Good To Fit In Fish Cheeks, By Amy Tan

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In Amy Tan’s short story, “Fish Cheeks”, it is shown that is good too fit in most of the times, but we shouldn’t forget who we are. If we are in a new place with a new culture, we must try to act like them and fit in the new society. But we must remember who we were in the first place, and if fitting in means that we have to change everything about ourselves, it’s better to not to fit in. Amy is a Chinese girl that lives in America with her family. She has a crush on the minister’s son, Robert, and her parents have invited them over for Christmas Eve dinner. She was so worried about what will Robert think about her family’s Chinese culture, as an American boy. When the minister’s family arrived at their house and sat for the dinner she felt “[deep] into despair” because her relatives were “[licking] the ends of their chopsticks” and dig them into the other plates of food as they always do. …show more content…

Because they are in a new country with new and different cultures and they have to respect the attitude and culture of the country. Especially here, that they have guests that are not familiar to their culture, so they have to respect them and try to be polite. After Amy’s mother brought the steamed fish, her father tried to give her the part of the fish that she likes the most, but Amy thought he is embracing her. When the meal was over her father belched loudly and thanked his wife and he said, “It is a polite Chinese custom” to show that you enjoyed and liked the meal. Then the minister “muster up a quiet burp” to try to be polite, but after he did it, there was an awkward silence. Here, fitting in is not a good choice because he was raised and knew that burping is not polite and by doing it he was just changing himself and it made his own family embarrassed and

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