The story was written in the first person, narrated by an unnamed, little, Chinese girl. Her mother believes that anyone in America can become anything, and wants her child to be famous. So she tests her daughter every night with crazy things in attempt to find her hidden talent, what she calls her "prodigy". After seeing a child muscician prodigy on the Ed Sullivan Show (who is also a little Chinese girl with a Peter Pan haircut), she arranges to have her daughter take piano lessons with Mr.Chong. The narrator doesn't want to play the piano and doesn't try, she gets away with this because her teacher is deaf. At a talent show the narrator tries her hardest, but is so used to failing that she plays it poorly and is horrible.Her mother tells her that there are two kinds of daughters, obediant and disobediant. Years later the narrator returns to her old home (her mother has died recently)and plays the piano again, the songs: "Pleading Child" and "Perfectly Contented". She realizes that they are both parts of the same song.
The story is about trying to be someone you're not. It tells of a little girl who just wants to be what she is, nothing more, which is an unusually enlightened point of view for someone. She ends up being less than she can be because of trying to not live up to her mother's impossibly high expectations. I found this story very sad, but I still liked it. I also enjoyed the ending where she is finally at peace with herself and both parts of her personality. At the end she compares herself to the two songs and how they are different, but also just parts of the same song.
Thank you Kailey!
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