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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. 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?

2. From what opera does Jing-Mei describe the “breasted girl with white makeup” singing from at the talent show?

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

4. What does Jing-Mei say she put the sweaters her mother knitted in after she died in the end of the story?

5. Jing-Mei says in the beginning of “Two Kinds,” “My mother believed you could be anything you wanted to be in America. You could open” what?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Jing-Mei respond to her mother’s offer on her thirtieth birthday?

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

3. What does Jing-Mei discover about playing the piano as she begins her studies with Mr. Chong?

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

5. What are Suyuan Woo’s views of opportunity in America, as noted by the narrator in the opening of the story?

6. How does Jing-Mei’s mother look after her performance at the talent show? What does Jing-Mei think as she watches the following performances?

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

8. How does Jing-Mei respond to her mother’s comment about her to Auntie Lindo? What foreshadowing follows this scene?

9. What does Jing-Mei describe doing every night with her mother at the kitchen table as a child in the beginning of the story?

10. What “transformation” does Jing-Mei undergo while looking into the mirror as a child?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

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”?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the imagery and symbolism of Jing-Mei’s transformation that occurs when she cries in the mirror. How does the image of Jing-Mei’s reflection give her strength? What does she do with this strength? What does this moment signify in Jing-Mei’s life?

(see the answer keys)

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