Talk:Fish Cheeks

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment

This article is or was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment. Further details are available on the course page. Peer reviewers: Sabdu4.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 21:17, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

Summary

I feel that it is necessary to include the details regarding what she was feeling and why she was feeling that. Her paranoia over Robert's disapproval of their Chinese customs is a reason that she was feeling ashamed, and I feel that it is important to mention that because that will give a better overview of the story, something that a summary is supposed to do.--Khalifa alkaabi (talk) 14:00, 27 November 2017 (UTC)

The summary could use some basic edits (semicolon and comma use) and would benefit from a brief quote or two from the essay to more accurately convey the meaning of the story.--Kbrowe (talk) 14:12, 27 November 2017 (UTC)

They should add the country where the story happened, the United States.--Beverly Chigarira (talk) 13:58, 27 November 2017 (UTC)

I agree. The specific location of the event is significant to the overall meaning. Had this experience occurred in China, she probably would not have felt the same way about it.--Kbrowe (talk) 15:11, 27 November 2017 (UTC)

There should be a semi-colon before 'however' in the second sentence.--Beverly Chigarira (talk) 14:10, 27 November 2017 (UTC)

And there are a couple of other edits needed as well.--Kbrowe (talk) 15:40, 27 November 2017 (UTC)

The sentence "The work was first published in Seventeen and covers a Christmas Eve dinner when Tan was 14 years old," is sloppy and needs wording.https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Fish_Cheeks&action=edit&section=1 — Preceding unsigned comment added by Sabdu4 (talk • contribs) 15:27, 27 November 2017 (UTC)

In the Writing the "Fish Cheeks" is referred as Novel. For more accuracy it is better to go with naming it as Novel.https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Fish_Cheeks&action=edit&section=1 --Sabdu4 (talk) 15:38, 27 November 2017 (UTC)

The meaning of the second sentence in the summary is inappropriate as she is not horrified at the food, but she is embarrassed because of the Chinese food. --Alessandro Pappalardo (talk) 15:38, 27 November 2017 (UTC)

I agree that this sentence needs to be changed. However, she is not embarrassed due to her family, but the Chinese food and traditional behaviors of their parents, especially her father's. --Seda gedik (talk) 03:30, 28 November 2017 (UTC)

They should add a more detailed description of the girl and her family, because in they don't specify that they are actually Chinese.--Fcovi1 (talk) 15:39, 27 November 2017 (UTC)

In the final sentence, the phrase "only shame is to have shame" has to be quoted because it has been taken directly from the article. --Alessandro Pappalardo (talk) 15:42, 27 November 2017 (UTC)

GREAT CATCH!Kbrowe (talk) 13:10, 29 November 2017 (UTC)

I think the reason why Tan feels embrassed is not only because belching is chinese tradition, but also it is really impolite. Mengrui Li (talk) 15:05, 29 November 2017 (UTC)

the phrase "He and stating that it is a how Chinese tradition show appreciation" it's confuse so it should be rewrite in better way.--Alessandro Pappalardo (talk) 19:37, 3 December 2017 (UTC)

A people’s culture includes the types of food that they prepare, how they consume them and how they react after eating. Looking at the American culture, the mode of eating is by use of spoons and forks while in the Chinese culture, chopsticks are used. After eating, it is good to thank the cook in Chinese culture while the same does not happen in the American culture. The preferred style of eating is different in both cultures.

In her article “Fish Cheeks,” Amy Tan is ashamed of her culture concerning food preparation and manner of eating, when her crush’s family is invited for dinner by her mother. From what Tan says, it is apparent that she had a secret crush on Robert, a son of an American priest, whom her mother invites for dinner. Tan goes further and says that despite the fact that her mother had tried her best to prepare something sumptuous for the American family, she had a gut feeling that all would not go well. Consequently everything goes wrong and her crush and herself are embarrassed beyond words.

Since her mother notes that her daughter is not comfortable with her Chinese culture, she hands her a gift inform of a miniskirt and tells her that she must put it on so that she feels American from the outside but she should remember that she has to remain Chinese from inside. I believe her mother is out to confuse her more

What this piece presents is a clash of cultures that affects the present day generation. The present day youth should be guided on appreciating their culture and not being embarrassed of it.(17) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Malha10 (talk • contribs) 14:57, 26 December 2017 (UTC)

Images

An image of traditional Chinese foods, particularly fish cheeks, could enhance the page. --Kbrowe (talk) 13:37, 29 November 2017 (UTC)

