In the story Fish Cheeks, Amy Tan uses the tone of an embarrassed teenage girl to convey the values of being who you are and realizing that later in life you understand and value the embarrassment brought upon you by yourself and your family. She turns the embarrassment in the story into a life lesson and understanding what your parents will do for you to make you comfortable, not just in a particular situation, but in her own skin. One way that she describes tone to connect with the audience is by saying how disgusting some of the food is that they are preparing for dinner. “On Christmas Eve I saw that my mother had outdone herself in creating a strange menu. She was pulling black veins out of the backs of fleshy prawns.” This is showing how she thought it was a weird and gross menu for dinner that night. This uses imagery to describe the pulling of black veins from the backs of the slimy prawns. At the end of the excerpt she says, “For Christmas Eve that year, she had chosen all my favorite foods.” This is showing how she was judging and embarrassing herself by wanting to be more American around Robert, when in reality it was some of her favorite things. Amy Tan is also embarrassed by her family later in the excerpt. Furthermore, Amy Tan is embarrassed by her …show more content…
family. She uses this to connect with her audience by being embarrassed by an action. “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,” She is embarrassed because the guests think it is rude and she is worried about being judged by her family's actions. She later states, “I was stunned into silence for the rest of the night.” This depicts how embarrassed and shocked she was by her family's actions after the dinner. In the end Amy Tan realizes that it is ok to be embarrassed by your family and self sometimes and you always need to be yourself.
“After everyone had gone, my mother said to me, "You want to be the same as American girls on the outside." This shows how her mother realizes that she was embarrassed and want to be like an American girl. She later understands that her mother was being nice and trying to give her daughter a good Christmas Eve dinner. “It wasn't until many year later – long after I had gotten over my crush on Robert – that I was able to fully appreciate her lesson and the true purpose behind our particular menu.” This is important that she realizes what her mother was trying to do for
her. All in all Amy Tan uses embarrassment to set the tone as she describes wanting to be different and have an American life, but later realizes and values the life lesson about how her family was trying to help her and give her a good Christmas Eve dinner with all of her favorite foods even though at the time she felt it was a disappointment.
When the narrator first compares her Barbies, she thinks that she needs perfect and new Barbies to fit in with everybody else. The narrator does understand that her family does not have money, but she simply works around it. Although, she wants more Barbies it was unlikely for them to get them. The narrator says, “Because we don’t have money for a stupid-looking boy doll when we’d both rather ask for a new Barbie outfit next christmas. (14-15)” The narrator has to make do with what she has. She can not have a boy Barbie because it is not in her parents budget. This affects her and it makes her lose confidence in herself because she does not have what everybody else has. After the narrator receives her partially messed up Barbies, she says, “And if the prettiest doll, Barbie’s MOD’ern cousin Francie with real eyelashes, eyelash brush included, has a left that that’s melted a little-so? If you dress her in her new ‘Prom Pinks’ outfit, satin splendor with matching coat, gold belt, clutch, and hair bow included, so long as you don’t lift her dress, right?-who’s to know. (16)” Even though the Barbie has a melted left foot, the narrator moves past this. She will just cover it up with a dress. The narrator wanted new and perfect Barbie’s in the beginning, but she realized that these Barbie’s are not everything and she can make them her own. She is not defined by her Barbies. Sandra Cisneros used symbolism and characterization to describe how the narrator had a hard time coming into her own identity and finding
In fact, the fish story has become a metaphor reflecting the technique used by Finney for expressing the difficult thing beautifully, to compress a poem choosing what should be kept in a poem and what should be thrown away (Finney, “Interview with: Nikky Finney”), to express whatever difficult feelings she has without much noise or rage. Finney sees activism as a basic part of her work.
In “Fish Cheeks,” Amy’s mom is teaching her to embrace who she is, even if she is different. In the story the mother tells Amy, “You must be proud you are different. Your only shame is to have shame.” It is important to be proud of your culture because, it's good to be different. Diversity is what makes America an amazing place. America is commonly referred to as the “melting pot,” joining different cultures and religions together. When Amy’s mom talks about being shameful of your culture, she is trying to tell Amy that you have to be confident in who you are. In the story “Taco Head,” Coach Clarke tells Sofia to be confident in her tacos and her culture. At the time Sofia is being bullied by kids in her grade. The tacos really symbolize Sofia’s culture. In the story. Coach Clarke is trying to teach Sofia to be proud of her culture (the tacos). In the story it says, “...eat your tacos proudly, and right in the middle of the cafeteria.” Both of these stories teach a lesson to embrace who you
She then shifts to discussing TV shows that bring family members together such as Sally Jesse Raphael or Oprah. As the mother imagines what it will be like when her daughter comes home, she brings out the imagery of tears and wrapped arms, and since we have all seen these shows, the reader can see the stage set up with four chairs and the daughter waiting for the parents to come out on stage. We can see the look of surprise on the daughter's face as they come out onto the stage. She has not seen her daughter, Dee, for a while and imagines b...
