Amy Tan's Short Story 'Fish Cheeks'

ny significant instances and events in one’s lifetime that shape their personality and character. As many people know, significant events during childhood can dramatically affect people’s life and surrounding environments later in life. According to NPR, studies show that, “…our early experiences likely affect us to a certain extent. And we know that due to variations in psychological makeup, some people are more sensitive to environmental factors than others” (NPR). This quote introduces the nurture vs. nature theory which shows how both the environment and genes contribute to the outcome of people’s future. In the past, decades ago, psychologists thought that only the nature or genes could affect your personality and other traits people carry with them.

As a matter of fact, I learned in my psychology class that nurture and nature each contribute the same amount to people’s life. In the short story “Fish Cheeks,” the author Amy Tan writes about a significant event that occurred in her teenage years of life and shows the reader the good and bad ways this memory has affected her throughout life. Tan leads us through her significant event providing detail and vivid imagery making it easy to imagine and relate. This story shows how both nurture and nature affect her life and how she reacts to this event during the occurrence and later when she matures and reflects back on it. In the short story “Fish Cheeks,” author Amy Tan recounts a Christmas dinner which later, upon reflection, shows to her the transitory nature of wanting to “belong” and portrays the significance of being true to her identity and self-being through embarrassment, mood, and