Cheeks of the Fish

Fish Cheeks

"Questions on Meaning"

1. Tan cries when she finds out the boy she loves is coming to dinner because she is ashamed that her family will be having a traditional Chinese dinner. The boy she loves is "as white as Mary in the manger" and she feels that her household and their traditions may be embarrassing.

2. Tan's mother went out of her way to prepare a disturbingly Chinese dinner because she wanted to demonstrate to her guests as well as her daughter that their Chinese heritage was nothing to be embarrassed about but rather something to be proud of. She proved this by taking the menu to the extreme. The last sentence, "For Christmas Eve that year, she had chosen all my favorite foods.", demonstrates that although Tan was embarrassed at the time of the dinner her mother had chosen, she now realizes that she knew in her heart that the dinner did represent her Chinese heritage and that she should have been proud of it.

3. The fourteen-year-old Tan feels ashamed of her Chinese background because it is different from the rest of her peers. Although she loves her mother, Tan still feels some slight embarrassment and resent that her mother went through the trouble of preparing a disturbingly traditional meal for the minister and his family.

4. Tan's purpose is to demonstrate to readers is more than sole entertainment. She tries to communicate to the audience that being different and coming from a different background is not necessarily a bad thing. It can, in fact, be beneficial because diversity has the ability to add to the interest of a person.

"Questions on Writing Strategy"

1. Tan's statement "For Christmas I prayed for this blond-haired boy, Robert, and a slim new American nose." show directly from the beginning what Tan's true desire is for, she wants to fit in with the culture around her.

2. Tan's use of transitions helps the story to flow and at the same time keep the reader interested in the narrative with details.

3. The last sentence of the essay demonstrates irony as Tan remarks that her mother had chosen all her favorite foods for Christmas Eve that year because at the time, Tan was not pleased with the outrageous dinner her mother had cooked and it wasn't until years later that she realized the purpose behind her mother's choice.

4. By lingering over the description of the food on the table, Tan emphasizes the grotesqueness (it's a word, I promise) of the dinner and how unappealing it may have looked to the dinner guests.

"Questions on Language"

1. The simile about Mary is surprising because referencing such a person is not ordinarily done by authors. It's amusing because… you know, I'm really not sure why it's amusing. Sorry.

2. The author being only fourteen makes the tone of the essay more appropriately youthful. Teenage girls tend to be overly conscious of aspects of their lives that may be slightly embarrassing to them but not to others and this adds to the emotions expressed by the author. Statements such as "…and I pretended he was not worthy of existence" and "I wanted to disappear" are indicative of a teenager's language.

CM