In "Fish Cheeks" by Amy Tan, the author utilizes the symbolic beige tweed miniskirt to represent the main characters yearning to be the same as American girls. After her parents invited her crushes family over for dinner she is apprehensive as to what he will presume about her traditional relatives and culture. The text states,"What will he think of our Shabby Chinese Christmas"(2). Which reveals that she wants to be like traditional Americans and doesn 't appreciate the unique differences about her culture. She also spends too much time caring about what the boy will think of her relatives and the non-american food served, that she doesn 't fancy over the fact that all her favorite foods were served. She thinks being like the
“Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan is primarily an autobiographical piece about her experiences growing up in a household that chiefly spoke “broken” English, and a reflection on how this gave her a unique perspective on the transformative properties of language. Yet, it is no way an academic analysis, a deliberate choice, Tan even includes a short disclaimer in the beginning concerning this, and the excerpts she includes come from her own background, her personal observations, something which I found quite refreshing. As someone who comes from a mixed family and identifies as Asian-American, I related a great deal to her upbringing, and in many instances down to the exact circumstance. For example, she details an incident in which she
Antwone Fisher Memoir Essay Finding Fish is a story of a young, unloved boy growing up and overcoming all obstacles and hardships in order to become an amazing man. Antwone Quenton Fisher was born on August 3, 1959, in Cleveland, Ohio. He was born in a prison to Eva Mae Fisher and Eddie Elkins, who was killed before he was born. As a result of this, Antwone grew up in the foster system and he was placed in the unloving home of his foster parents, Mrs. Isabella Pickett and Reverend Ulysses Pickett.
Clearly, both the woman and the girl have been modified by De Bry to look European. De Bry has depicted them with sharp European features and considerably lighter skin tones. In addition, the tattoos on the Indian woman’s face and neck are missing in De Bry’s image. There is also possibly an attempt to hide the girl’s nudity by hiding the fact that the wrapping around her body is potentially covering only the front part of the bottom part of her body. Furthermore, De Bry shows the girl to be playing with Western toys, that is, a rattle and a doll.
As a secular person who takes an interest in science, I have always been fascinated by the academic field of evolutionary biology. Because of this, it should come as no surprise to anyone that the book I chose to review is entitled Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body. Written by Neil Shubin, this piece aims to outline the origins of humanity, as well as present a plethora of compelling pieces of evidence for the theory of evolution. He does this by reviewing scientific discoveries in areas of comparative anatomy, genetics, and the examination of fossils. Interestingly enough, he also integrates some of the most basic senses that we possess, such as sight and smell.
In “Fish Cheeks” Amy realizes she should be proud of who she is even if she tries being American, and not to be ashamed of her Chinese customs and traditions. She learns to always be true to herself. In “Taco Head” it’s different because Sofia learns to be who she is. Sofia learns to be proud of who she is and to stand up for herself and all the Mexican American kids like her. In “Taco Head” it also said, “That year I kicked that girl in all classes and sports, especially soccer.”
In a recent essay by Jennifer Price “The Plastic Pink Flamingo: A Natural History,” her use of irony, juxtaposition, and exemplification reveals her views on American culture in saying that it is too preoccupied with image and money rather than appreciating the beauty of the culture itself. In paragraph two of her article, Price uses strong juxtaposition. She juxtaposes the desert and a lawn by saying, “... conjured from the desert in 1946… even more strikingly than on a lawn.” This gives the audience a picture of how a pink plastic flamingo stands out more in a secluded desert than on someone's front lawn.
Some information about the author: She was born in China and studied in a local Chinese school for a few years before switching to an International school. It provided her the chance to experience first hand the real meaning behind "broken English", and understand how non-standard varieties of English have their own rules and shape a community 's sense of identity. In this article, she shares her views on Amy Tan 's "Mother Tongue" and talks about the power of language. I was reading Amy Tan 's "Mother Tongue" when I came across the idea of language being "fractured and broken". She gave examples of how her mother’s limited English caused her to be given poor service at department stores, banks and restaurants.
Cultural differences is something important to the author herself that somehow helps her to become what she is really today. In the beginning of the novel, there are many traumas deal with cultural differences that the author undertaken. One of the traumas she experienced is when she 's in the United States living with Melvin and his mother, she felt like "she doesn 't want to wear American dress" (Le 16,17). This is understandable when a six-year-old girl wanted to keep her Vietnamese traditional culture. And because she is young,
Cultural appropriation is the product of globalisation in the 21st century. Fashion designers from around the globe are continuously appropriating from one another. Cultural appropriation refers to the adoption of cultural elements from other cultures (Young, 2008). Appropriation has given the freedom to the dominant group to dress beautifully; however, it has devastating consequences for the minority group being appropriated, particularly the Native Americans. For decades, social activists were unsuccessful in stopping companies from selling Native inspired designs (Trevor, 2016).
I am reading “The Bass, The River, and Sheila Mant” by W. D. Wetherell, and I am on page 3. So far this book is about a boy who falls in love a girl who lives next door. He takes the girl out on a boat ride to a concert but realizes that he forgot to take his fishing line off of the boat until a very large bass comes along and pulls on his line. He tries to hide the fish on the line, because he knows that Sheila does not like to fish so he’s trying to hide the evidence. In this journal I will be questioning and connecting.
In Jennifer Price’s essay “The Plastic Pink Flamingo: A Natural History,” she expresses her view on the Unites States Culture to the American citizens. She describes the pink flamingo, a flashy and iconic figure, in a manner that proves ironic and critical to make her point that the culture of the United States has become attention seeking and overconfident. In Price’s first paragraph, she uses the historical background of the pink flamingo to show the transition, or evolution, of its rising popularity. “The Flamingo had made the bird synonymous with wealth and pizzazz”, is a direct insight to her point that the U.S was becoming greed stricken.
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. When Christmas eve came around, she explained what her mother was preparing and used imagery to paint a picture in the reader's mind as if they were there.
Amy Tan is a Chinese-American author who was born on February 19, 1952, in Oakland, California. In Tan’s early life she had many struggles because her parents desired for her “to hold onto Chinese traditions and her own longings to become more Americanized” (Encyclopedia). While she wanted to become a writer when she was still young, her parents wanted her to become a neurosurgeon. When she got older and went to college she majored in English then started her career in the 1970’s. She was a technical writer and then started writing fiction stories.
Appropriation is the act of borrowing and changing the meaning of cultural products, images, slogans and elements as well as reusing existing elements to create new works and meanings. Many artists believe that in borrowing existing images or elements of imagery, they are able to recreate the idea as it is now placed within a new concept. This essay will discuss how appropriation has been used in cultural and social contexts in order to create controversy and sell products, as well as be a form of expression. Pop culture often uses brash ways when trying to provide interest in society. As humans we are constantly wanting more and are never fully satisfied without entertainment, thus in order to meet these high demands many often turn to cultural appropriation as a void of entertainment.
She implies that people blindly accept and act on what is expected of them by stating that people would likely wear a fish on their heads if suddenly it was expected to be socially pleasing to do