Question

So now on nights when my mother presented her tests, I performed listlessly, my head propped on one arm. I pretended to be bored. And I was. I got so bored that I started counting the bellows of the foghorns out on the bay while my mother drilled me in other areas. The sound was comforting and reminded me of the cow jumping over the moon. And the next day, I played a game with myself, seeing if my mother would give up on me before eight bellows. After a while I usually counted only one, maybe two bellows at most. At last she was beginning to give up hope.

–“Two Kinds,”
Amy Tan

Which line from the passage best supports the inference that the daughter is motivated by a desire for independence?

“So now on nights when my mother presented her tests, I performed listlessly.”
“The sound was comforting and reminded me of the cow jumping over the moon.”
“After a while I usually counted only one, maybe two bellows at most.”
“I started counting the bellows of the foghorns out on the bay.”

Answer 1

“So now on nights when my mother presented her tests, I performed listlessly.”

This line shows the daughter is deliberately not trying—she resists her mother’s tests, which supports the inference that she’s seeking independence.