In the story “Fish Cheeks”, by Amy Tan, young Amy fell in love with the minister’s son. Her mother invited the minister’s family over for a Christmas dinner and this worried Amy Tan because she was afraid that the boy would think they were odd. During dinner, she shows embarrassment and questions the way her family acts. Afterword’s, her mother explains to her how she should be proud of who she truly is. Young Amy Tan struggles to live in two divers cultural worlds. Throughout the story the only thing she wanted to focus on was impressing her beloved.
When Amy mentioned that she loved the minister’s son, she gives a hint on why she acted that way. The only reason that she was nervous for dinner with the minister’s family was because she
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She wanted to fit in by abandoning her beliefs. After reading this story you can tell that she did not want change who she is because she was actually confused. What had her confused was that she wanted to be true to herself but she also wanted to portrait something she is not. She clearly does not understand the value of being foreign because demonstrating your culture, your color, your beliefs and who you are is what makes us different from each other and nobody should be ashamed of their cultural origin.
In the story, the Tan’s host the Christmas dinner but they made it a little different this time. The Tan’s received the minister and his family with many Chinese delicacies, this was a strike for Amy. She wanted a normal American Christmas dinner with food like roasted turkey and sweet potatoes. She was also bothered by the way her parents grabbed the food and licked the chopped sticks. This was different in many was because Chinese reach over to get want they want from the table and Americans just pass the plate from one to another, making Amy a bit uncomfortable. In the story she says “I wanted to disappear”, with this being said, it is clear that she was embarrassed and ashamed of her family and culture. This could be because she is still a young woman and still does not understand what it means to appreciate her culture, unlike her parents that have lived longer and do valorize where they are from. Culture is
She didn’t know the appropriate behaviors or protocol of the bathhouse. The attendants and fellow bathers tried to lead her in the right direction. Her many mishaps cause her to learn that she doesn’t completely understand a culture until she is immersed in it.
In the essay “fish Cheeks”, the essayist Amy Tan conveys that the main character is worried and embarrassed. “What would Robert think of our shabby Chinese Christmas? What would he think of our noisy Chinese relatives who lacked proper American manners?...” (Tan). After Amy is informed that the Minister's family is coming over for Christmas dinner, she silently begins to debate how the night will go with a multitude of what if questions. She is worried how Robert, and his family will react to some of her family's customs. “... I knew that she understood how much I suffered during the evening’s dinner” (Tan). Amy says she suffered during Christmas dinner because she was embarrassed on how her family
In both stories, the main character ate Chinese food, but wanted american food. Amy had her Chinese Christmas dinner, but wanted a “roasted turkey and sweet potatoes”. Likewise, Jin brought in dumplings to lunch on his first day. Unlike Amy though, the next day, Jin brought in a sandwich to hide his Chinese culture. Another comparison between Amy and Jin is that they both wanted to fit in. Amy wanted a “slim new american nose” to fit
In the story Fish Cheeks, by Amy Tan the narrator use figurative languages to communicate a cringeworth experience during the Christmas Eve dinner that alter her perspective of her family’s heritage by recognizing her shame was trigger by other people’s feelings more than her own. The speaker expresses her nervousness before the Prime Minister’s family joins them for dinner. The author unveils her pessimistic thoughts with “What would Robert think of our shabby Chinese Christmas?” The use of repetition intensifies her stress on how the Prime Minister’s family will judge her indecent family upon his family’s arrival to the Chinese Christmas dinner.
Sometimes, there is a person in the world who struggles with who he/she is really are and they are willing to do whatever it takes to figure out what type of person they are suppose to be, let alone they want to be. Take Jeanne for example, she was one of the few Japanese victims to be sent to an internment camp during WW1 called Manzanar. In the ‘Farewell to Manzanar’ book, Jeanne struggles with her identity as a Japanese-American and realizes that she will never be fully American because of the prejudice she experiences. It has been a thing that keeps bugging her, ever since she was sent to
The author supports her argument by sharing extremely personal details about what went on in her head on this christmas night. A quote that really stuck out for me here was about her relatives and how she was embarrassed about them and her culture. “What would he think of our noisy Chinese relatives who lacked proper American manners? What terrible disappointment would he feel upon seeing not a roasted turkey and sweet potatoes but Chinese food,” (Tan 1). I believe this helps her argument of how ‘Americans’ have a certain set of traditions that everyone is magically required to follow when the become citizens, no matter their own traditions and heritage. She uses this to make the audience think more deeply about how they would have reacted in this situation if they were in Robert’s shoes.