Amy Tan, in ?Mother Tongue,? Does an excellent job at fully explaining her self through many different ways. It?s not hard to see the compassion and love she has for her mother and for her work. I do feel that her mother could have improved the situation of parents and children switching rolls, but she did the best she could, especially given the circumstances she was under. All in all, Amy just really wanted to be respected by her critics and given the chance to prove who she is. Her time came, and she successfully accomplished her goals. The only person who really means something to her is her mother, and her mother?s reaction to her first finished work will always stay with her, ?so easy to read? (39).
...cts of the mother and the descriptions, which are presented to us from her, are very conclusive and need to be further examined to draw out any further conclusions on how she ?really? felt. The mother-daughter relationship between the narrator and her daughter bring up many questions as to their exact connection. At times it seems strong, as when the narrator is relating her childhood and recounting the good times. Other times it is very strained. All in all the connection between the two seems to be a very real and lifelike account of an actual mother-daughter relationship.
...allowed to reach her American Dream without being frowned upon by others. Materialism, and the fears of judgment, are restrictions for these characters that keep them from reaching their true happiness and American Dreams.
The book starts off with Jeannette, a successful adult, taking a taxi to a nice party. When she looked out the window, she saw a woman digging through the garbage. The woman was her mother. Rather than calling out to her or saying hi, Jeannette slid down into the seat in fear that her mother would see her. When asking her mother what she should say when people ask about her family, Rose Mary Walls only told her, “Ju...
The daughter alludes to an idea that her mother was also judged harshly and made to feel ashamed. By the daughters ability to see through her mothers flaws and recognize that she was as wounded as the child was, there is sense of freedom for both when the daughter find her true self. Line such as “your nightmare of weakness,” and I learned from you to define myself through your denials,” present the idea that the mother was never able to defeat those that held her captive or she denied her chance to break free. The daughter moments of personal epiphany is a victory with the mother because it breaks a chain of self-loathing or hatred. There is pride and love for the women they truly were and is to be celebrated for mother and daughter.
“Girl” makes the impression that the mother wants the daughter to take over the “women’s” work around the house as well as she tells her which day to wash the white clothes Monday, wash the colored clothes on Tuesday, and she is teaching her how to iron her father’s clothes the way he likes them done and how to sew on a button; “This is how to make a button-hole for the button you have just sewed on.” (380) The mother also is teaching her daughter how to cook for the family. “Cook pumpkin fritters in very hot sweet oil,” (380) so that everyone will eat them. The mother also discusses table manners, “always eat your food in such a way that it won’t turn some-one else’s stomach.”
In the story, "Fish Cheeks" it talks about how Amy Tan's Chinese family invites an American boy's family over for dinner. Amy Tan wants to impress him and thinks that he wont like the food her mother made even though it is her favorite food. She can tell that he doesn't like the food and she is embarased. So, Amy wants to fit in.
She is a seventeen year old in her prime who feels immortal because she has a long life to live, therefore decision making are not based on careful planning but emotions, peer pressure and fantasies. Risk taking from a teenager normally comes from poor judgement, why would America take the decision of leaving the comfort of her home to go to a country which is mainly travelled by the men in her town? Why did she leave with the most unlikely candidate, her brother-in-law? In adversity her first yearn was for her mother’s touch, her food and her home, the fragile little girl in her cries for a mother touch when times are hard because that’s what she is used to, mom handling the
This was the illustration of this entire story. As the story goes it present a lot perspective and though of the mother and very little of the girl. More importantly, the story shows that the mother doesn’t really care about how the girl feels about her advice; it wasn’t a choice either she take her advice and become a good daughter and a good wife in the future or she will become known a “slut” who doesn’t follow her tradition. This story will make you wonder if the girl will ever become the perfect girl that her mother wants her to be or if she gets use to the American tradition and not be the perfect girl her mother ought her to
A poem without any complications can force an author to say more with much less. Although that may sound quite cliché, it rings true when one examines “The Fish” by Elizabeth Bishop. Elizabeth’s Bishop’s poem is on an exceedingly straightforward topic about the act of catching a fish. However, her ability to utilize thematic elements such as figurative language, imagery and tone allows for “The Fish” to be about something greater. These three elements weave themselves together to create a work of art that goes beyond its simple subject.
Sensory detail is a vital way authors show a story’s theme to the reader. For instance, Amy nauseatingly describes how her relatives “licked the ends of their chopsticks and reached across the table, dipping them into the dozen or so plates of food” (Tan 353). The description of the mannerless acts by Amy gives you a clear image of how her relatives are acting during the Christmas dinner. Additionally, by the way Amy described the event it is obvious that she did not want to be compared to her relatives: She wanted, in vain, to be compared to Robert and his family. Through the use of sensory detail, the author shows the reader that one will find it hard to become something they are not.