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Transcript

Fish Cheeks

By Amy Tan

Theme

Regarding the theme of identity, the author's message is no matter how much a person tries to change what they look like on the outside, they will always be the same person on the inside and have to be proud of who they are. Throughout the essay, the author is struggling with the shame of how different her culture is compared to crush's, Robert. Her mother is able to sense how much embarrassment she went through during the entire dinner which is why she gives the speaker her Christmas present early. Along with the gift, the mother says although her daughter wants to be like the American girls on the outside, "[She] must be proud that [she] is different." and that "[Her] only shame is to have shame." Although the is the central message of the essay, the lesson itself isn't something the author learns until many years after the events of the story.

Summary

Fish Cheeks is a personal essay depicting the personal experience of a young Chinese girl, the speaker, who has a crush on a boy of a different ethnicity named Robert. For Christmas dinner, Robert’s family is invited and the speaker already fears for the worst because of how strange she feels her Chinese culture is. Throughout the entire night, she feels embarrassed because of the Chinese food presented at the table, the behavior of her family, and Robert’s reaction to everything that’s going on. At the end of the night, the speaker’s mother hands her a tweed mini skirt as an early Christmas gift and tells her that even though the speaker wants to be like the American girls on the outside, inside she must always be Chinese. The speaker isn’t able to understand her mother’s words until the end of the story, where she realizes all the food at the Christmas dinner that she felt embarrassed about were all her favorites.

Details in the Essay

Background Information on Amy Tan and Influences on the Author's Identity

  • The speakers uses words such as "stunned to silence" and "clamor" to exaggerates how distressed she was throughout the Christmas dinner.
  • The word "belched" is used to describe her father's actions at the dinner table while "quiet burp" was used to describe the minister to express how embarrassing she felt her family was compared to Robert's.
  • In paragraph 2, the speaker says "shabby Chinese Christmas" and italicizes Chinese throughout the paragraph to accentuate her distaste in the contrast of cultures.
  • The speaker's crush, Robert, is described as being "as white as Mary in the manger" so the reader can visualize the contrast in looks as well as culture between the speaker and Robert.
  • The essay is told in chronological order and in first person point of view. The author wrote her story in a way in which the reader can relate to all of the feelings she felt at the time so she could entertain while making her theme clear as well.

Amy Tan was born on February 19, 1952 in Oakland, California and had two immigrant parents from China. Since Tan was born in a place where her culture wasn’t the social norm, it makes sense why she felt embarrassed at the Christmas dinner in the essay. Tan also went against her mother’s wish of her becoming a doctor to study English and linguistics at San Jose City College and had many conflicting ideas with her from a young age. This makes it easier to understand why the author wasn’t able to understand the lesson her mother tried to teach her about staying true to her culture until many years later.

Citations

  • American Academy of Achievement, . "Amy Tan Biography." Academy of Achievement. American Academy of Achievement, 05 Feb 2013. Web. 24 Sep 2013. <http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/tan0bio-1>.

Background photo by t.shigesa

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