Fish Cheeks-- Personal Narrative

Fish Cheeks by Amy Tan-- Personal Narrative

​We can construct meaning from narrative texts.

We can write a short personal narrative.

Word Cloud

When you think of Christmas, what food(s) come to mind? (1-2 words)

About the Author

Amy Tan (born 1952) is a first-generation Chinese-American who was born and raised in California. She is famous for her memoirs about her childhood in a home where she was raised by Chinese immigrants. Fish Cheeks is a real story about a special dinner that took place when she was 14-years-old.

Match

Match the following questions and answers:

• When was Amy Tan born?

• Where was Amy Tan born?

• Where were her parents from?

• What type of story is Fish Cheeks?

• How old was Amy when this happened?

1952

California

China

Personal Narrative

14

• 1952

• California

• China

• Personal Narrative

• 14

minister

(noun): a person whose job involves leading church services, performing religious ceremonies (such as marriages), and providing spiritual or religious guidance to other people 

manners

(noun) knowledge of how to behave politely while with other people

despair

(noun) the feeling of no longer having any hope

belched

(verb) to let out air from the stomach through the mouth very loudly (burp loudly)

custom

(noun) an action or way of behaving that is usual and traditional among the people in a particular group or place

shame

(noun) a feeling of guilt, regret, or sadness that you have because you know (or think) you have done something wrong

Match

Match the following words with their meaning

• despair

• shame

• minister

• hope

• custom

hopelessness

guilt

minister

belched

a culture's traditional way of behaving

• hopelessness

• guilt

• minister

• belched

• a culture's traditional way of behaving

Food mentioned in Fish Cheeks

Prawn

Rock Cod

Tofu

Dried fungus soaking in a bowl

Squid

Poll

Which of the foods that will be mentioned in the story have you tried (or would you try)?

• Rock Cod

• Squid

• Tofu

• Dried Fungus

• Prawns

Fish Cheeks by Amy Tan

I fell in love with the minister's son the winter I turned fourteen. He was not Chinese, but as white as Mary in the manger. For Christmas I prayed for this blond-haired boy, Robert, and a slim new American nose.

Multiple Choice

Who is coming to visit Amy and her family for dinner?

• Amy's cousin

• Amy's grandma

• Amy's crush and his family

• Amy's principal

When I found out that my parents had invited the minister’s family over for Christmas Eve dinner, I cried. What would Robert think of our shabby Chinese Christmas? What would he think of our noisy Chinese relatives who lacked proper American manners? What terrible disappointment would he feel upon seeing not a roasted turkey and sweet potatoes but Chinese food? 

Multiple Choice

Why did Amy cry when she found out they were having Robert and his family over for Christmas Eve dinner?

• Her mom is not a good cook.

• She is ashamed of her small house.

• Her parents don't speak any English.

• She is embarrassed by her family's Chinese customs.

On Christmas Eve I saw that my mother had outdone herself in creating a strange menu. She was pulling black veins out of the backs of fleshy prawns. The kitchen was littered with appalling mounds of raw food: A slimy rock cod with bulging eyes that pleaded not to be thrown into a pan of hot oil. Tofu, which looked like stacked wedges of rubbery white sponges. A bowl soaking dried fungus back to life. A plate of squid, their backs crisscrossed with knife markings so they resembled bicycle tires.

Multiple Select

Based on the last paragraph, when Amy saw the food her mother was cooking, she most likely felt:

• Ashamed

• Amused

• Excited

• Hopeful

And then they arrived — the minister’s family and all my relatives in a clamor of doorbells and rumpled Christmas packages. Robert grunted hello, and I pretended he was not worthy of existence.

Dinner threw me deeper into despair. My relatives licked the ends of their chopsticks and reached across the table, dipping them into the dozen or so plates of food. Robert and his family waited patiently for platters to be passed to them. My relatives murmured with pleasure when my mother brought out the whole steamed fish. Robert grimaced. Then my father poked his chopsticks just below the fish eye and plucked out the soft meat. “Amy, your favorite,” he said, offering me the tender fish cheek. I wanted to disappear.

Multiple Choice

Why did Amy want to disappear at dinner?

• She was embarrassed because she had a pimple on her cheek.

• She was embarrassed by the food and the way her family members were eating.

• She was embarrassed because she accidentally belched in front of Robert.

• She was embarrassed because she tripped and spilled her plate.

At the end of the meal my father leaned back and belched loudly, thanking my mother for her fine cooking. “It’s a polite Chinese custom to show you are satisfied,” explained my father to our astonished guests. Robert was looking down at his plate with a reddened face. The minister managed to muster up a quiet burp. I was stunned into silence for the rest of the night.

Open Ended

Why did Amy's father burp at the end of the meal?

Why did Amy find this embarrassing?

After everyone had gone, my mother said to me, “You want to be the same as American girls on the outside.” She handed me an early gift. It was a miniskirt in beige tweed. “But inside you must always be Chinese. You must be proud you are different. Your only shame is to have shame.”

And even though I didn’t agree with her then, I knew that she understood how much I had suffered during the evening’s dinner. It wasn’t until many years later — long after I had gotten over my crush on Robert — that I was able to fully appreciate her lesson and the true purpose behind our particular menu. For Christmas Eve that year, she had chosen all my favorite foods.

Open Ended

Amy's mother told her she must be proud that she is different. Do you agree with Amy's mother? Why or why not?

Writing

• You are going to write a narrative (story) about a family dinner you have had. This could be for any event, including having guests, a holiday, or just a regular weeknight.

• Your narrative MUST be 9 sentences long and have a beginning, middle, and end.

Where I grew up, my favorite restaurant was a Japanese hibachi restaurant called Yamato. For my seventeenth birthday, my mom's gift to me was taking me to eat there. She asked me to drive to her house so that we could travel together.
When I entered my mom's house, I was in for a surprise. Another person was joining us--her new boyfriend, who I had never met. I didn't know how to feel about having a stranger share my birthday meal, but I tried to hide my feelings.
At the restaurant, we talked. Over the course of the meal, I realized that my mom's new boyfriend was a good person, and it made me happy for her. At the end of the meal, we even took a picture together that I have kept to this day.

Open Ended

Write your 10-sentence narrative about a family dinner below.