Analyzing Authors' Point of View in Fiction

Read the standard:  Explain the strategies the author uses to convey point of view or purpose?
What does the word convey mean? 
Does convey mean to explain the strategies the author used to communicate his or her point of view or purpose?

• True
• False

Why does an author write something?

• The author wants everyone to see how fabulous he or she can write any given message.
• The authors purpose or main reason for writing the passage, article or story.
• The audience tells the author what to write.

What does it mean when the author is expressing his or her main feeling, believes or opinions about a topic?

• This is the author's point of view.
• This is the author's purpose for writing the article, passage or story.
• The author is always positive about the topic he or she is writing about.

Part A:  What does the word "despair" mean as used in paragraph 5 in the article, "Fish Cheeks"?

• shock
• frustration
• misery

Part B:  Which of the following quotes best supports the answer to part A?

• My relatives licked the ends of their chopsticks and reached across the table"  (Paragraph 5)
• "how much I had suffered during the evening's dinner" (Paragraph 8)
• "Robert grunted hello, and I pretended he was not worthy of existence." (Paragraph 4)

How does the narrator's point of view affect how the events are described in the passage?

• She is nervous to have the boy she likes over for Christmas dinner, and so the text focuses entirely on the boy's reaction.
• She is embarrassed by he family's Chinese customs, and this shame influences how she describes the food and her family's behavior.
• She is bored with her family's old Chinese traditions and wants to try new modern customs, and this affects how she focuses on being more "American".

What sentence from paragraph 5 in the article, "Fish Cheeks" illustrates information the reader would likely miss if the story were written from a different point of view?

• "Dinner threw me deeper into despair"
• "My relatives murmured with pleasure when my mother brought out the whole steamed fish."
• Robert and his family waited patiently for platters to be passed to them."

Part A:  How does the end of the story, "Fish Cheeks" develop the narrator's point of view?

• The narrator shares her frustration from the dinner.
• The narrator expresses the effect her culture has had on her life.
• The narrator discusses the lesson she learned through the conversation with her mother.

Part B:  Which sentence(s) from the story support your response in Part A?

• "She handed me an early gift."  "It was a miniskirt in beige tweed."
• "You want to be the same as American girls on the outside."  "But inside you must always be Chinese."  You must be proud you are different."  "Your only shame is to have shame."
• "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."

In the article, "Fish Cheeks" paragraph 7, Amy's mother says to her, "You want to be the same as American girls on the outside...But inside you must always be Chinese."  How does this quote contribute to the overall meaning of the story?

• Amy struggles to take pride in her heritage as a Chinese American.  In the end, she truly appreciates the true purpose behind the Chinese culture and can't wait to eat all her favorite foods on Christmas Eve.  She was truly proud to be Chinese. 
• Amy wants to be an American and will do anything she can to fin into the American culture.  She is willing to give up all her favorite foods and her Chinese culture. 
• Being Chinese was embarrassing to Amy and she didn't want to hear her mother tell her she will always be Chinese.  She learned at this dinner years ago that she could change who she was inside even if her mother said otherwise.