Symbolism In Amy Tan's 'Shabby Chinese Dinner'

In two passages, Virginia Woolf compares meals she was served at a men’s and at a women’s college. The contrasting meals reveal Woolf’s frustration at the inferior treatment that women face. The first meal at the men’s college is elegant, enjoyable, and satisfying while the second is plain, cheap, and bland. This clearly juxtaposes the expense and luxury afforded to the men with the “penny-pinching” nature of the women’s in order to show Woolf’s underlying attitude of dissatisfaction against the inequality that women are not granted the same privileges and investment as men.

In the passage written by Amy Tan the author uses adjectives and feelings to reveal that an embarrassing experience in her youth changed her prospective on her heritage by showing her she needs to always be reminded of her heritage. One of Amy’s emotions in this passage is she feels embarrassed that her Chinese family that came over would get up to get their while the American would wait patiently for the food to be passed. One thing that made Amy embarrassed was when her dad took the fish cheek and said “Amy your favorite.” Another emotion was she was scared that the boy wouldn’t like their Chinese food or wouldn’t like there Chinese Christmas. But Amy’s fear was realized because the ministers family didn’t eat a lot nor did they talk.

Her argument goes on claiming how Facebook has made us more wary of real human confrontation, and how the network’s audience has become afraid of being caught in the act of avoiding confrontation. Mathias supports this when she uses the example of one of her friends losing it when she heard of a hacker application for Facebook that would expose who’s been searching who, making everyone know of a love interest she had been “stalking.” Mathias argues how we have managed to fear real interaction by cowering behind online. She concludes stating that Facebook is another form of

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.

Instead of appreciating her husband’s effort in cooking the meal, “she dreamed of elegant dinners, gleaming silverware” The repetition of the verb phrase “she dreamed” moreover suggests Madame Loisel’s desperation to achieve her endless desires for luxury. The dependent clause shows her depreciation of her husband’s hard work, suggesting that she puts wealth and fortune over her relationship with one of her closest family members. Maupassant can be seen to be misogynistic by conveying Madame Loisel as an antagonist whose greed does not purely affect her thoughts towards her ordinary lifestyle; but also her neglection towards her family

He does not have much of an appetite, especially when Mrs. Jarrett makes him French toast for breakfast, but he rejects the food and has zero desire for it. The point of Conrad trying to take his own life could be strongly linked to a sign of Depression. Conrad feels the guilty of his brother dying and internalizes the whole situation. In doing so, Conrad has feelings of guilt and irrelevance because of this self-blame and negative self-talk. The DSM-5 suggests that Depression is qualified by a change in sleep, suicidality, guilt or worthlessness, concentration, change in activity, etc.

To begin with, Amy in tries to be a different person during a christmas dinner with the minister’s family, but learns from her mother that she will always be chinese. Next Jing-Mei is pushing back from her mother’s wishes for her to become a prodigy, but learns that her mother was just wanting what was best for her. Finally, Harry learns about his actions and character when his father’s parrot speaks invaluable words. All these characters change their own identities, but soon learn to be themselves. These three receive important life lessons about being themselves from certain moments in their lives.

For example, his notion of Richard’s wife leads him to believe she was sorrowful in death. Within the text, the Narrator was thinking, “I’m imagining now—her last thought maybe this: that he never even knew

Mary became overjoyed when Mr. Patrick returned home; however, he must have a strong drink before talking to her. The Maloney’s were supposed to eat out for dinner; however, Mr. Patrick noted that he was tired, at that time Mary offered to cook. “I don’t want it,” (Dahl 28) said Mr. Patrick; however, Mrs. Maloney insisted that he needed to eat a little bit of food. Afterward, he said, “Listen, I’ve got something to tell you.” (Dahl 37)

In the short story “Birthday Party,” by Katherine Brush, it is seen that the husband does not return his wife’s strong feelings towards him. Through characterization, Brush portrays the wife as the one who cares more about their relationship rather than the husband. The woman’s caring gestures that expressed her love for her husband was ruined when he was not pleased with her. After the waitress had brought the birthday cake, prepared by his wife for her husband, the man said “some punishing thing” to his wife, which caused her to cry “heartbrokenly and hopelessly.” The “punishing” thing the man had said to his wife must have been harsh as it made her cry “heartbrokenly and hopelessly.”

In Seventeen’s reflective anecdote “Fish Cheeks,” appeared in the magazine in 1987 and was written by a woman of Chinese descent about a distinct Christmas when she was fourteen, the author utilizes ashamed diction to demonstrate her disappointment and utter embarrassment in her family’s Chinese traditions, appalled imagery to describe her thoughts toward her crush’s feelings about her mother’s food, and desperate parallel structure to convey her insatiable thirst to fit in and be accepted by the minister’s son, in order to explain her former horror of her crush’s judgment and how, later in life, she learns that preserving her family’s culture is

When Mr. Udall visited the doctor’s office, he complained about how the medications did’t make him feel better, asking the OCD doctor, “Is this as good as it gets?” (As Good as It Gets). An example of when the medications fail Mr. Udall is when he takes Carol out to dinner and makes an inappropriate and callous comment on her appearance. Despite taking the medications and hoping to have a perfect night with Carol, Mr. Udall still gives into the nerves and anxiety of his OCD and unintentionally offends his date. On the other hand, more emotional and personal relationships and experiences throughout the story helped ameliorate Melvin’s symptoms.

Twenty years of marriage with Joe is nothing to Janie, as after only two years with Tea Cake she says to him, “We been tuhgether round two years. If you kin see de light at daybreak, you don’t keer if you die at dusk. ”(159). Janie’s loving comparison of Tea Cake to the light at daybreak shows her appreciation for him, and that it does not matter that they are not rich. Her confident embrace of death also demonstrates to the reader that she has finally achieved her dream of true love.

Upon choosing my fourth song, I thought of the portion of the novel where Janie begins to grow doubt following her current friendship with Tea Cake. The main reasons for this sprouting emotion include the age gap between them and her unwillingness to pursue a relationship with him for fear of him messing with her feelings. Over the course of the next few days in the story, Tea Cake reassures Janie of his pure intentions even though she remains skeptical. In order to express his affection towards her, Tea Cake invites Janie to a picnic at the end of the chapter where she continues to question him by saying he could bring any woman he wants and states he does not have to bring her along just to show kindness. With correlation to their back and

This also, is ruining the tradition on African American culture. Maggie’s mother promised her quilts for when she married, and when Dee found them she criticized Maggie and how she would put these quilts to use. All these years Dee looked past and their traditions and now all the sudden she wants to have a part of it. In reality she doesn’t deserved a single piece. Mama doesn’t back down from Dee and insists on her picking two different quilts.