This short story is about a little girl named Jing-mei and her mother. The mother always wanted Jing-mei to be someone she wasn't. She always compared her to people on TV and would tell her that she could be better then them. Her mother would give her test that she took from magazines, in order to prepare her. At first she would also believe that she was better then those people on TV, until one night she realized that she could not be someone she wasn't. But this didn't stop her mother; she signed her up for piano lessons. A year later there was a talent show and she signed her in. Since Jing-mei hadn't really been practicing she did badly. After this day Jing-mei didn't let her mother put her in anything else. She told her that she was an ordinary girl and not a genius. So at the end her mother never mentioned anything about being on TV.
Jing-mei is a nine-year-old girl. She isn't all that her mother wants her to be, but just an ordinary girl. She is talented, but not as talented as to go on TV. Even though her mom doesn't see it she has feelings. Every time her mom compared her to girls on TV, she would feel sad. She thought her mother didn't like her. She wants to an obedient daughter, but if that means to be someone she isn't then she doesn't want to be part of it. She tries very hard to empress her mom, but with her mom's expectations she can't succeed. .