Theme Of Fish Cheeks By Amy Tan

As humans, we are all prone to the inevitable feeling of humiliation. However, being embarrassed about one’s own heritage is a feeling that no one should have to experience. In today’s day and age, learning to love who you are as an individual is a huge accomplishment.

This is the core idea behind Amy Tan’s short story, “Fish Cheeks,” as she outlines the general idea of self-acceptance. The narrator, fourteen year old Tan, declares her love for her minister’s son, Robert, who unlike herself is “as white as Mary in the manger” (Tan 1). This crush is anything but healthy, primarily because Tan is reluctant to reveal her true self to him. This hesitance she portrays is strikingly recognizable in the teenagers of today’s world. Amy Tan 's story,

She writes in a way that adolescents are able to relate to, as she shares her personal story of self-acceptance. Tan writes to appeal to a young audience through the use of coherent word choice, humor, and the overall message. Like many young girls, Tan found herself pressured to fit in with the norm in an attempt to please others (in her case, Robert). Her insecurities are presented as early as the first paragraph as she wishes for a “slim new American nose” and compares Robert’s ethnicity to her own (Tan 1). As a young girl, she sees her unique features and traditions as something that holds her back and she is hesitant to embrace them. In a similar manner, many young people today are not comfortable in their own skin. Towards the end of the story, Tan’s mother tells her “You must be proud you are different. Your only shame is to have shame” (Tan 2). Through these words, her mother speaks out to an entire generation of adolescents by declaring that it is important to embrace and celebrate diversity; the only shame one should have is the shame that results from acting critically upon one’s differences. Only years later does Tan come to the realization of her mother’s good intentions. Tan reflects upon the event, stating that for that particular Christmas Eve dinner, her mother had chosen all of her favorite foods (Tan 2). From this approach, Tan reveals that the dinner symbolized her heritage, and altogether, was something she should have been proud