Story Questions
Answer these questions once you have finished reading the story "Two Kinds".
- What does the narrator’s mother think of America?
- What does the mother want the daughter to be?
- What did the mother lose in China?
- What kind of job does the mother have?
- What happens when the girl is not able to be a prodigy the way her mother wants?
- What does the mother see on the Ed Sullivan show that mesmerizes her?
- How does the mother pay for the piano lessons?
- How does the daughter respond to having to go to piano lessons?
- What would you do in this situation?
- Why did Old Chong retire from teaching piano?
- Is the daughter a good piano player? How do you know?
- Who is Waverly, and why does the narrator hate her?
- Are the two mothers being honest with each other about what their daughters can do? How do you know?
- How does the narrator’s piano performance go?
- How does she feel?
- What do mother and daughter start arguing about?
- What kind of daughter does the mother say she wants?
- What does the daughter bring up that shocks her mother beyond belief?
- How does the daughter continue to fall short of expectations?
- What does the daughter say frightened her the most?
- What does the daughter think is as a sign of forgiveness?
- What has happened to the narrator’s mother?
- What is the name of the song on the left-hand side? On the right-hand side?
- How are the names of the songs similar to the narrator’s life?