Fish Cheeks In the autobiographical story "Fish Cheeks", Amy Tan compares her perspective during a Christmas dinner with that of other individuals present at the same Christmas dinner to highlight its cultural shame. The embarrassment that Tan feels towards his culture is a main perspective represented throughout this narrative. Everyone at the dinner has a very different perspective: the minister's family has an American point of view and follows American customs. Tan's family and relatives see Christmas dinner through the eyes of a Chinese person, a festive event celebrated with Chinese customs and completed with a banquet of Chinese food. Finally, Tan views Christmas dinner as a Chinese-born American. Born and raised in America, Tan has a slightly Americanized perspective of what a Christmas dinner should be, but still understands Chinese culture. Her American view of Christmas dinner is strengthened, however, when she discovers that her American love interest, Robert, will be attending the dinner. She feels like she has to conform to American culture to be accepted by him, so Tan's shame over her Chinese culture is amplified by Robert's presence. This can be seen clearly as Tan often revolves around his thoughts in his narration. He asks questions like "What would Robert think of our squalid Chinese Christmas?" and “What would you think of our noisy Chinese relatives who lacked American manners?” Robert's name is never associated with a positive word; even his greeting is described as a miserable “grunt.” This subconsciously adds to the idea that he doesn't like Chinese culture. Furthermore, Tan's use of the words "Chinese" and "American" highlights the contrast between two very different cultures. By often quoting Robert's thoughts, Tan successfully highlights her fear of disappointing him with her strange and exotic culture compared to the American norm. For example, while the steamed fish was being served, "Robert grimaced", followed by Tan saying "I wanted to disappear". This is a direct example of how Robert's opinion of Tan influenced his cultural shame. Because of Robert's presence, Tan feels nothing but pure embarrassment about his culture. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Tan's attempts to conform to American culture can also be seen throughout the narrative. He uses unappealing words like “raw” and “slimy” to describe the “strange menu” his mother has prepared for Christmas dinner. Tan compares tofu to "stacked wedges of white, rubbery sponges" and squid to "bicycle tires", even when Tan reveals that these were his favorites near the end of the story. The unpleasant description of these foods portrays Tan's attempt to reject his native Chinese culture for Robert's sake. Later, the two cultures clash at the dinner table, and this “throws [Tan] even deeper into despair.” The contrast between cultures underlined Tan's desire to follow American tradition. Tan then contrasts the cultures even further by differentiating the eating styles of the two groups. Tan's "relatives licked the ends of their chopsticks and stretched across the table," while "Robert and his family waited patiently for plates to be passed to them." Perhaps the most significant event, from which the tale takes its name, is Tan's father's offering of the fish cheek to Tan. During the offering, her father reveals to everyone that this is his favorite food, saying, "Amy, your favorite." Unbeknownst to her father, Tan is horrified when she discovers that his favorite food is something extremely atypical,.”