Figurative Language In Amy Tan's Fish Cheeks

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

Do you know what is in the food that you are fueling your body with? Eating locally grown food or growing your own food allows you to know exactly what is in your food and where it is coming from. Award winning author Barbara Kingsolver ditched her urban life full of pesticides and GMOs, and uprooted her family to a farm where they were going to eat all home or locally grown food for a year. The Kingsolver family documented this one-year food journey in their non-fiction book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life. Barbara Kingsolver wants to educate, persuade, and inspire her readers to live healthier lives by first forcing them to question the food they are consuming. She uses allusion, figurative language, and rhetorical questioning

Parents cling to their children wanting them to stay young forever, wanting endless memories and nothing to change, yet they must be able to part from these feelings to allow the child to grow. In the story “A Private Talk with Holly”, the author, Henry Felsen, uses symbolism to convey the central idea that if you love someone you have to let them go. When Holly, the main character of the story, talks to her Dad about changing her plans, he is faced with a difficult decision, but in the end he allows Holly to chase her dreams for her own good.

“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

Most poems, new and old, almost always have an important message to teach to all those who take the time to read it. Authors use poetic devices to get their message across in creative, yet effective ways. For example, Mary Oliver carefully uses several poetic devices to teach her own personal message to her readers. Oliver’s use of the poem’s organization, diction, figurative language, and title aids in conveying the message of how small, yet vital oxygen is to all living and nonliving things in her poem, “Oxygen.”

Introduction The book, The Unwanteds, by Lisa McMann, is an adventurous story about a creative boy named Alex, and his very bland and boring twin brother Aaron. Alex and Aaron are split apart because Alex took the blame for something that Aaron did, and at the Purge, when they were both thirteen years old, Alex was sent to his death, and Aaron was sent to the university of Quill, where he would become a governor. Alex, however lived because of a man named Mr Today, and the secret world of Unwanteds. Aritme was full of talking statues, magical creatures, and lots and lots of colors.

As the story develops, the reader’s thoughts are guided by the structure of the piece in a way that Tan is able to share an important lesson through the form of a personal narrative. The opening text immediately introduces the narrator and her insecurities as she wishes for a “slim new American nose” (Tan 1). The story initially takes on a negative tone as Tan proceeds to have a negative outlook throughout the entire evening. Her overwhelming anxiety can almost be felt by the reader as she worries what Robert will think of her “noisy Chinese relatives who lacked proper American manners” and overall “shabby Chinese Christmas” (Tan 1). With the tone set, Tan continues to amplify each dreadful detail of her family’s traditional Christmas Eve dinner. This includes the actual meal, that of which appeared to be

Amy Tan in the story, Fish Cheeks, implies that even though America is a country of immigrants, few of their traditions are acceptable in our culture. Tan supports her suggestion by describing christmas of the year she turned 14. The author’s purpose is to point out the irony of a country of immigrants with only one set of traditions in order to make us think about what traditions we suppress. The author writes in an earnest tone for Americans of all descents.

"Fish Cheeks" and "Broken Chain" both address a common theme about belonging. Both stories show that people act unlike themselves when they are trying to impress others or fit in. In the essay "Fish Cheeks" Amy Tan is embarrassed about her family's culture because it is different from her American neighbors. As a result Amy tries to hide it away and become something she is not. In the short story "Broken Chain" Alfonso meets a girl that he really likes. He believes that in order for her to like him back, he has to look and act like people on T.V. In both stories the main characters care about their image and what people think.

“One kind word can warm three winter months; an acute word can cut deeper than a sharp weapon.” This motto does not seem to follow the normal structure of English; that is because the motto is translated from the Chinese. However, it does not matter as long as people understand the meaning, right? Amy Tan in “Mother Tongue” narrates how her mother’s “broken” or “fractured” English affects her life. At first, Tan thinks that her language abilities and possibilities are limited because her mother, who is an American immigrant from China, does not speak English “properly” in the family. However, the experiences that her mother faced because of her mother’s “broken” English cause Tan to recognize that English structure is not the most important factor in English language. By using a variety of rhetorical devices through "Mother Tongue", for instance, double entendre, ethos, pathos, and tone, Tan effectively justifies that the underlying meaning should be more considered than the way people say their words or messages.

The purpose of Amy Tan’s essay, “Mother Tongue,” is to show how challenging it can be if an individual is raised by a parent who speaks “limited English” (36) as Tan’s mother does, partially because it can result in people being judged poorly by others. As Tan’s primary care giver, her mother was a significant part of her childhood, and she has a strong influence over Tan’s writing style. Being raised by her mother taught her that one’s perception of the world is heavily based upon the language spoken at home. Alternately, people’s perceptions of one another are based largely on the language used.

Ms. Amy Tan recalled in her article “Mothers Tongue” how her mother had not been treated with respect because she spoke broken English. As she looked back over the life of her mother, she realized that this had been a lifelong frustration for her. She wrote how she was frustrated with the term "broken". Her mother was an intelligent woman; therefore, she was not broken by the definition of broken. She even recalls one time where she had to pretend to be her mother on the phone because her mother was not taken seriously. Tan used people wrongfully labeled, personal experience, and intelligence was not based on vocabulary to explain that people need to be treated with respect.

Tan’s attitude towards her mother’s English begins with embarrassment and humiliation. Growing up in an immigrant family which speaks imperfect English, Tan witnesses many discriminations that her mother has encountered in department stores or at banks, those experiences help to shape Tan’s opinion to her mother’s English. For example, Tan states that “[she] was ashamed of [her mother’s] English. [She] believed that [her mother’s] English reflected the quality of what [her] mother had to say” (508). In young Amy’s opinion, her mother’s expressions and thoughts are broken and imperfect like the way she speaks, and she believes that linguistic expression is linked to a person’s intelligence. As a result, she was ashamed of her mother in public because of her fractured English.

Humor is a universal language whose breadth spans that of all ages and cultures. As a fundamental method of communication, it links humanity and fosters a deeper understanding of each other’s lives. In Sherman Alexie’s short story excerpt, The Approximate Size of my Favorite Tumor, Alexie highlights the identity of his people through the use of humor. Occurring throughout the work, humor defines Alexie’s style and view of the world around him. It acts as both a coping mechanism and a way of communicating with those around him, as humor is a language everyone can understand. In this sense, it weaves together Alexie’s view of Native American identity. Alexie uses this humor both to reveal long standing stereotypes about Native American people and communities and to maneuver through everyday life.

In Tangerine part 2, (November 10) the theme is that hard work leads to success. The book shows many literary elements to support this theme. Paul and his soccer team showed them being resilient till the end. On page 194, it shows great use of imagery and figurative language, it says, “When I pulled them back on they were smeared with blood,”. Which is an example that Paul gave it his 100%. In addition to, it states on page 191, “Tino, who was closing in on the Lake Windsor fullback with murder in his eyes,”, Also, it says on page 188, “flattened that Gino kid’s but,”. These two examples show how the author is exaggerating and is using figurative language to describe more in detail of what is happening. The symbolism of this book is Paul’s