2. Short-response prompt (15 points)
Read this excerpt from "Fish Cheeks" by Amy Tan in which Tan recounts the
Christmas Eve dinner:
And then they arrived – the minister's family and all my relatives
in a clamor of doorbells and rumpled Christmas packages.
Robert grunted hello, and I pretended he was not worthy of
existence.
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. Robert and his family waited
patiently for platters to be passed to them. My relatives
murmured with pleasure when my mother brought out the whole
steamed fish. Robert grimaced. Then my father poked his
chopsticks just below the fish eye and plucked out the soft meat.
"Amy, your favorite," he said, offering me the tender fish cheek. I
wanted to disappear.
At the end of the meal my father leaned back and belched loudly,
thanking my mother for her fine cooking. "It's a polite Chinese
custom to show you are satisfied," explained my father to our
astonished guests. Robert was looking down at his plate with a
reddened face. The minister managed to muster up a quiet burp.
I was stunned into silence for the rest of the night.
How does this excerpt illustrate the theme of cultural conflict that persists
throughout the story? Be sure to use specific details from the text to support your
answer.