Identity By Amy

Fish Cheeks, by Amy Tan is a story of love, culture, being different, and accepting one's differences. A young Amy falls in love with the son of a white minister and is shocked when she finds out that her mother invited the ministers family over for christmas dinner. Amy is very embarrassed because of her asian heritage, and some of the asian customs her family embraces. She explains that her mother went out of her way to prepare many traditional asian dishes that most people would find quite odd.

Both “Mexicans Begin Jogging” and “Fish Cheeks” deal with immigrants trying to live in the American society. The author that struggles more with their role and place in American society is Amy Tan because her story comes across clearly and is easy to understand that she is not used to the American society. While the poem is confusing and is not very clear with what they are talking about. I wouldn’t have known that “Mexicans Begin Jogging” had to do with immigrants if the prompt hadn’t said they both deal with living in the American society.

“Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents which in prosperous circumstances would have lain dormant” (Horace). The idea that hard times elicit the development of certain aspects of a character, whether good or bad, is prevalent in literature, particularly The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne and The Crucible by Arthur Miller. Horace’s assertion is true in regard to the two texts in that they both contain characters who develop maturity and mercy, a new self-awareness, and cunning duplicity.

What is civil disobedience? What does it do? Why is it important? Is it a right thing? These few questions might pop into one 's head when they hear civil disobedience. This topic is highly debatable and different people might have different opinions. People who have suffered from some form of injustice may define civil disobedience differently from others. By definition, civil disobedience is the refusal to comply with specific laws or to pay taxes and fines, as a peaceful form of political protest. This is important because this is when one fights through a problem without physically hurting someone. Let 's look at some examples of civil disobedience in history, "The Declaration of Independence" by Thomas Jefferson,

Do you value the people and places around you? If you do, your milieu can influence your life in a gratifying way. In Papa’s Parrot by Cynthia Rylant, Harry’s father, Mr. Tillian, valued his son, his parrot, and his candy shop.

Something almost everyone does in life is change and adapt to the places we go and the people we spend time with. We could be putting on a face to fit in, and/or making a character out of ourselves, and then without realizing it, start acting and thinking as our character would. Throughout the book Ender’s Game we see several examples of this. Occasionally we will see other people for a certain skill or talent, and then we appoint them “the math genius” or “the artist”. We put pressure on people, and then they feel like they can’t change or they’ll disappoint others. It is so very stressful to be yourself, so why not create a new identity? “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed

What was your personal reaction to the text? Did you find the reading persuasive? Why or why not?

Be yourself! That is what I learned when I read the story Stargirl after comprehending the theme of staying true to oneself. In the novel Stargirl, the main character Stargirl came to Mica Area High School as a person whose personality was different from everyone else's. She refused to conform with the rest of her peers, which completely inspired me to not hide my true self at school. After reading this story, it seemed better for not only Stargirl but also the rest of the people in her life for Stargirl to remain true to herself and stay different.

Amy in the autobiography “Fish Cheeks” is a dynamic character. This can be inferred because of evidence in the text. For example, in the beginning of the story she is nervous and worried about Robert and his family coming over for Christmas dinner. In addition to being nervous and worried, Amy is mortified that her relatives lack American manners. As a result, Amy becomes proud of her heritage and embraces her Chinese culture.

It is important for a person to know his or her identity because if they don’t, then they might forget who they really are. If you change your identity everyone might think of you in a bad way. You should not change your beliefs to be like someone else because that is not what you truly believe in. You always have to be yourself and stand out and be a leader. April did not know who she really was and Hercules did not know if he was a god or who is real parents were.

The influence of food on cross-cultural identities is also explored through Lena St. Clair's story, 'Rice Husband'. Through this story, Tan addresses the problematic nature of the collision of Western and Eastern ideals. Lena, being born in America from a Chinese family experiences beliefs and ideologies from both cultures. For instance, the superstition and mysticism that Chinese culture associates with food is merged with the Western association of food with diet and body image. Lena's mother tells her that if she leaves rice behind, the number of rice grains in her bowl will be the number of pock marks on her husband's face. In an attempt to avoid being cursed with a bad husband, Lena devises a plan in which she can 'kill' the evil husband

In Tan’s “Fish Cheeks,” she is surrounded by family during an important holiday, and must ‘endure’ what she sees as an embarrassment when her family behave in a way that she finds shameful. She watched as her ‘crush’ repeatedly showed his own discomfort at their ways, which were strange to him, when all she wanted was for him to see her family in a good light. Tan grew up in a family who were different from those around her, where she constantly attempted to repress her heritage and fit in with those she believed were ‘normal.’

This Chinese-American novel tells the story of eight individuals, four Chinese mothers and their American daughters who have approximately two chapters each. The book begins and ends with the Jing-Mei Woo's story who reflects the life of Amy herself. Jing- Mei's mother dies in the book allowing her to discover the past her mom left behind including her three abandoned daughters. The second

From the beginning of time, acceptance has played an important role in society. It is only human nature, to try and be accepted into a group of people. Explained by Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, where social needs are expressed as the 3rd level before self-actualization. Which is what we all strive towards whether we know it yet or not. Acceptance or a sense of belonging can be reasons behind, how we form social groups like cliques, the reason we act the way we do and why we dress the way we do.

Self expression is a term many people use. The meaning of it is how you show your true self around people expressing thoughts, feelings, and ideas. Many of it can be seen through art, writing, music, and dance. People show themselves with many different expressions. It can be any type of art and even writing. Some people have art when it come to make up they might be really good at making other people look better than they already do or even by how they write. For example some people will right all these happy books with happy endings and some people write sad books with sad endings. Everyone is different. Other expressions can be how they dress, act, and even by their voice. Personally i show my best self in many ways but one of them is how i dress. I