Two Kinds (Amy Tan)

Worksheet #2

Student ID:
Name:
P.36-41
<Plot Diagram>

Exposition:
Conflict:
Rising Action:
Climax:
Falling Action:
Resolution:

Identify where each part of this story belongs on the plot diagram above.
a. the argument between the mother and daughter about whether or not to attend the
piano lesson /the mother talks about two kinds of daughters
b. background information about the mother and Jing-mei’s family
c. the mother’s tries to turn her daughter into a Chinese Shirley Temple
d. Jing-mei notices that Pleading Child and Perfectly Contented are two halves of the s
ame song
e. the mother’s other attempts to find something that her daughter is a prodigy at (re
membering capitals, predicting the temperature, being a piano prodigy)
f. Jing-mei’s piano practice with Mr. Chong and her piano recital

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<Characters>
Match the words below with the appropriate character from the story.

1) Jing-Mei (the daughter):

2) Suyuan (Mother):

3) Mr. Chong:

4) Aunty Lindo:

rebellious, hopeful, independent, optimistic, proud, hardworking, lazy, generous, incompete

nt, individuality, ironic, competitive, aggressive

<Background Knowledge>
Amy Tan

Amy was born in Oakland, California. She is the second of three children born to Chinese immigrants John a
nd Daisy Tan. Her father was an electrical engineer and Baptist minister who traveled to the United States in
order to escape the chaos of the Chinese Civil War. She recounts that her father and she would read the thesa
urus together since “he was very interested in what a word contains.” This was the beginning of her path to b
ecome a writer as she wanted to use words to create stories to make herself feel understood. Amy attended M
arian A. Peterson High School in Sunnyvale for a year. When she was fifteen, her father and older brother Pe

ter both died of brain tumors within six months of each other. Her mother Daisy subsequently moved Amy a
nd her younger brother, John Jr., to Switzerland, where Amy finished high school at the Institut Monte Rosa,
Montreux. During this period, Amy learned about her mother's previous marriage to another man in China, o
f their four children (a son who died as a toddler and three daughters). She also learned how her mother left t
hose children in Shanghai. This incident was a key part of the basis for Amy's first novel, The Joy Luck Club.
In 1987, Amy traveled with Daisy to China, where she met her three half-sisters. Amy had a difficult relation
ship with her mother. At one point, Daisy held a knife to Amy's throat and threatened to kill her while the tw
o were arguing over Amy's new boyfriend. Daisy died in 1999 at the age of 83; she had Alzheimer's disease.
Amy and her mother did not speak for six months after Amy dropped out of the Baptist college her mother h
ad selected for her, Linfield College in Oregon, to follow her boyfriend to San Jose City College in Calif
ornia. Amy had met him on a blind date and married him in 1974. Amy later received her bachelor's and
master's degrees in English and linguistics from San José State University. She took doctoral courses in l
inguistics at the University of California, in Santa Cruz and the University of California, in Berkeley.

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The Joy Luck Club

The Joy Luck Club is a 1989 novel written by Amy Tan. It focuses on four Chinese immigrant families in San Fr

ancisco who start a club known as The Joy Luck Club. They normally play the Chinese game of mahjong for mon

ey while feasting on a variety of foods. The book is structured similarly to a mahjong game, with four parts divide

d into four sections to create sixteen chapters. The three mothers and four daughters (one mother, Suyuan Woo, di

es before the novel opens) share stories about their lives in the form of short vignettes. Each part is preceded by a

parable relating to the themes within that section. In 1993, the novel was adapted into a feature film. The novel w

as also adapted into a play, by Susan Kim, which premiered at the Pan Asian Repertory Theatre in New York. Th

e main focus in The Joy Luck Club is the complex relationship between mothers and daughters, and the inherent b

ond that's always between them despite generational and cultural conflicts. The message of Tan's book is that the

process of self-discovery and understanding one's past is often difficult and complex. The original four women, w

ho grew up in China, had difficult lives, but the love for their country remained.

<Pleading Child / Perfectly Contented>

"Pleading Child" and "Perfectly Contented" are pieces from "Two-Part Inventions," a collection of sh
ort piano compositions featured in Amy Tan's novel The Joy Luck Club. The titles of these compositions
metaphorically represent the contrasting sides of the protagonist's character, Jing-mei Woo. In the stor
y, "Pleading Child" reflects her younger self, struggling with expectations and feeling misunderstood, w
hile "Perfectly Contented" signifies her growth, maturity, and acceptance of herself. This contrast highli
ghts the emotional and psychological journey of Jing-mei and, by extension, many of the book's other ch
aracters as they navigate their relationships, identity, and cultural expectations. Her recognition that the
piano pieces “Pleading Child” and “Perfectly Contented” create a complete song represents her eventual
understanding of her mother and a forgiveness of both mother and daughter for the conflict that plagued
their relationship.

