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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.
Short Answer Questions
1. When Jing-Mei’s mother enrolls her in piano lessons, Jing-Mei says, “I can’t play the piano. And even if I could, I wouldn’t” what?
2. What word from the story means coolly unconcerned, indifferent, or unexcited?
3. Auntie Lindo tells Jing-Mei’s mother that all day long she has no time to do anything but what, when she is bragging about her daughter?
4. By the time that Jing-Mei is preparing to play in the talent recital, her parents have bought her what kind of secondhand piano?
5. While watching the young piano prodigy on The Ed Sullivan Show with her mother, Jing-Mei says, “In spite of these warning signs, I wasn’t worried.” Why was Jing-Mei not concerned?
Short Essay Questions
1. How does Jing-Mei respond to her mother’s comment about her to Auntie Lindo? What foreshadowing follows this scene?
2. In what ways can the reader see early in the story that Jing-Mei’s ambitions (and her mother’s) are misplaced?
3. How does Jing-Mei feel as she prepares to perform at the talent show?
4. How does Suyuan Woo develop and maintain her sense of identity in the story?
5. How does Jing-Mei’s mother respond when Jing-Mei refuses to practice piano after the talent show?
6. How do Suyuan Woo’s ambitions in the beginning of the story set up the central conflict in “Two Kinds”?
7. How do Jing-Mei’s feelings about her mother’s ambitions begin to change early in the story? What causes her feelings to change?
8. What are Suyuan Woo’s views of opportunity in America, as noted by the narrator in the opening of the story?
9. How does the narrative style in “Two Kinds” shift throughout the story? Why does it shift?
10. How does Jing-Mei describe Mr. Chong when she begins piano lessons with him? What does she secretly nickname him?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
Discuss the setting of “Two Kinds” and examine the population, culture, and history of San Francisco’s Chinatown. How large is this neighborhood in the city? How diverse is its population? How did Chinatown differ in the 1950s from today?
Essay Topic 2
Who is “Chinatown’s Littlest Chinese Chess Champion” in the story? What is Jing-Lei’s relationship like with this character? How did this character earn her title? How does this character differ from the protagonist in “Two Kinds”?
Essay Topic 3
Identify and discuss the elements of narrative style in “Two Kinds.” Is the story related in the past, present or future tense? Is the story told from a first, second, or third person narrator? Is the narrator involved in the action? Examine the different reasons the author may have chosen this style. What do you think it adds to the story?
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This section contains 1,005 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) |
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