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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 refers to circular toys that are twirled around the waist, and that some of the children used at the talent show when Jing-Mei made her piano debut?

2. Jing-Mei says in the end of the story of her mother that she had “never found a way to ask her why she had hoped for something so large that” what “was inevitable”?

3. When Jing-Mei and her mother get into an argument about Jing-Mei beginning piano lessons, Jing-Mei’s mother exclaims, “If she had as much talent as she has temper, she would be” what?

4. What U.S. President signed the Chinese Exclusion Act into law?

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

2. In what ways can the reader see early in the story that Jing-Mei’s ambitions (and her mother’s) are misplaced?

3. How does Jing-Mei describe her relationship to the piano after her fallout with her mother after the talent show?

4. How do Jing-Mei’s feelings about her mother’s ambitions begin to change early in the story? What causes her feelings to change?

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

6. How does Jing-Mei’s mother respond when Jing-Mei refuses to practice piano after the talent show?

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

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

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

10. How and when did the repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act influence immigration in the U.S.?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 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

Analyze and discuss Suyuan Woo’s idolization of Shirley Temple in “Two Kinds.” What did Shirley Temple symbolize to the American people (and others) during the Great Depression? Why does she hope for her daughter to share these qualities? How does she go about molding Jing-Mei after Shirley Temple?

(see the answer keys)

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