Name:_____________________________________________
Hour:______________________________________________
“Two Kinds” by Amy Tan
Readers Response Questions for
1. Why does the narrator’s mother take her to the Mission district to get
her hair curled?
a. To make her look more sophisticated
b. Because it will make her look taller
c. To make her look like Shirley Temple
d. To imitate a style she saw in a women’s magazine
2. At first, Jing-mei is enthusiastic about her mother’s ambitions for her
because
a. She identifies with the child star Shirley Temple
b. She hopes that she will win approval from her parents
c. She wants to outshine her cousin Waverly
d. She is bored at home
3. The mother’s schemes for promoting her daughter’s career as a
“prodigy” are best described as
a. Sensitive and warm
b. Lighthearted and joyous
c. Insensitive and unrealistic
d. Appropriate and well-planned
4. Which phrase best sums up Jing-mei’s attitude toward her mother’s
nightly quizzes?
a. Eagerness to please
b. Confused and sad
c. Endless enjoyment
d. Impatience and boredom
5. After Jing-mei becomes angry at her reflection in the mirror, she
suddenly realizes that
a. She has become a sad, unpleasant girl
b. The alternative to being a prodigy is being nobody
c. She has the power to decide for herself who she will be
d. She really can be the prodigy her mother hopes for
Name:_____________________________________________
Hour:______________________________________________
6. The overall feeling of Jing-mei’s account of her piano lessons with the
deaf Mr. Chong is
a. Angry
b. Sad
c. Comical
d. Bitter
7. The phrase that best describes Jing-mei’s attitude toward her cousin
Waverly is
a. Warm and sisterly
b. Distant and withdrawn
c. Admiring and supportive
d. Resentful and angry
8. Jing-mei approaches her performance at the talent show with
a. Fear
b. Confidence
c. Nervousness
d. Boredom
9. The mother’s offer to give Jing-mei the piano for her thirtieth birthday
shows that the mother
a. Still wants Jing-mei to become a great pianist
b. Wants to remind Jing-mei of how bitterly she has disappointed
her parents
c. Wants to make a kind gesture toward her daughter
d. Never wants to see the piano again
10.The titles of the piano pieces Jing-mei plays at the end of the story“Pleading Child” and “Perfectly Contented”- represent
a. Jing-mei’s personal feelings toward her mother
b. The well-rounded genius of the composer Schumann
c. Jing-mei’s feelings about the piano
d. The difficulty of becoming a first-rate pianist
11.Which of the following is not a theme in “Two Kinds?”
a. Forgiveness
b. Being yourself
c. Friendship
Name:_____________________________________________
Hour:______________________________________________
d. Pride
12.Jing-mei says, “So now on nights when my mother presented her
tests, I performed listlessly, my head propped on one arm.”
Which of the following defines the word “listlessly” as it is used in
the selection?
a.
b.
c.
d.
Carefully
Lazily
Sadly
Eagerly
13.Jing-mei says, “…I learned to play only the most ear-splitting
preludes, the most discordant hymns.”
Which of the following defines the word “discordant” as it is used in the
selection?
a. Difficult
b. Energetic
c. Powerful
d. Unmusical
14.All of the following examples support the fact that “pride” is a strong
component of Chinese culture EXCEPT:
a. Wavery Lindo’s persistent quest to become a chess prodigy
b. Jing-mei’s parents save up to buy her a piano and place it in the
living room
c. Mr. Chong’s ignorance of Jing-mei’s reckless playing at their
lessons
d. Jing-mei’s mother exaggerates her daughter’s musical abilities
to Mrs. Lindo
15.Jin-mei rebels in all of the following ways EXCEPT:
a. She performs below her ability on her mother’s tests
b. She refuses to attend her usual 4 o’clock piano lesson
c. She cuts off all of her hair in a Peter Pan hairstyle
d. She tells her mother she wishes she wasn’t her daughter
Name:_____________________________________________
Hour:______________________________________________
16.Based on the selection, which character trait is highly valued in the
Chinese culture?
a. Obedience
b. Courage
c. Strength
d. Kindness
17.What does the piano symbolize at the end of the story?
a. Obedience
b. Pride
c. Heartache
d. Forgiveness
18.“…the fluffy skirt of her white dress cascaded slowly to the floor like
the petals of a large carnation” is an example of which type of
figurative language?
a. Personification
b. Simile
c. Exaggeration
d. Metaphor
19.The following is which type of figurative language? “I was
Cinderella stepping from her pumpkin carriage with sparkly cartoon
music filling the air.”
a. Metaphor
b. Exaggeration
c. Simile
d. Personification
20.The description of Old Lady Chong is which type of figurative
language, “And her fingers felt like a dead person’s, like an old peach
I once found in the back of the refrigerator; the skin just slid off the
meat when I picked it.”
a. Personification
b. Exaggeration
c. Simile
d. Metaphor