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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. 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?

2. How does Jing-Mei describe the look on her mother’s face when Jing-Mei looks up from her curtsey after her piano solo in the talent show?

3. How old is the boy at the talent show that is described as wearing a fake moustache and doing a magic show?

4. At the end of the story, Jing-Mei says, “After I had the piano tuned, I opened the lid and touched the keys.” How does she say it sounded?

5. Where does Jing-Mei describe the piano as standing in her parents’ living room at the end of the story?

Short Essay Questions

1. In what ways does Suyuan Woo lack in communication with her daughter in the beginning of the story?

2. What offer does Jing-Mei’s mother make her approaching Jing-Mei’s thirtieth birthday?

3. How does Jing-Mei respond to her mother’s news that she will be taking piano lessons?

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

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

6. What does Jing-Mei say to her mother to hurt her during their conflict in the climax of the story? How does Suyuan respond?

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

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

9. What does Jing-Mei discover about Mr. Chong’s disabilities as she studies with him? How does this discovery influence her actions?

10. How are the pressures of immigrant families depicted through the character of Suyuan Woo in “Two Kinds”?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the history of Chinese immigration in the United States. In what ways have Chinese immigrants faced different hurdles in assimilating into American or other Western cultures as immigrants? How is this seen in Jing-Mei’s family in “Two Kinds”?

Essay Topic 2

Describe and discuss the genre and tone of the story. Define these terms in your response and discuss how “Two Kinds” could be categorized into different genres. How does the author establish the tone of the story in the first pages?

Essay Topic 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 958 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample