suyuan Woo develop and maintain her sense of identity in the story?

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

4. What arrangement is made between Suyuan Woo and Mr. Chong in regards to Jing-Mei’s piano study and practice?

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

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

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

8. Why do you think the author chose to set the story (and the others in The Joy Luck Club) in San Francisco?

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

10. How does Jing-Mei describe Mr. Chong’s history in music? How does she describe her first lessons?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 987 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample