Amy Tan is a Chinese-American writer who is the author of several works such as The Joy Luck Club, The Valley of Amazement, and “Fish Cheeks”. In the memoir “Fish Cheeks” she reflects on her struggle to accept her culture as a young girl, specifically recounting a Christmas dinner with her crush at the time “Robert” and his family, and the emotions she felt during. The story highlights how you should be accepting of your culture and embrace it; rather than try to hide it or be ashamed. Through several language techniques such as word choice, Tan highlights shame and other negative emotions she felt before and during the dinner.
One of these feelings is insecurity; and how Amy feels insecure about herself and her culture. Amy says how for christmas
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And since most people see lacking manners as an undesirable trait, it further perpetuates the idea that she is insecure of her relatives and wants to hide her family. Also the whole fact that she needs validation from Robert about her family demonstrates she is insecure.
Amy also gives off the impression or views the dinner as disgusting.
She also uses phrases such as “slimy rock cod” to describe the fish, and “rubbery white sponges” to describe the tofu, and some mystery food as “dried fungus”.
Using the word “slimy” gives a reader a gross visual of a raw fish covered in icky slime; Which does not sound the least bit appetizing. By calling the tofu “rubbery white sponges” it makes the tofu seem like less of a food but rather as inedible kitchen utensils. She also doesn’t provide details about what exactly the “dried fungus” is, it could be mushrooms, but one thing for sure, fungus does not sound like a tasty appetizer.
All this put together creates a visual in the reader's head, and it’s not a tasty one. It brings out the message loud and clear, Amy doesn’t approve of this dinner and is certain that Robert and his family will find it
Using the detail,“Dinner threw me deeper into despair,” conveys the painful feelings caused by her family at dinner (Paragraph 5). This detail indicates that Tan was continuingly losing hope that the night would get better. Tan reveals these agonizing feelings to make the reader feel compunctious. In making the reader feel sorry for her, Tan knows she can continue to misreport details in the passage without being questioned. The detail,“What would he think of our noisy Chinese relatives who lacked proper American manners,” emblematizes the dishonor Tan feels towards her relatives and cultural background (Paragraph 2). This detail implies that due to Tan’s attraction to Robert, she will detract her feelings of others to better her relationship with Robert. Tan used this detail to reveal that if Tan cannot better her relationship with Robert, she will become despondent. As a result of distorting details, the passage illustrates Tan’s dishonorable feelings towards her cultural
In the first lines of "What's That Smell in the Kitchen?" the author makes her point that women are burning dinners all over America. This gives us a general idea of what the poem will be about, yet it makes us want to read on to see why this would be happening; in other words, it triggers our curiosity. The author goes on to describe foods that are common to certain cities in the United States, bringing about a very gustatory and olfactory image in the mind of the reader. Following this, the author uses repetition to emphasize her introductory statement yet again, and adds an additional phrase, ". . . women are burning/food they're supposed to bring with calico/smile on platters glittering like wax." This statement is somewhat ironic, because it conveys an image of a very "false" woman, something like a mechanical doll or robot, or even like the flawless "model mom" figure of June Cleaver of the television series "Leave it to Beaver." Not only do we picture a woman in an apron with an artificial smile but Piercy alludes...
...y. This is seen in lines 11-13 when he writes, “To be specific, between the peony and the rose/ plant, squash and spinach, turnips and tomatoes; / beauty is nectar” (Meinke, Lines 11-13). After reading these lines the reader can visualize what these foods look like, including their shape, color, smell and texture.
Aside from being the staple food of the characters in the film, the dried fish can probably represent the life. that they had before Babette’s arrival in their village. It signifies the characters’ extremely simple and puritan way of life to the point. of becoming stiff and lifeless, just like the fish. Their lives are devoid of excitement and passion and the original dream of their religious group is growing as old and tired as the members themselves.
Despite giving disturbingly grotesque descriptions of the ingredient of toothpaste, we can see Bodanis using a flippant tone in this essay with his informal language and his light-hearted comments. If you had a serious tone, would you write “it’s the stuff bobbing around”, “ a host of other goodies”, or “zap any accidently intrudent bacteria into oblivion” (6, 8, 12)? No, you wouldn’t — but Bodanis did. Besides his casual language, he also takes unexpected turns with his tone. After describing the damage of “unduly, enlarged extra-abrasive chalk fragments” with horrifying imagery such as “cavernous pits”, “craters”, and “pits”, the grim mood which Bodanis established makes the reader expect him to address these teeth-wrecking problems with
Blackberry Eating, as a whole, is an extended metaphor. The speaker is literally describing their love for fresh blackberries, but they are really trying to convey their love of words. In the poem, Galway Kinnell uses musical devices such as alliteration, rhythm, and enjambment to convey this hidden meaning.
Fulghum uses distinct word choices, also known as diction, to emphasize the style of his writings. The author writes, “sterilized by the high heat of cooking” along with “toxic waste–deadly poison–a danger to health” and “lethal gunk” to help the readers understand his humorous style. Fulghum could have easily used other word phrases to same the same thing, such as cleaned by the heat of the cooking method or food particles. Instead, he used uncommon words that sound overdramatic, to again produce this comical style.
Reading Catfish and Mandala reminded me of my cultural closeness through food. Due to being bi-ethnic I learned how to cook food from both my ethnicities, however there were times when I found myself acting like a foreigner towards certain dishes. A prime example was when I had Chitlins or pig intestines. I had eaten menudo, thanks to my Hispanic mother and this was the first time I had Chitlins, an African American dish via my paternal grandmother. Unlike Menudo, which to me has an appetizing smell and taste, Chitlins were a gray stringy putrid smelling dish. Remembering the utter dislike I obtained from that African American dish, reminded me of Pham’s experience with Vietnamese food. While there are some dishes people can’t stand, most usually embrace a dish from their culture and that helps ease some of the pain or discomfort.
The story mainly takes place in Granny Torrelli’s kitchen. “Granny Torrelli comes over, says she’s in charge of me tonight, she wants soup, Zuppa she calls it”. Another example from the text “Granny Torelli starts rooting in the refrigerator, selecting celery (that’s your green, she says), carrots (that’s your orange she says), onions and mushrooms (that’s our white I say). She reaches into the freezer, snatches some chicken, flips it into the microwave, zaps it to defrost. Gets the big red pot, fills it with water, tosses in salt and pepper and a dash of soy sauce. hands me a knife. We chop,chop,chop, fling it in the pot, such a good smell bubbling in the kitchen”. While they make soup in the kitchen Granny Torrelli tells stories about when
The Essay written by Amy Tan titled 'Mother Tongue' concludes with her saying, 'I knew I had succeeded where I counted when my mother finished my book and gave her understandable verdict' (39). The essay focuses on the prejudices of Amy and her mother. All her life, Amy's mother has been looked down upon due to the fact that she did not speak proper English. Amy defends her mother's 'Broken' English by the fact that she is Chinese and that the 'Simple' English spoken in her family 'Has become a language of intimacy, a different sort of English that relates to family talk' (36). Little did she know that she was actually speaking more than one type of English. Amy Tan was successful in providing resourceful information in every aspect. This gave the reader a full understanding of the disadvantages Amy and her mother had with reading and writing. The Essay 'Mother Tongue' truly represents Amy Tan's love and passion for her mother as well as her writing. Finally getting the respect of her critics and lucratively connecting with the reaction her mother had to her book, 'So easy to read' (39). Was writing a book the best way to bond with your own mother? Is it a struggle to always have the urge to fit in? Was it healthy for her to take care of family situations all her life because her mother is unable to speak clear English?
Then she saw a greasy china plate that had bread crumbs, cheese and sausage. The pungent of cheese made her stomach grumble. The man was very rude and insulted her because she couldn’t read. Then Frances headed home and on her way, she bumped into a girl with a nice, green, winter coat. She imagined her Ma in that coat, twirling around with a smile on her face. The girl’s mother said a rather offensive sentence about Frances and walked away with her daughter.
Oftentimes the children of immigrants to the United States lose the sense of cultural background in which their parents had tried so desperately to instill within them. According to Walter Shear, “It is an unseen terror that runs through both the distinct social spectrum experienced by the mothers in China and the lack of such social definition in the daughters’ lives.” This “unseen terror” is portrayed in Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club as four Chinese women and their American-born daughters struggle to understand one another’s culture and values. The second-generation women in The Joy Luck Club prove to lose their sense of Chinese values, becoming Americanized.
I watched the churning scene in amazement, marveling at the microcosm that these pizza boxes had become. I couldn’t bring myself to simply toss this wealth of life in a garbage can, yet the soggy pile shouldn’t sit in the yard any longer. There were only two individuals around that would appreciate this treasure more than I, and who could actually benefit from it too. A few minutes later I watched in satisfaction as my chickens, like two stately ladies, sampled the smorgasboard I offered. This is why I study zoology, I thought, for the enjoyment of just watching life act out its strange and comedic drama.
To illustrate, Soto found out that Carolyn’s family would eat different foods than his family. In the beginning of the story his mom can be spotted in the kitchen as “she slapped a round steak with a knife, her glasses slipping down with each strike” (10). Throughout the story, Soto’s mother is seen cooking foods such as burgers, beans, and steak. Soto would always eat food similar to each other; he did not have any variety with food. When Carolyn takes Soto to meet her parents, they ate sandwiches, potato chips, and they drank ice tea. Carolyn’s mother eventually offered Soto a meal of sushi. Soto described it as “a plate of black and white things were held in front of me” (14) when the sushi was at his disposal. After he ate the sushi, Soto and Carolyn’s family talked for an hour while they had Apple pie and drank coffee. It was good for Soto to try the sushi because it shows him how food can be diverse just as much as race can
She confesses that “As I walked back downstairs, embolden by this information, in the jeans I’d had to roll up and in which I felt finally like myself,” (80). Basically, the narrator felt the best when she wasn’t being guided by customs or culture. The narrators responsibility is geared away from her family and customs she grew up with, and more who she wanted to become as a person. Feeling more comfortable in the clothes that makes her look more American, the narrator prefers to stand apart from the rest of her family and their friends during Thanksgiving, showing a more individual duty to oneself than