Rhetorical techniques are used in every genre of literature to ignite the reader’s interest, address a particular problem and structure the text in a precise and appealing manner. In “Fish Cheeks”, Amy Tan describes a particular autobiographical moment in her life: a Christmas Eve celebration that her parents invited the minister’s family over, while she was in love with the minister’s son, Robert. The essay explores a thought-provoking theme of being ashamed of one’s own traditions and customs in the context of a current multicultural society.
The text, possessing quite a simple style of narrative, still has rhetorical techniques that illustrate the mindset the author was in at the time of the story. Tan uses a lot of analogies and descriptive language specifically to show the way her younger self viewed the situation, as well as irony to educate her audience about the absurdity of being ashamed of one’s culture.
The problem of cultural identity in the US has always been a pressing issue. In her essay, Tan does not gravitate towards moralizing lessons as to why one should act and think a certain way and should never do the other. She illustrates how the destructive mindset of a Chinese immigrant works on her own example, telling a story about her 14-year-old self. Through the eyes of his Chinese girl, the way the Chinese celebrate Christmas Eve is “shabby”, her Chinese relatives are “noisy” and lack “proper American manners” (Tan).
The context of the narrative is clearly defined by this girl’s frame of perception. The celebration is a such dreadful event for her because everything that her Chinese relatives might do can be judged or misunderstood by the American minister’s family. This conveys the feeling that the author wants the reader to understand the intense dissonance between who she actually is and who she fervently desires to seem.
Tan’s message is supported by her stylistic choices in the text. For instance, she purposefully uses unappetizing epithets for Chinese food items. To her, tofu is “stacked wedges of rubbery”, the cod is “slimy”, a plate of squid “resembling bicycle tires”, while the whole kitchen is “littered with appalling mounds of raw food” (Tan). The author also explicitly underlines the fact that her extended family behaves in an unmannerly way, with the culmination of her despair being at the end of the dinner, when her father, according to a “polite Chinese custom”, belched loudly. Here, the author addresses the concept of cultural misunderstanding – and how great the perceptions of one ethnic group may differ from the ones of the other.
Growing up a Chinese girl in the American society, she wants to blend in and perceives her differences as unwanted. The only moralizing phrase in the essay is the advice her mother gives young Amy Tan “your only shame is to have shame” (Tan). This is the apex of the story, the moment that signals the message Tan wants to communicate – how absurd it is to be ashamed of who you are.
The purpose Amy Tan chose for her essay is truly a noble one – she wishes to aid young readers in understanding and establishing their cultural identity, without spending years figuring it out experientially. She communicates with her audience in a playful manner, with the use of rhetorical techniques such as irony and hilarious analogies, to better illustrate her point. She intricately operates with rhetoric which results in her succeeding in her aim – there is a greater possibility for the reader to learn the lesson when it is provided in such a simple, but smart way.
Work Cited
Tan, Amy. “Fish Cheeks”. CommonLit. 2021. Web.