She didn't understand the minds of her employer as they told her that she needed to “wait till she was worth any money” because she had only been in America for a month. She thought she had finally earned her wages. She put her heart on her sleeve and she was let down, she really believed that she was finally going to be worth something in this new land. Her trust in working with “Americans” was completely vanished. “Now rejecting false friendships from higher-ups in America, I turned back to the Ghetto.
Amy and the main character from “Carapace” both feel burdened to satisfy the expectations of their country by changing their personality and adapting to situations in specific ways. Such behavior is seen when Amy complies to Robert and the American culture by refusing to eat her favorite delicacy, fish cheeks, only because the dish is not the traditional Thanksgiving spread of her society, the United States. Amy is also stressed to conform by committing to the “dress code” of her society as told by her mother, “You want to be same as American girl on the outside.”(Tan 2) and her wish, “I prayed for...a slim new American nose” (Tan 1).
“Fish Cheeks” by Amy Tan recalls an embarrassing Christmas Eve dinner the author had during her childhood. Attending this dinner was Tans childhood crush and an assortment of Tans relatives and family friends. Tan explains that she was embarrassed by her family’s Chinese traditions, including the mishmash of Chinese foods, noisy relatives, and impolite manners (Tan 74). Tan’s only desire was to be like other American girls, but it wasn’t until much later in life did Tan truly realize what her family’s heritage meant to her. Likewise, “Museum” by Naomi Shihab Nye tells of another past embarrassing experience by the author. Nye informs the reader of an add she saw for a museum called the McNay. Nye and her friend both decide to attend the
She believes that because we are forced into this land, we are doomed to have a life which not happy. She also explains to her family in the play that all their problems will be solved if they go back to their country of origin and find out who they are there.
The short fiction piece Fish Cheeks, written by Amy Tan, is an autobiographical narrative. The story took place when Amy was fourteen years old, living in America. Amy had a huge crush on an American "blond-haired boy", Robert, who had a "slim new American nose". Robert was the minister's son. Amy's parents decided to host a Christmas Eve dinner, inviting the minister's family.
“The Bass, the River, and Sheila Mant,” by W. D. Wetherell, is an initiation story in which the symbols of fishing and Sheila Mant illustrate how the character of the narrator transforms from youth and innocence to sophistication and maturity. At age fourteen, it is typical for a boy such as the narrator to be beginning this transformation. Being innocent and naïve in a sense, the fourteen year old narrator gets an enormous crush on a seventeen year old girl named Sheila Mant and comes to believe she is what he loves most in life. For him, Sheila is a symbol of the maturity and sophistication he will eventually become a
She feels ashamed of her surroundings. People that experience this often feel the same way. However, some people strive to make a better place for the people that still live there, so they don’t have to live the same way. I feel as you get older, you have a greater appreciation for your family, no matter where you are brought up. I find myself thinking about people I grew up with, what has come of them, and most have done better for themselves.
In the essay "Fish Cheeks" it says, "For Christmas I prayed for this blond-haired boy, Robert, and a slim new American nose." This statement proposes that Amy thinks if she looks American to the outside world she will become American. Amy Tan is very embarrassed by her family who does not try to change to fit in, but shows their culture proudly. "At the end of the meal my father leaned back and belched loudly, thanking my mother for her fine cooking. "It's a polite Chinese custom to show you are satisfied" explained my father" (Tan 6). She then goes on to wonder what Robert would think of her family's "shabby Chinese Christmas" (Tan 2) because that night for dinner, they would be having her mother's strange Chinese menu instead of the traditional roasted turkey and sweet potatoes. In conclusion Amy Tan is scared that her family and the menu will reveal that she is indeed Chinese so she won't be able to hide it from her crush any
Ana Bozicevic explains in her poem, “Migration”, moving is hard when a person is used to the lifestyle that is already instilled in their mind as a child till the time they leave. Different is not always the best thing for a person when they have no say so in the decision that was made for that person. Bozicevic describes, the feelings of loneliness, sadness, and curiousness by the way she says, “I never want to get any more new things” because she was easily content with the things she already had (Bozicevic, lines 1-2). The author of the poem states, “And walk on the rug till it’s perfectly colorless” meaning how sad she is because she would do perfectly fine with the possessions, such as and ugly rug, she already has in her life: She does