The Mother
Jing Mei
Aunty Lind and others
Mr. Chong and others
The story
100
The mother wants Jing-Mei to be a .....
prodigy--first shirley temple prodigy, then a smart prodigy, then a piano prodigy
100
Why does Jing-Mei feel happy about being a prodigy at first?
Because she is feeling her mother's love and getting her mother's attention.
100
Describe Aunty Lind in your own words.
She is snotty, competitive, and she believes that she is better than other people.
100
Why wasn't Mr. Chong a good piano teacher?
He was deaf and blind.
100
Where does the mother get the ideas for her talents for Jing-Mei?
From magazines and watching the Ed Sullivan show.
200
List the talents Jing-Mei's mother makes her try?
shirley temple actress, smart person, pianist.
200
What does Jing-Mei promise to herself?
She will not allow anyone to change her.
200
Why does Aunty Lind say, "All day I have no time do nothing but dust off her winnings."
To make herself feel better than the mother, to make herself look good in other people's eyes, and to make herself above other people.
200
What does Jing-Mei learn from Mr Chong?
How to be lazy and not learn how to play the piano. How to get away with not learning to play.
200
How does Jing-Mei's mother react after the talent-show?
The mother goes home and doesn't say a word to Jing-Mei.
300
Why does Jing-Mei's mother want her to be a prodigy?
For her own good.
300
What does Jing-Mei do to make he rmother stop testing her?
She acts bored, performed listlessly, and counted the foghorns.
300
What does this statement say about Jing-Mei? "Unlike my mother, I did not believe I could be anything I wanted to be, I could only be me.
The mother had beliefs that her daughter could be ANYTHING. Jing-Mei only wanted to be what she wanted to be. She wanted to live life according to her rules and no others.
300
How does this piece of diction characterize Jing-Mei? "You want me to be something that I am Not! I wil never be the kind of daughter you want me to be!
It shows that Jing-Mei was becoming stronger and fighting off her mother's dreams of being a prodigy. It shows that she is standing up for herself. It shows that she will no live life on her terms.
300
What are the two types of children, according to the mother.
those that listen and those that do what they want to do.
400
What does Jing-Mei yell at her mother that causes her to give up hope?
I hate you, I wish i was one of the babies that you left behind in China.
400
Does Jing Mei ever please her mother? why?
No. She didn't go to college, she didn't get straight A's, she didn't become class president, she didnt go to Stanford.
400
How does this piece of diction characterize Jing-Mie? "Such a sad, ugly girl! I made high pitched noises like a crazed animal, trying to scratch out the face in the mirror.
The mother's dissatisfaction with Jing-Mei caused her to have really low self-esteem. Jing-Mei did not love herself and felt that her mother didn't love her either.
400
How does this piece of diction characterize the mother? "Who ask you to be genius? ONly ask you be your best." "For you sake. You think I want you to be genius?
The mother really does care about her. She wants whats best for her daughter and she wants her daughter to be successful.
400
Name the 2 songs at the end of the story, Jing-Mei plays.
perfectly contended and Pleading Child
500
How does Aunty Lind's remarks about Waverly affect the mother? What does it prompt her to do?
It affected her by becoming angry/jealous. It prompted her to sign Jing-Mei up for a concert.
500
What does the gift of the piano by the mother to Jing-Mei represent to Jing-Mei?
Forgiveness for the fight that they had after the concert.
500
How does this diction characterize Jing-Mei? "The girl staring back at me was angry, powerful. I won't let her change me, I promised myself.
Jing-Mei was determined right then and there to live life on her own terms. She was determined to be what SHE wanted to be, not what her mother wanted her to be.
500
How were Pleading Child and Perfectly Contented two halves of the same song?
They were two halves of Jing-Mei's life. One half when she was a child growing up and the other as an adult.
500
Which song represented Jing-Mei as a young child and which song represented Jing-Mei as an adult?
Pleading child represented Jing-Mei as a child growing up and Perfectly contented represented Jing-Mei as an adult.
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