Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother

Chua invests in an expensive violin for Lulu. Lulu performs well in her audition, and Mrs. Vamos agrees to have another session with her. She suggests that Lulu pursue lessons with Kiwon Nahm, a recent graduate from Yale’s School of Music, in order to apply for the Pre-College program at Juilliard. The move is costly; Chua offers to pay Kiwon for her time as a tutor and her travel time. Jed objects, but ultimately, Kiwon is hired.

Chua and Sophia attend a piano lesson in preparation for a competition whose winner will play at Carnegie Hall and is open to musicians from all over the world. Chua enjoys the lessons even more than Sophia; they become her “favorite thing,” and she “religiously takes notes” (124). For the competition, Sophia plays a Prokofiev piece, “Conquering Juliet,” though, initially, Chua wants her to play something “hard, like Rachmaninov” (123). Chua hires a professional sound engineer to edit Sophia’s pieces onto a CD, and they send it off to the judges.

Lulu prepares for her Juilliard Pre-College audition. Jed is reluctant for her to compete because he attended Juilliard’s Drama Division and was kicked out for insubordination (afterward, he decided to go to Harvard Law School).