Study Questions
1. Suyuan wants Jing-mei to be a prodigy, just like what two people?

2. Where does Suyuan get ideas to test for Jing-mei’s ability?

3. Why can’t “Old Chong” tell when Jing-mei is playing badly?

4. Why does Jing-mei rebel against her mother’s hopes for her musical ability?

5. Who says, “You aren’t a genius like me”?

6. To what two kinds of daughters does Suyuan refer?

7. How does Jing-mei end the argument about her piano lessons?

8. What other disappointments does Jing-mei mention that she caused Suyuan?

9. When does Suyuan give Jing-mei the piano?

10. In what way does Jing-mei describe “Pleading Child” and “Perfectly Contented”?

Answers
1. The two model prodigies are Lindo’s daughter, Waverly, and Shirley Temple.

2. Suyuan reads articles about gifted children in the magazines of the houses she cleans.

3. “Old Chong” is deaf, and Jing-mei deliberately deceives him.

4. Jing-mei overhears Suyuan bragging to Lindo about Jing-mei’s talent.

5. Waverly says this to Jing-mei after the talent show.

6. She refers to obedient and disobedient daughters.

7. She says she wishes she were dead like Suyuan’s twin daughters in China.

8. She didn’t get straight A’s, didn’t become class president, didn’t get into Stanford, and didn’t finish college. Each time she insisted she had the right to be less than her best.

9. The piano is a gift for her thirtieth birthday.

10. They are two halves of the same song.