Amy Tan Fish Cheeks Summary

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The shame that comes from culture is something that develops through time-based on looking at the world around and focusing on what in the culture they lack. Only can that person determine their worth and the worth of their culture’s people. Amy Tan is a freelance writer who attended the University of California and four others in the area as well. She received her B.A. with a double major in English and Linguistics, followed by her M.A. in Linguistics. In “Fish Cheeks” Tan utilizes a shift in tone and imagery to persuade her audience that “Your only shame is to have shame” (par. 7).
Tan utilizes imagery to replicate the thoughts that she believes her long-time crush Robert has when looking at her family’s traditional Christmas Eve dinner. …show more content…

It also allows the audience to realize when the author is more serious or sarcastic by her tone. In one of Tan’s first sentences, she talks about her humiliation brought on by her background and the actions of her family, “What would he think of our noisy Chinese relatives who lacked proper American Manners?” (par.1). The switch of tone between selfishness and understanding is able to demonstrate both sides of Tan’s story where one side is her young and naive self and on the other is her older more experienced self. With an ungrateful tone, in the beginning, it displays her view, that she doesn't like her current background and how it is different to her crush Robert’s. The true intent of why Tan’s mother chose that certain menu of food was revealed later in the piece, “I didn’t agree with her then, I knew that she understood how much I had suffered during that evening's dinner. It wasn’t until many years later...that I was able to fully appreciate her lesson and true purpose behind our particular menu” (par. 8). This time the author utilizes the tone to switch from her selfish 14-year old self to an understanding tone in her later years. This allows the author to convey her understanding of what her parents did for her and how she could not see it then, but she can now. Those who struggle with finding and identifying their culture in today's world, the audience, may be

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