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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 does Jing-Mei’s father do as they travel home after the talent show?
2. Jing-Mei describes sitting down nightly with her mother to examine stories of child prodigies when she was a child. The first of these stories is about a boy who knows all the state capitals and most of the European countries at what age?
3. “Two Kinds” is a short story that was initially published in what periodical in February 1989?
4. Of what ethnicity is the little girl on The Ed Sullivan Show that Jing-Mei and her mother watch playing piano?
5. How does Jing-Mei describe her mother’s first children in the beginning of the story?
Short Essay Questions
1. How does Jing-Mei describe her performance at the talent show?
2. Why does Amy Tan employ the techniques of oral tradition in “Two Kinds”?
3. How and when did the repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act influence immigration in the U.S.?
4. What does Jing-Mei overhear her mother and Auntie Lindo talking about after she’s studied piano for a year?
5. How do Suyuan Woo’s actions in the story encourage the wrong responses from her daughter? What effects does this have on Jing-Mei?
6. How do the subjects and themes in Amy Tan’s works relate to those of other Asian American authors?
7. How does Suyuan Woo develop and maintain her sense of identity in the story?
8. What happens when Suyuan Woo quizzes her daughter on country capitals? What other activities does she test out on Jing-Mei when she is young?
9. What child star does Suyuan Woo attempt to mold her daughter into? What happens with this attempt?
10. How does the concept of identity relate centrally to the conflicts 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
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?
Essay Topic 3
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”?
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This section contains 941 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) |
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