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
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What impression does Amy Tan present of herself in “Fish Cheeks”? How? In “Fish Cheeks”‚ Amy Tan gives an impression of being insecure and overly dramatic. She is especially insecure about being Chinese‚ and this is evident in several points during the text. She has a crush on a white boy‚ Robert‚ who she describes first and foremost as “not Chinese‚ but as white as Mary in the manger”. Comparing him to Mary‚ a holy figure‚ almost suggests an idealization of Robert because of his race. Amy
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Would you change your culture to please other people? In the descriptive short story‚ Fish Cheeks‚ describes a family meal where two different groups of people shared their culture. Amy Tan explained the story in great detailed and also taught an excellent lesson about not being afraid to be diverse from other people. “You must be proud you are different. Your only shame is to have shame.” People act different‚ culture wise yet‚ at the end of the day everyone is alike. Sharing your heritage
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the World”‚ she recounts a scene of a boxing match between Joe Louis and Carnera in which the outcome of the match was very important because it would determine whether the blacks would be subjugated to the whites or not. Similarly‚ in Amy Tan’s “Fish Cheeks”‚ she remembers a story of when she was fourteen during Christmas when her crush and his father were invited to their house‚ she felt embarrassed at her family‚ the food‚ and Chinese traditions. Both stories mention nationalities which feel inferior
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store owners to well-known celebrities‚ there are more than seven billion unique faces‚ unique personalities‚ and unique identities in the world. Among these seven billion are the authors Amy Tan and Mary Matsuda Gruenewald. In her short story "Fish Cheeks"‚ Tan told her tale of being a Chinese- American girl and the embarrassment that she felt came with it. Grunewald wrote the book Looking Like the Enemy‚ which detailed her Japanese-American family’s experience during the time period of Japanese
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In numerous texts‚ the authors like to reveal themes in different ways. Theme can be interpreted as the lesson of a story and is the central meaning. In two short texts‚ “Half and Half” by Lensey Namoika and “Fish Cheeks” by Amy Tan‚ they share a similar theme about their character. However‚ the two writers use various techniques to reveal the theme. In the stories‚ the theme “Be proud of who he/she is” is revealed by the author in different ways. In the first short story Half and Half‚ the author
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First‚ both Tan and Crutcher utilize conflict to convey the shared theme that a strong sense of self is necessary under pressure from the expectations of others. For example‚ in Tan’s story‚ ‘Fish Cheeks’‚ when it is revealed to Amy that Robert’s family was invited to her house for Christmas Eve‚ it is said‚ “What would Robert think of our shabby Chinese Christmas Eve?” (2) it is presented that she thinks her family is embarrassing. The problem is that she also enjoys Chinese culture‚ as shown in
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Amy Tan and Maya Angelou come from extremely different cultures‚ and trying to feel accepted in American Culture. Both authors discuss a feeling of being an outcast and how their cultural differences set them apart. However‚ Amy Tan effectively uses narration and description to depict her sense of isolation from the dominant American culture. Angelou’s story is set in the South during the 1930’s when racism was prominent in society and an acceptable practice. Angelou’s writing mostly describes
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If you went to China‚ the things they ate and how they acted would seem strange to us because we are not used to their styles. In the Chinese culture now‚ their food and manners differ from Americans; Amy Tan shows the contrast of cultures in “Fish Cheeks”. Chinese New Year food and manners are different from the way we’re raised as Americans. The Chinese prepare food for the holidays that many of us haven’t even tried in our lifetime‚ yet they eat it more than once a year. During the dinner‚
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people’s lives. The way that people act‚ and the way they live their life is determined by their culture. In this Essay I will be comparing Chinese New Year versus American Christmas traditions. I will also be comparing these traditions to the book Fish Cheeks by Amy Tan. There are large differences between Chinese and American traditions while celebrating. Chinese New Year is a celebration that centers around the start of a new year (Chinese). The date of Chinese New Year is determined by lunar cycles(Chinese)
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