The introductory section

The introduction contains an error. "Fish Cheeks" is not a short story (fiction). It is an essay... a narrative essay or narrative nonfiction.--Kbrowe (talk) 14:09, 27 November 2017 (UTC)

Once the above correction is made, there is a Wikipedia page for Creative Nonfiction that could be linked to instead of linking to the short story article.--Kbrowe (talk) 15:16, 27 November 2017 (UTC)

Analysis

Kevra From Raw to Cooked: Amy Tan’s “Fish Cheeks” through a Levi Straussian Lens. Susan K. Kevra shows us that Amy Tan uses her short story “Fish Cheeks” and the characters therein to show the significance of depicting food as an indicator of racial difference. The story seems, in Susan’s eyes, to encourage teenage Asian American girls, that despite their struggle to grapple with their dual identity, should see beauty in their Asian features and celebrate their cultural heritage. Of course, this may not be an easy feat given that these girls are most probably at the prime of adolescence and are trying to fit in their very American environment. Now, Amy Tan’s efforts to shake off her culture in order to adopt a more American culture, can be alluded to Levi Strauss work “The Raw and the Cooked”, in which Levi recognized in humans the tendency to arrange culture and thought around binary opposites. It is revealed to us that Amy struggles to reconcile the raw in her, that is her culture and traditions, with the cooked, that is the American cultures that she finds herself in. For this reason she finds shame in the Chinese dishes that her mother prepares for their American guests. Amy, therefore, chooses to focus on the rawness of the food in her mother’s kitchen: the piles of uncooked prawns, pale blocks of tofu, a slimy whole fish, and an assortment of many other ingredients that Amy finds very disgusting.

I think there should be another word instead of "encourage" in the paragraph above. I believe the author only examines the case of Amy Tan and has no intention to encourage Asian American teenagers to feel that way. --Seda gedik (talk) 20:00, 3 December 2017 (UTC)

In the end, it is Amy’s mother who ‘cooks’ the raw in her when she hands her a mini-skirt for a Christmas present and tells Amy placidly that she can be the same as American girls outside, but inside she must always be Chinese. This was a very tactical way of placating her daughter and expressing her love for her. It is also a way of letting Amy reflect and appreciate her own culture, which she later does, as well as finding a way of integrate her own culture into the American culture that she has to live in. Amy, therefore, finds a way of reconciling the raw and the cooked in her; the Asian and the American.--Jaza-Hadi (talk) 13:48, 29 November 2017 (UTC)

I think this summary has more detail and is possibly the best of the three.--Beverly Chigarira (talk) 14:06, 29 November 2017 (UTC)

Even though it has some grammar mistakes, I think this analysis is the best because they explain in a detailed and clear way Amy Tan's article through Kevra's theory of the raw and cooked. --Fcovi1 (talk) 15:10, 29 November 2017 (UTC)

Susan shows an overview of "Fish Cheeks" written by Tan, who prefer talking about sentiment of food in the view of racial difference, and she directly claims the discomfort comes from anxiety about growing up and the struggle in "Fish Cheeks" while put forward the Levi-Straussian's theory about raw and cooked in briefly explaining the protagonist's change from primitive state to more refined one. Afterwards is the further analysis of "Fish Cheeks" and the importance of this article in racial difference. At first, Susan acknowledge the article uses the food to show the dichotomies between the Chinese hosts and American guests and smoothly recall Levi-Straussian's book "The Raw and The Cooked" and how this theory is suitable to be used in analyzing the article because "Fish Cheeks" is full of description of raw and cooked food. Then Susan considers it is better to understand the context of the scene in the kitchen and the mindset of the protagonist firstly instead of examining the connecting role of the mother pivotal scene in kitchen. In first main part, Susan put the emphasis on Tan's ideology of assimilation inside Tan let her feel shame and self-hated even if the food last ditch of culture shock can trigger embarrassment while Tan wanted to hide her ethnicity and eventually failed. What's more, Susan also underlines the appearance has the same effect in reverse the insecurities of adolescence. Furthermore, the author thinks "the protagonist's insecurities about her ethnicity are most appearance in the scene where the two families gather around the dinner table", followed by the fine analysis on food. In that part, Susan acknowledges that Chinese food is really bizarre to Americans to let the audience forgive Robert's unsettling appearance around the table.ZhouShen0926 (talk) 13:53, 29 November 2017 (UTC)

