Amy Tan Fish Cheeks Analysis

No culture is completely the same. Just as no culture is totally different. If you view two cultures, you can see their similarities and differences. Some people suspect that every culture is the same or should be the same, which is crazy. This is like saying everyone has to be clones of each other; color or race. This is not etiquette. In Amy Tan’s memoir Fish Cheek, she touches on this subject by using humor to talk about her embarrassment at her Christmas Eve dinner with the minister's family. Tan begins by introducing the reader to her inner feelings of her crush and her culture, with an optimistic and pessimistic attitude. She feels this way because she has no idea how the minister’s family will think of her strange Chinese culture. So even though Tan’s mother was preparing the proper food for Chinese Christmas Eve. dinner, ” What terrible disappointment would he feel upon seeing not the normal American dinner of roasted turkey and sweet potatoes but Chinese food?” The reader can, allegedly, relate to this
In the second to last paragraph, Tan reserves a gift from her mother of a miniskirt in beige tweed, and a little lesson,” You want to be the same as American girls on the outside…. But inside you must always be Chinese. You must be proud you are different. Your only shame is to have shame.” This, shows the reader how much culture are relevant, important, in theirs and every ones lives. Even though it took a while, it made Amy Tan start to realize the significance of being yourself and embracing your culture.
In Amy Tan’s memoir, she uses humor and her personal experiences to show the reader that cultural differences are not to be shamed. She uses many tones, and writing techniques to express this statement. So as it is said in the story, to prove an important point, ” Your only shame is to have