Amy Tan
...te sponges are another way she calls tofu, which sounds harsh to say about good food. She didn't want to have Chinese dishes prepared because it wasn't American food, which would probably make Robert happy. She rather has American homemade food prepared for Robert. She quotes, "What terrible disappointment would he feel upon seeing not a roasted turkey and sweet potatoes but Chinese food?" (92). The mother isn't cooking dinner just to impress Robert but to have respect for him and his family. Since her mother's cooking didn't satisfy her daughter, that didn't stop Tan from impressing Robert. Tan wanted to impress him by having a polite and civilized family at the dinner table. She wanted to prove to Robert that her family is courteous. Tan felt ashamed by her relatives and what they did in the dinner table. One example was when they were gathering food on their plates. She quoted, "Dinner threw me deeper into despair. My relatives licked the ends of their chopsticks and reached across the table, dipping them into the dozen or so plates of food (93)." Tan, in the other hand uses chopsticks too; therefore she somehow contradicted herself by saying “My relatives licked the ends of their chopsticks”. Her Chinese relatives that had no “proper American manners” somehow made her embarrassed. Chinese people have their own type of manners, such as eating rice in a small rice bowl or using chopsticks the right way. Obviously, Robert is Americanized so he probably expected others to be well mannered. She even felt embarrassed by her father picking at the fish with his chopsticks during dinner. She quotes, "Then my father poked his chopsticks just below the fish eye and plucked out the soft meat (93)." In the Chinese culture it's very delicious to eat the fish cheeks. Robert probably wasn’t aware of the Chinese culture and how they do things differently than the Americans. So being embarrassed by her family didn't impress Robert that much. The third way Tan tried to impress Robert was trying to impress his family. She tried to be polite in front of the Minister so that Robert will like her. She acknowledged his family when they were eating with her family. She even made a positive statement about Robert’s family. She kindly said, " Robert and his family waited patiently for the platters to be passed to them (93)". "Patiently" was the word that she used, which made the statement sound positive and made it seem as if her relatives aren’t polite. She expected her relatives to be humble and polite to the Robert’s family. Overall, this essay is mainly about Tan being ashamed by her family in front of Robert. Ironically, all those foods that Tan’s mother cooked were her favorite foods. So, like I mentioned before, when she stated those negative things about her mothers cooking, she contradicted herself. At the end of this essay when Tan became older and wiser she realized that she shouldn't be ashamed of who she is. She appreciated her mother's values and lessons. If Robert really liked her, he would respect her culture and inform Tan how he feels. One example was when Tan’s father picked at the fish cheek. Robert would accept and appreciate the cooked fish. Maybe Tan felt ashamed of her culture because Robert made it seem that way. If she didn’t want to be embarrassed, she should’ve got acquainted with him and told him about her family and how they are. She didn't let Robert...