Can someone review ours? Susan K. Kevra reviews "Fish Cheeks" in her academic article, "From Raw to Cooked: Amy Tan's 'Fish Cheeks,; through a Levi-Straussian Lens." The purpose of this article is to discuss the relationship between Amy Tan's life and her short stories specifically this one that accounts for a Christmas Eve, when her Chinese family had invited the American Minister and his family over for dinner. She explains how the young Amy, who happens to have a crush on the Minister’s son, Robert, initially feels ashamed of her Chinese family and culture, because she knows that Robert wouldn’t approve of their Chinese customs, and think of them as “uncultured.” However, by the end of the story, on being consoled by her mother, she finally understands the importance of accepting her Chinese culture. Kevra explains that just how raw food, that can be cooked into any taste, depending on the person that cooks it, has to undergo the ordeal of being cut, seared and heated in order to become edible, the young, and insecure Amy Tan had to go through the supposed ordeal of embarrassment at the dining table, where Robert’s American customs were met head-on by her Chinese customs, to be able to accept, and value her Chinese customs. Vkhat1 (talk) 13:58, 29 November 2017 (UTC)

I think the first two sentences are unclear and they would be changed by telling: Susan Kevra, a senior Lecturer in French and American Studies, in her article "From Raw to Cooked: Amy Tan's “Fish Cheeks" Through a Lévi-Straussian Lens," analyzes the article "Fish Cheeks" by Amy Tan, alongside the theory by Claude Lévi-Strauss of the “Raw and the Cooked." She shows the audience that Amy Tan uses her short story “Fish Cheeks” and the characters therein to show the significance of depicting food as an indicator of racial difference.--Alessandro Pappalardo (talk) 14:59, 29 November 2017 (UTC) In the article "From Raw to Cooked: Amy Tan's "Fish Cheeks" through a Lévi-Straussian Lens" Susan K. Kevra shows to the audience that Amy Tan uses her record piece "Fish Cheeks" and moreover the characters therein to say the importance of delineation bolster as a pointer of racial equality. The story seems, in Kevra's eyes, to assist lyceum Asian American young ladies, that in spite of their battle to inspire their twofold character, they must see transcendence in their Asian alternatives and compliment their social bequest. Remarkably, this could not be a basic activity simply if these young ladies zone unit by and huge probability at the prime of age and territory unit making an attempt to suit in their strikingly American condition. Amy Tan's endeavors to shake off her vogue with a specific real goal to understand the American culture which can be inexplicit Lévi Strauss' work "The Raw and the Cooked", amid that Strauss found in people, the inclination to enhance culture and thought around parallel trade extremes. It’s exhibitionistic that Amy battles to suit the begrimed in her, that's her vogue and conventions, with the do, that's her starting and finish the all the good deal of continuous and assemble self. Later on, she discovers affront within the Chinese dishes her mother plans for his or her American guests. Amy, during this manner, concentrates on the unpleasantness of the sustenance in her mother’s area, the stores of crude prawns, pale bits of curd, a despicable entire fish, and an event of differed clear fixings that Amy finds tremendously monstrous. At long last, it's Amy's mother who 'cooks' the foul in her once she provides her a short skirt for a Christmas seem and admonishes Amy sedately that she ought to be some comparable as American young ladies outside, nevertheless within she should be unnatural to never-ending be Chinese. This was a considerably vital system for assuaging her missy and transmission her heat for her. It's more and more a method for permitting Amy to repeat and regard her own specific approach to life, that she later can, and what's a lot of perceiving for searching for her own specific way of life into the American culture she has to rest in. Amy, on these lines, finds a method for obliging the tough and moreover, the worn out her; the Asian and moreover the American.--Khalifa alkaabi (talk) 21:20, 6 December 2017 (UTC)

This new Analysis section is very much needed. Susan Kevra's article is one of the few articles written about this essay and suggests an interesting way of looking at Tan's narrative essay, "Fish Cheeks." — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kbrowe (talk • contribs) 15:09, 12 December 2017 (UTC)

Fish cheeks by Amy Tan is an essay about what happened to Army when he was a teenager. The narrative takes place on Christmas Eve when the author of the story was 14 years old. Their family had invited over friends including a boy named Tan a minister’s son who she had a crush on. The author has used various styles in order to accomplish the objective she intended to achieve when writing the essay. A person independence is what make him or her what they are. Army essay explains the difficulty the element with this statement. The essay explains the author experience when she was young both in the Chinese and American ethnicity context. Tan does not mind embracing a background ethnicity when she see her crush Robert. The minister’s son. In her mind she depicts that a miniskirt is more appealing to Robert than the ordinary Chinese appearance. She is invoked by what Robert may perceive.(17) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Malha10 (talk • contribs) 16:00, 26 December 2017 (UTC)