Fish Cheeks Commonlit Answer Key Pdf (2024)

FAQs

What is the central idea of the Fish Cheeks? ›

The main idea of Fish Cheeks is to be proud of one's identity. Throughout the entire story, Amy tries to deny her Chinese heritage but learns over time that she does not need to discard her background for the sake of others. She realizes there is strength in being different.

How does the narrator's description of the cod in paragraph 3 impact the tone of the passage? A. She describes it as “slimy” and pathetic, which contributes to the angry tone of the passage.

In "Fish Cheeks", an autobiographical narrative by Amy Tan, fourteen-year-old Amy is thrown into a humiliating dinner with her Chinese family and the American boy on whom she has a crush. Years later, Amy reflects back on this embarrassing meal and realizes something about her parents and her heritage.

Amy is embarrassed by her family and by the food (including fish cheeks) served to the guests, and again by her father's belching after dinner, although he explains that it's a polite Chinese custom that shows satisfaction.

The climax of Fish Cheeks, is when the families are having a meal and belching. For Amy, the situation is described as her most embarrassing moment. The reason is that the customs of her family and Robert's family clashed.

"Fish Cheeks is named for the lean, tender cheek meat that is considered the tastiest part of a fish and a delicacy in Asia."

The tone of a passage is the writer's attitude or feeling about the subject that he or she is presenting. Tone does not reflect the reader's attitude toward the subject, nor does it involve the attitude expressed by characters, besides the author, in the passage.

What did Tan's mother mean when she said to Amy, “Your only shame is to have shame”? Her mother is attempting to point out that Amy should not be embarrassed about her culture. Amy's actions at dinner were embarrassing to her mother.

Expert-Verified Answer. In paragraph 2 of the narrative "Fish Cheeks", the narrator's point of view is revealed as one of confusion, awkwardness, and embarrassment. The narrator is a fourteen-year-old Chinese-American girl, attending a Christmas Eve dinner at her parent's house.

Novelist Amy Tan narrates and records a past experience of clashing cultures in her narrative essay "Fish Cheeks" to illustrate how we should not be ashamed of our cultural background but rather accept and embrace it.

What is the tone of the Fish Cheeks? ›

The tone of the story is reflective as well as somewhat light hearted. She is reflects on this experience and about how her thoughts and feelings as a younger person about her Chinese identity have evolved as she has grown older.

The autobiographical narrative, "Fish Cheeks," by Amy Tan, is about a fourteen-year-old girl named Amy who lives in America. The problem Amy experiences is that she is ashamed of her family. Amy wishes that she and her family were more American so she could fit in.

The major conflict of this story is Amy trying to impress Robert, but cannot do so because she finds her family and Chinese culture embarrassing compared to the American one.

Thesis Statement

In the story “Fish Cheeks”, author and protagonist, Amy Tan had a lack of pride in her ethnicity and her culture created an embarrassing moment for her during a dinner she had with a boy named Robert. Robert is her crush and he is white. Amy Tan is Chinese.

The writer Amy Tan uses metaphor to describe how the plate of squids prepared for dinner looks inedible. Metaphor is a figurative language that compares the object with an incomparable object. Therefore, option C. plate of squids looking tires of bicycle uses figurative language.

The major conflict of this story is Amy trying to impress Robert, but cannot do so because she finds her family and Chinese culture embarrassing compared to the American one.

“The Fish” Themes

The poem illustrates how that empathy can be humbling, reminding people that, even if they might be used to seeing themselves as distinct from animals, they're really in the same boat: animals and humans alike take part in all the mess, struggle, and beauty of life.

What is the purpose of Amy Tan's "Fish Cheeks"? The purpose of Fish Cheeks by Amy Tan is to teach people not to be ashamed of their true heritage; it is who they are inside that makes them who they are. This message is communicated in the short narrative about Amy, a fourteen-year-old Chinese girl who lives in America.