<Theme>

1. Conflict between m____________ and d________________

2. Conflict between c___________ c______________ vs. f_____________ u________
_____ i________________

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3. A_______________ of mother’s heritage and cultural values

<Vocabulary>
Match the word with the correct definition
brag( ) a. to raise and then lower your shoulders in
squabble ( ) order to show that you do not know somethi
snotty ( ) ng or do not care about something
plead ( )
dawdle ( ) b. rude and annoying, especially because the
quiver ( ) y think that they are more important than oth
intermission ( ) er people – used to show disapproval (=snoo
vague ( ) ty)
shrug one’s shoulders ( )
gawk ( ) c. behaving calmly and not seeming interest
fiasco ( ) ed in anything or worried about anything
nonchalantly ( )
brittle ( ) d. to argue about something unimportant (=q
assert ( ) uarrel)

e. to talk too proudly about what you have d

one, what you own etc – used to show disap
proval (=boast)

f. to state firmly that something is true

g. hard but easily broken

h. to ask for something that you want very m

uch, in a sincere and emotional way (=beg)

i. informal to look at something for a long ti

me, in a way that looks stupid (=stare)

j. a short period of time between the parts of

a play, concert etc(=interlude, interval)

k. an event that is completely unsuccessful, i

n a way that is very embarrassing or disappo
inting (=disaster)

l. unclear because someone does not give en

ough detailed information or does not say ex
actly what they mean

m. to take a long time to do something or wa

lk somewhere

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<Summary>
SOMEONE WANTED BUT SO THEN
one major or mino what the character what stops the cha what the character what happens after
r character wants to do at this racter from what t does to fix problem the character tries
point of the story hey want at this point to fix the problem
Summary (3~5 sentences)

<Literary Analysis>
Identify the literary device used in the excerpts (simile, personification, flashback, symbolism)

I saw her chest was heaving up and down in an angr

y way.

It felt like worms and toads and slimy things crawlin

g out of my chest, but it also felt good, as if this awf
ul side of me had surfaced, at last.
Piano
pleading child
perfectly contented
The narrative relies heavily on Jing-mei's childhood
to explore her complex relationship with her mother.
This device helps build a deeper understanding of th
eir dynamic and the pressures Jing-mei faced.

<Conflicts>
Identify conflict type in the following excerpts.
“She bring home too many trophy,” lamented Auntie Lindo that Sunday. “All day she pl
ay chess. All day I have no time do nothing but dust off her winnings.” She threw a scol
ding look at Waverly, who pretended not to see her. “You lucky you don’t have this pro
blem,” said Auntie Lindo with a sigh to my mother. And my mother squared her shoulde
rs and bragged: “Our problem worser than yours. If we ask Jing-mei wash dish, she hea

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r nothing but music. It’s like you can’t stop this natural talent.”
1. conflict type:

“You want me to be someone that I’m not!” I sobbed. “I’ll never be the kind of daughter
you want me to be!” “Only two kinds of daughters,” she shouted in Chinese. “Those who
are obedient and those who follow their own mind! Only one kind of daughter can live i
n this house. Obedient daughter!” “Then I wish I wasn’t your daughter. I wish you were
n’t my mother,” I shouted. As I said these things I got scared. It felt like worms and toad
s and slimy things crawling out of my chest, but it also felt good, as if this awful side of m
e had surfaced, at last.

2. conflict type:

America was where all my mother’s hopes lay. She had come here in 1949 after losing ev
erything in China: her mother and father, her family home, her first husband, and two d
aughters, twin baby girls. But she never looked back with regret. There were so many w
ays for things to get better.

3. conflict type:

But sometimes the prodigy in me became impatient. “If you don’t hurry up and get me o
ut of here, I’m disappearing for good,” it warned. “And then you’ll always be nothing.”
…
Before going to bed that night, I looked in the mirror above the bathroom sink and when
I saw only my face staring back—and that it would always be this ordinary face—I bega
n to cry. Such a sad, ugly girl! I made high-pitched noises like a crazed animal, trying to
scratch out the face in the mirror. 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 co
uld see more clearly. The girl staring back at me was angry, powerful. This girl and I we
re the same. I had new thoughts, willful thoughts, or rather thoughts filled with lots of w

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on’ts. I won’t let her change me, I promised myself. I won’t be what I’m not.

4. conflict type:

<Textual Evidence>
1. Find textual evidence that mother is a first generation immigrant to Amer
ica.

2. Find textual evidence that states the social status of Jing-mei’s family.

<Reflections>
1. Write your reflections about the theme of this story. (min 5 sentences)

2. This story is written from the perspective of the daughter. Try to pick a scene an
d re-write the story based upon the mother’s perspective. (min 5 sentences)

3. If you could change the ending of this story, what would you change? Why?
(min 5 sentences)