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. In the 1993 film adaptation of The Joy Luck Club, what actress played the role of Jing-Mei?
(a) Tamlyn Tomita
(b) Kieu Chinh
(c) Tsai Chin
(d) Ming-Na Wen

2. Of her first lessons with Mr. Chong, Jing-Mei says, “I would play after him, the simple scale, the simple chord and then I just played some nonsense that sounded like” what?
(a) A cat running up and down on top of garbage cans
(b) A crash of bricks against a tin rooftop
(c) A chorus of birds singing in the treetops
(d) A solitary violin

3. What is the neighborhood called where Jing-Mei’s family lives when she’s a child?
(a) Little Italy
(b) Nob Hill
(c) Chinatown
(d) SoHo

4. When was Edvard Grieg born?
(a) 1935
(b) 1798
(c) 1919
(d) 1843

5. When Jing-Mei argues with her mother over piano practice after the talent show, she says, “As I said these things I got scared. I felt like” what were “crawling out of my chest”?
(a) Worms and toads and slimy things
(b) Phantoms and ghosts and darkness
(c) Demons and beasts and dragons
(d) The living dead and all my past

Short Answer Questions

1. What does the piano symbolize in “Two Kinds”?

2. What color dress does Jing-Mei describe the girl wearing that she watches playing piano on The Ed Sullivan Show with her mother?

3. What is Jing-Mei’s last name in the story?

4. What is symbolized by the second song that Jing-Mei finds in her piano workbook at the end of the story?

5. What does Jing-Mei kick under her feet as her mother drags her to the piano for practice after the talent show?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

4. How does Jing-Mei describe Waverly Jong in the narrative? What has Waverly gained recognition through?

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 find when she takes her bow after her performance at the talent show?

7. How does Jing-Mei describe the process of playing scales for Mr. Chong?

8. How does Jing-Mei describe her mother’s immigration to America in the opening of the story? What did she leave behind?

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

10. What discovery does Jing-Mei make regarding the song she played at the talent show in the end of the story?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 918 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample