Amy Tan Fish Cheeks

Fish Cheeks is a non-fiction story written and told by Amy Tan. When maturing from a child to an adult, one must accept his or her individuality. The topics of childhood and independence are well brought out in this story. When Amy was informed about the guests coming over for dinner, she felt as if she were hit by an unexpected hurricane. Christmas day came and Robert and his family arrived at the Tan’s house. As her father jabbed his thin chopsticks directly below the fish eye and brought it to Amy, she, “wanted to disappear.” I can visualize Amy’s face reddening and her own cheeks sagging miserably. After enjoying the large feast prepared by Amy’s mother, Mr. Tan, “leaned back and belched loudly.” All Amy could do was sink in her chair
and hope to be swallowed up by it. This quote shows that she knew about how Americans thought it was rude to burp. I knew this because the only reason why she was silent the rest of the night was because she was embarrassed of her dad not respecting the American culture. Something an average person can take away from this story is to respect their own cultures and traditions.