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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. What word from the story means to play music with a vibratory or quavering effect?

2. 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?

3. How does Jing-Mei describe the secondhand piano that her parents bought for her?

4. What musical term, taught by Mr. Chong to Jing-Mei in their lessons, means pertaining to the highest part in harmonized music?

5. By the time that Jing-Mei is preparing to play in the talent recital, her parents have bought her what kind of secondhand piano?

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

3. How does Jing-Mei describe her life as she passed from childhood to adulthood? In what ways does she say she disappointed her mother?

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

5. What child star does Suyuan Woo attempt to mold her daughter into? What happens with this attempt?

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

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

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

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

10. What does Jing-Mei find when she takes her bow after her performance at the talent show?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe and discuss the ambitions that Jing-Mei might have pursued as a child if her mother had not attempted to mold her into her own ambitions. What subjects does Jing-Mei profess interest in? In what ways might her mother have attempted to pursue these interests for her daughter?

Essay Topic 2

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 3

Describe and discuss the character of Jing-Mei Woo in “Two Kinds.” How old is Jing-Mei when the narrative begins with her mother’s discussion of child prodigies? Does Jing-Mei comment on the action of the story or does she relate it objectively? How does this reveal her character? How does Jing-Mei change in the course of the story?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 980 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample