Character and Culture in Literature — Quiz Answers

Read the passage from "Two Kinds.” Last week I sent a tuner over to my parents’ apartment and had the piano reconditioned, for purely sentimental reasons. My mother had died a few months before and I had been getting things in order for my father, a little bit at a time. I put the jewelry in special silk pouches. The sweaters she had knitted in yellow, pink, bright orange—all the colors I hated—I put those in moth-proof boxes. I found some old Chinese silk dresses, the kind with little slits up the sides. I rubbed the old silk against my skin, then wrapped them in tissue and decided to take them home with me. What evidence supports the idea that the narrator’s motivation is intrinsic?

Read the passage from "Two Kinds.” I had assumed that my talent-show fiasco meant I never had to play the piano again. But two days later, after school, my mother came out of the kitchen and saw me watching TV. "Four clock,” she reminded me as if it were any other day. I was stunned, as though she were asking me to go through the talent-show torture again. I wedged myself more tightly in front of the TV. "Turn off TV,” she called from the kitchen five minutes later. I didn’t budge. And then I decided. I didn’t have to do what mother said anymore. I wasn’t her slave. This wasn’t China. I had listened to her before and look what happened. She was the stupid one. She came out from the kitchen and stood in the arched entryway of the living room. "Four clock,” she said once again, louder. "I’m not going to play anymore,” I said nonchalantly. "Why should I? I’m not a genius.” She walked over and stood in front of the TV. I saw her chest was heaving up and down in an angry way. "No!” I said, and I now felt stronger, as if my true self had finally emerged. So this was what had been inside me all along. "No! I won’t!” I screamed. What type of conflict occurs in the passage?

Which excerpts from "Two Kinds” are examples of internal conflict? Choose two correct answers.

Read the passage from "Two Kinds.” Three days after watching The Ed Sullivan Show, my mother told me what my schedule would be for piano lessons and piano practice. She had talked to Mr. Chong, who lived on the first floor of our apartment building. Mr. Chong was a retired piano teacher and my mother had traded housecleaning services for weekly lessons and a piano for me to practice on every day, two hours a day, from four until six. When my mother told me this, I felt as though I had been sent to hell. I whined and then kicked my foot a little when I couldn't stand it anymore. "Why don't you like me the way I am? I'm not a genius! I can't play the piano. And even if I could, I wouldn't go on TV if you paid me a million dollars!" I cried. My mother slapped me. "Who ask you be genius?" she shouted. "Only ask you be your best. For you sake. You think I want you to be genius? Hnnh! What for! Who ask you!" "So ungrateful," I heard her mutter in Chinese, "If she had as much talent as she has temper, she would be famous now." Which statement best explains the conflict revealed in the passage?

Read the passage from "Two Kinds.” I could see why my mother was fascinated by the music. It was being pounded out by a little Chinese girl, about nine years old, with a Peter Pan haircut. The girl had the sauciness of a Shirley Temple. She was proudly modest like a proper Chinese Child. And she also did this fancy sweep of a curtsy, so that the fluffy skirt of her white dress cascaded slowly to the floor like the petals of a large carnation. Which Chinese cultural value is revealed by the passage?

Read the passage from "Two Kinds.” And then I saw what seemed to be the prodigy side of me—because I had never seen that face before. I looked at my reflection, blinking so I could see more clearly. The girl staring back at me was angry, powerful. This girl and I were the same. I had new thoughts, willful thoughts, or rather thoughts filled with lots of won'ts. I won't let her change me, I promised myself. I won't be what I'm not. What kind of motivation do the narrator’s thoughts show?

Read the passage from "Two Kinds.” I could see why my mother was fascinated by the music. It was being pounded out by a little Chinese girl, about nine years old, with a Peter Pan haircut. The girl had the sauciness of a Shirley Temple. She was proudly modest like a proper Chinese Child. And she also did this fancy sweep of a curtsy, so that the fluffy skirt of her white dress cascaded slowly to the floor like the petals of a large carnation. Which Chinese cultural value is revealed by the passage?

Read the first three paragraphs of "Two Kinds.” My mother believed you could be anything you wanted to be in America. You could open a restaurant. You could work for the government and get good retirement. You could buy a house with almost no money down. You could become rich. You could become instantly famous. "Of course you can be a prodigy, too," my mother told me when I was nine. "You can be best anything. What does Auntie Lindo know? Her daughter, she is only best tricky." America was where all my mother's hopes lay. She had come here in 1949 after losing everything in China: her mother and father, her family home, her first husband, and two daughters, twin baby girls. But she never looked back with regret. There were so many ways for things to get better. Based on this passage, what US value has the narrator’s mother embraced?

Read the passage from "Two Kinds.” When my mother told me this, I felt as though I had been sent to hell. I whined and then kicked my foot a little when I couldn't stand it anymore. "Why don't you like me the way I am? I'm not a genius! I can't play the piano. And even if I could, I wouldn't go on TV if you paid me a million dollars!" I cried. My mother slapped me. "Who ask you be genius?" she shouted. "Only ask you be your best. For you sake. You think I want you to be genius? Hnnh! What for! Who ask you!" "So ungrateful," I heard her mutter in Chinese, "If she had as much talent as she has temper, she would be famous now." Which cultural differences are revealed through this conflict? Choose two correct answers.