Amy Tan achieved the epitome of short and sweet in her essay “Fish Cheeks”, where she teaches us the great lesson to be proud of our heritage. Fourteen year old Amy Tan tells us how she is reluctant and nervous to have her crush Robert, the minister’s son, over for Christmas Eve dinner, because it’s not the traditional American one he is used to. Amy’s mother has devised an exotic menu consisting of prawns, rock cod, tofu, dried fungus, and squid (p. 117, par. 3).
Amy’s relatives are loud and noisy, displaying their different forms of manners, by burping to show their delight in the food (p. 117, par. 6). As the night comes to an end, Amy’s mother presents her with an early gift, a tweed mini skirt. She can see Amy is embarrassed by her culture, and tells her to be proud she is different. Amy’s only shame is to have shame (p. 117, par. 8). From my own experiences, I am a true believer in not only being proud of my heritage, but knowledgeable. I was adopted at two days old to an Irish father, and a Dutch and French mother.
I am 85% Mexican and 15% Navajo. I never knew my real mother or father or surprisingly enough, my seven half brothers and sisters. No one ever educated me on my culture or heritage. I struggled through middle school and high school to fit in. White people called me Hispanic, whereas “knowledgeable” Hispanics called me “white girl”. I always wished someone would teach me about my heritage. To me it wasn’t enough to say I was proud. I had to fully learn my culture, and then still be proud. I could never stand the Italians kids in my town.
Throwing one’s hair into a poof, being called “Bella”, eating pasta on Sunday’s, and wearing a jacket that said Italia may make it seem like you’re proud, but are you truly knowledgeable? The only reason my Hispanic friends made fun of me was because I was indeed not knowledgeable. I didn’t speak the language, know any songs, the food, the dances, the holidays, or the customs for certain occasions. My friends used to ask, “How are you proud when you don’t know what you’re proud of? ” That is when I reached out. I read books, asked my friends for information, read articles, and researched online.
Now I am proud, but for a reason. I could say I’m proud to Mexican, Russian, French, or German, but it’s not enough. That is why I am such a strong believer in being proud of our heritage. All though Tan was naïve in her younger years, I was too. When you don’t have a reason to be different, you just want to fit in. Now with age, we’ve both come to realize how important it is to be proud of our differences. I envy Amy that she had her parents to turn to whereas I did not. In reality, it made me stronger and strive to learn more.
If it’s something you really care about, you will go out of your way to learn about it. For example, I want to work with wolves, major in zoology to be exact. I know nothing of science, in fact, it’s my worst subject. Wolves are something I’m highly passionate about, and I’m willing to go out of my way to major in my worst subject and zoology to learn about them. Coming full circle, this is why I believe saying you’re proud, “accepting” your differences, or just merely not being ashamed is not enough. You need to be educated, then proud.
