Jing-mei says that her mother thought she could be "a Chinese Shirley Temple," and they'd watch her movies together as if they were "training films." Jing-mei would watch Shirley dance and sing and pout, and when her new haircut—meant to look like lush Shirley Temple–esque curls—does not work out at all, she says she likes it anyway, "and it made [her] actually look forward to [her] future fame." At first, Jing-mei buys into this idea that she will be famous for something, just like her mother is also hoping and believing. Then, when it comes time for the talent show, after Jing-mei has been taking piano lessons from Mr. Chong (despite the fact that she'd fudged her practices, unbeknownst to the deaf older man), she says, "It was as if I knew, without a doubt, that the prodigy side of me really did exist." Jing-mei also seems to want to show "sulky" Waverly that Jing-mei is wonderful and talented too, just as Jing-mei's mother seems determined to have a more prize-winning daughter than Auntie Lindo.
When the narrator was young, she and her mother shared the belief that she could be famous, and they also shared a desire for it. Jing-mei's mother says, "Of course, you can be a prodigy, too," and Jing-mei echoes this belief with the words "in the beginning I was just as excited as my mother, maybe even more so." Together, they watch old shows on television, studying child stars, like Shirley Temple.
After trying, then abandoning, a few activities, both mother and daughter begin to despair of Jing-mei ever becoming a child prodigy; Jing-mei confesses, "after seeing, once again, my mother's disappointed face, something inside me began to die." They have a shared feeling of letdown, because her fame was something they both wanted.
After having a cry about her situation, Jing-mei studies herself in the mirror and sees that "the girl staring back at me was angry, powerful." In this way, too, mother and daughter are alike. When the narrator is forced to begin piano lessons against her will and rebels when she is ordered to practice, she recalls, "My mother slapped me. 'Who ask you to be genius?' she shouted. 'Only ask you be your best.'" Both mother and daughter are strong-willed and display a temper when thwarted.
I believe this quote shows how Jing-mei and her mother are alike.
In fact, in the beginning I was just as excited as my mother, maybe even more so. I pictured this prodigy part of me as many different images, and I tried each one on for size.
This quote shows that both mother and daughter desire the fame and uniqueness of the child prodigy concept. Jing-mei likes the idea of being great at something in order to show off, and her mother likes the idea of having a daughter than she can show off to the world too. The similarity is pride. If Jing-mei winds up being a child prodigy, then both ladies will be proud of that fact.
Another quote that shows a similarity between the two family members is this next quote.
The girl staring back at me was angry, powerful. She and I were the same. I had new thoughts, willful thoughts - or rather, thoughts filled with lots of won'ts. I won't let her change me, I promised myself. I won't be what I'm not.
This quote shows Jing-mei's stubbornness. Jing-mei resolves to undermine every single one of her mother's attempts to make her a prodigy. For every doomed attempt, Jing-mei's mother resolves to find another way to make her daughter successful. Jing-mei's mother pushes harder and harder to make her daughter great, and Jing-mei pushes back equally hard. Both ladies are incredibly stubborn, and their attitudes eventually cause a complete break in the relationship.
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