Fish Cheeks by Amy A young teenager experiences a harsh Christmas Eve dinner with her Chinese family and an American family as their guests in “Fish Cheeks ” by Amy Tan. The protagonist, Amy, has fallen in love with the son of the American family. The point of view and the images of the story work together to show the reader the embarrassment, the desire for change and the lesson that Amy experienced that night. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay In the story of "Fish Cheeks" by Amy Tan, Amy is the main character and experiences a bit of a rough dinner on Christmas Eve. She “falls in love with the minister's son” and it turns out that her mother invites him and his family to their house for Christmas Eve dinner (1). Amy wants to impress this young man and the reader is shown this when the point of view and images in the story work together. The point of view gives the reader insight into what Amy is thinking. For much of the story, Amy is embarrassed when she discovers her mother's plan and questions the way her family celebrates Christmas. She wonders what Robert “would think of his noisy Chinese relatives who lack American manners” (1). The point of view in the story helps to show Amy's embarrassment, but through the images portrayed. She sees the food her mother prepares for the Christmas meal and the thoughts that run through her head include: “the kitchen is littered with frightening piles of raw food: a slimy cod with bulging eyes begging not to be thrown into a pan of boiling oil” (1). The way Amy describes all the raw meat lying on her mother's kitchen counters tells the reader of her disgust and embarrassment. The images in the story show that Amy wants to impress Robert, so she tries to change herself. She sees American culture as a way to fit in so that Robert will notice her and maybe even start to like her. So she changes clothes, her mother even "hands her a beige tweed miniskirt" (1). He is ashamed of his family. Pictures showing this are found in the fifth paragraph of the story: “My relatives licked the ends of their chopsticks and reached across the table, dipping them into a dozen plates of food. Robert and his family waited patiently for the dishes to be passed to them” (1). Although the images consist of strong evidence that Amy wanted to change herself for Robert, her point of view also helps the reader understand Amy a little more. Her mother confronts Amy about the change she wants to make in her life. He tells her: “You want to be like American girls on the outside... But on the inside you must always be Chinese. You must be proud of being different. Your only shame is to be ashamed” (1). Amy realizes that her mother knows how embarrassed she felt during that dinner and that her mother was only trying to help her. Her mother is telling Amy not to change when all she wants to do is exactly that. Through the imagery of the story, the reader knows that Amy's mother realizes that Amy has a crush on Robert, so she tries to help her by making all of Amy's favorites. foods and show Robert who Amy really is. Amy doesn't see it that way though, she's just embarrassed. It is only years later that Amy realizes that "for Christmas Eve that year, her mother had picked out all [her] favorite foods" (1). At dinner that night, Amy didn't realize they were her favorite foods. Even when her father “stuck his chopsticks just under the fish's eye and tore off the soft flesh and said, 'Amy, your favorite'” (1). This image of his father is a bit creepy in the culture.