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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How long ago has Jing-Mei’s mother died when she sends the tuner to recondition the piano at the end of the story?
(a) A few months ago
(b) A year ago
(c) A few years ago
(d) A week ago

2. What word does Jing-Mei use in describing Mr. Chong’s silent instrumental compositions with a vague and dreamy character?
(a) Staccato
(b) Reverie
(c) Trill
(d) Arpeggio

3. What does the piano symbolize in “Two Kinds”?
(a) Jing-Mei’s mother’s ambitions for her
(b) Jing-Mei’s belief in a higher spiritual being
(c) Jing-Mei’s longing for cultural resonance
(d) Jing-Mei’s love for her father

4. What is symbolized by the second song that Jing-Mei finds in her piano workbook at the end of the story?
(a) The love she had for her father
(b) Her mother’s ambitions for her
(c) The inner anguish she suffered as a child
(d) The inner peace she’s found in her life

5. Where did Jing-Mei’s mother abandon her first children, hoping for them to become adopted?
(a) In a ditch outside of town
(b) On church steps
(c) In a church cemetery
(d) Under a barren tree

Short Answer Questions

1. What word does Jing-Mei use to describe Auntie Lindo’s daughter in the narrative?

2. Jing-Mei says that soon after her mother got the idea for her to be a Chinese Shirley Temple, she took her to a beauty school in what district?

3. How do Jing-Mei and her parents travel home after the talent show?

4. 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?

5. At the talent show where Jing-Mei makes her piano debut, she describes an eleven-year-old boy who won first prize for what performance?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Jing-Mei overhear her mother and Auntie Lindo talking about after she’s studied piano for a year?

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

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

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

5. How does the conflict that marks the climax of the story begin? How much time has passed since Jing-Mei’s performance at the talent show?

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

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

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

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

10. What performer fascinates Suyuan Woo while watching the Ed Sullivan Show early in the story? How does Jing-Mei respond?

(see the answer keys)

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