. . . I was so determined not to try, not to be anybody different that I learned to play only the most ear-splitting preludes, t
he most discordant hymns. . . . For the talent show, I was to play a piece called "Pleading Child" from Schumann's Scenes from Childhood. It was a simple, moody piece that sounded more difficult than it was. I was supposed to memorize the whole thing, playing the repeat parts twice to make the piece sound longer. But I dawdled over it, playing a few bars and then cheating, looking up to see what notes followed. I never really listened to what I was playing. I daydreamed about being somewhere else, about being someone else. What does the narration in the excerpts reveal about Jing-mei's character? The song is much too difficult for Jing-mei, so she cannot concentrate no matter what she does. She thinks the talent show is a big joke and is not willing to work for it. She is trying her best, but she keeps getting distracted by her own imagination. She believes she cannot succeed even if she tries, so she doesn't bother to try.
<span>She believes she cannot succeed even if she tries, so she doesn't bother to try.
She doesn't want to stand out, to be different or a prodigy, so she just doesn't practice at all. She daydreams and cheats instead of actually learning how to read the music and play the right notes. </span>
