Comparative Analysis Essay of Amy Tan's Fish Cheeks and Naomi Shihab Nye's Museum

Focusing on Amy Tan's Fish Cheeks and Naomi Shihab Nye's Museum, the main purpose of this work is to teach individuals not to have any shame about their true heritage and that its who they are inside that actually makes them who they are. For example in Fish Cheeks by Amy Tan, it is important to note that the message is communicated in the short narrative about Amy, who is recognized as a fourteen-year-old Chinese girl who is residing in America. Being that the Chinese girl was having a crush on Robert who was the son of the minister by then, she ends up mortified the time she realized that his family is traveling just to attend her Chinese Christmas Eve dinner. This essay will hence focus on the Comparative analysis of Amy Tan's "Fish Cheeks" and Naomi Shihab Nye's "Museum" based on the heritage, customs, and connectedness.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

One main theme that transpires in the story Amy Tan's fish Cheeks is that Amy Tan is actually ashamed of her Chinese family and some of the traditions that the family is sharing. For example, in this situation, she is not proud of the Chinese food that is cooked on Christmas Eve and since she really wanted to fit in, she wanted to shun the food since she fell that it was not a great idea at that moment. Through the story, just below the fish, my father poked his chopsticks and ended up plucking out the soft meat. Which was Amy favorite, in offering Amy the tender fish cheek, she almost disappeared in the process.

During such moments, it was one of Amy's embarrassing moments, she felt embarrassed with the cultural traditions and what embarrassed her so much was that at the end of the meal, the father belched loudly while leaning backward, and thanked the mother for making sure that the food was nicely cooked. Through the reaction from the father, their custom makes it right and it is polite for Chinese custom to show that one is actually satisfied. The father vividly explains such custom to the guests who were greatly surprised with the act. On the side, Robert kept looking at his plate with a reddened face.

It is important to note that when Amy was embarrassed with her custom and heritage at large when the narrative is actually starting, she in the long run recognized that her parents are working on helping her build her confidence in her culture and identity. And at the end, things changed and she ended up becoming proud and even feeling proud to share the custom and Chinese heritage.

Comparatively, Shihab work focuses on breaking down some of the walls that individuals have built between each other in working against the feelings of otherness. Such feelings are identified to be naturally driving us apart. In her museum, Shabab Nye's work of art, work on celebrating her Arab American roots and through what she does best, her work has developed to be one of the most active voice that works in fighting and even representing the Arab Americans. She has managed to bring out outstanding work of art that fights against prejudice and terrorism in general.

It is amazing how Amy Tan's "Fish Cheeks" and Naomi Shihab Nye's "Museum" work of art makes us understand various culture and heritage where we come from, developing a good identity in which we can outstand and even make others know us in a unique and in a better way. Through Shihab Nye work of art, we understand that there exist individuals in this world that truly and totally believe in connections and nothing can actually come or even talk out of them. Focusing in the recent past,Shihab in her work a certain that nothing can actually talk us out of them and it is important to note that all the tragically dangerous human characters and even behaviors that have been taking place in the past has no chance of swaying us from the general conviction that the most of the individuals on this planet earth want and they are in great need in making sure that their life on earth is one of the most peaceful. In the collection of her poetry, what clear comes out is that she has played the greater role of evoking the connection that is existing between various individuals in the line, in that individuals are born into a large family and as brothers and a big family we end up covering the earth.

Just like "fish cheeks" by Amy tan is reminding individuals about their true heritage sticking to their custom as a sense of identity in understanding where they came from, it is important to note that it who they are inside that has a great chance of making them who they are. The same applies to Naomi Shihab Nye's "Museum" where we realize that make use images that are of powdered sugar as a symbol to show connectedness. In her writing, she is in the position of connecting and even relating on how she managed to calm down an old Arab in the terminal of Albuquerque terminal where she spoke to a woman in Arabic that one of the trains in which they were actually waiting for was not actually canceled but in the process was delayed. In the process, they ended up becoming good friends and the woman ended up offering cookies that were covered in sugary powder to the individuals at the gate and the poet, with no one turning down a cookie.

Conclusively, even though a small difference is experienced in Amy Tan's "Fish Cheek" and in the Naomi Shihab Nye's "Museum" work of art based on various customs and heritage, both works of art focus on bringing out our identity.