Describe how Jing-mei's character traits change or stay the same throughout the story. What are her motivations? What conflicts lead to her character traits?

Jing-Mei’s dominant characteristic is to make her own way as an independent person despite her origins as a Chinese-American. This leads her to the stubbornness, hardness, and even cruelty that she evidences in the story. The fact that she is telling the story at all, however, indicates the regret she feels at the way she responded to her mother.