The search for the truth begins at, well, the beginning of the story. Right off the bat, Tan reveals her mother's pressure on her daughter to become something she's not, when she says nonchalantly "Of course you could be a prodigy too." The

First, it starts with haircuts, questions and singing, padded with an otherwise overly optimistic atmosphere. Eventually, the daughter realizes she's not interested in this whole falsely portrayed prodigy concept, after all. And when the mother introduces piano lessons into the mix, she decides that now is the time to get out. So she rather emotionally lashes out "Why don't you like me the way I am? I'm not a genius! I can't play the piano. And even if I could, I wouldn't go on TV if you paid me a million dollars!" Then the mother slaps her and her persistence only grows. It is at this exact moment, her aforementioned "pride" becomes stubbornness. This moment clearly defines the distinction between the severity of the situation in the past, and the infinitely more complicated

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Approximate Word count = 530
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)