Champion Of The World Analysis

Maya Angelou's "Champion of the World" and Amy Tan's "Fish Cheeks" similarly portray the struggles of minorities growing up in America. One concerns the outcome of a boxing match, while the other concerns the outcome of a dinner party. In both cases, their pride and confidence are brought into question and affected by the outcome. Both narrator's vary between feeling insecure and feeling confident in their ethnicity throughout their stories.

In "Champion of the World", Joe Louis's defense of his boxing title draws the attention of the black community. Maya
Angelou shows that the atmosphere is emotionally charged, and at times desperate, in hopes of Joe Louis winning. The boxer at one point is percieved losing the fight, and this reveals
She continues on to present her embarassment at various aspects of their Chinese themed dinner, and gives off the impression that American dinners are superior. Near the end of the passage, the narrator agrees with her mother and admits she should not have been ashamed of their customs. This is similar to "Champion of the World", where the protaganist also takes pride and confidence in her ethnicity, due to her experiences in the story.

It is also important to consider the idenitity of the characters. They are both presented as adolecent American girls.
Their young age is evident in some of their viewpoints of their situations. For example, in "Fish Cheeks", it would seem normal for a young girl to have anxieties about events that when looked at later, are not as worrysome. Similarly in
"Champion of the world", it could be arguable that Joe Louis had won the title too many times for his reputation to be tarnished by one loss. It is unclear though if any of the events were exaggerated by the narrator as they were in "Fish
Cheeks", as they mostly portrayed the characters view of her