Summaries and choice of Analysis

Summarization of “Fish Cheeks”

In the narrative piece Fish Cheeks, the Author Amy Tan wrote about an embarrassing experience she had when she was fourteen. She had a crush on an American blonde boy whose family was invited to her house for Christmas Eve. Since she was Chinese American, her traditions were different from the boy’s family. When the guests came over, all evening she was humiliated by her family’s behavior and how different their culture was. So I think Amy Tan’s main point was said by her mother when she said “You must be proud you are different. Your only shame is to have shame.” ( Alexie, par.7) This means that not accepting and embracing who you are but instead being embarrassed by it is what causes you to be shameful. I think the purpose of this story was for her to share an important life lesson she had for herself and a message others can learn from.

 Summarization of “Superman and Me”    

 Sherman Alexie’s book” Superman and Me” is about his childhood experience with learning how to read. A Superman comic was the first book he taught himself to read with. This was when he was three years old living in Spokane WA. Even though financially his family went through a struggle his house was always filled with books, bought by his father. His strategy to teaching himself began with looking at pictures and interpreting what they meant in the story. Since he couldn’t completely read yet he used those to guess the words. At a young age he was teased at school for being intelligent. Reading was a passion for him and he wasn’t going to be somebody else just because he was “Indian”. I think the message that Alexie was trying to get across had to do with when he said “I was trying to save my life” (Alexie, par. 7) then when he said “I am trying to save our lives.” (Alexie, par. 8) It shows how he overcame adversity (the stereotypes) and became something that was not expected of him. He saved his life by not letting people tell him he couldn’t and he wants to save others’ lives too. Another thing I noticed is how he uses the term “Indian” throughout the article instead of Native American. To me this definitely changes his tone to bitter because it’s an offensive and derogatory term that shows how ignorant people can sound.                                                                                                                                                                                      
Choice Of Analysis                                                                   

For my Division and Analysis assignment I’m choosing to use “Fish Cheeks”. Since I enjoyed the story a lot I want to look deeper and pick apart the authors strategies. To me, Amy Tan’s tactics were very subtle and not really obvious. I also felt that I could stronger relate to this article because my family is also from a different culture so the authors thesis really moved me.                                                                                                                                                                                                       
Works cited                                                                                                                                                
Tan, Amy. "Fish Cheeks." The Bedford Reader. Twelfth ed. N.P.:n.p.,nd. 110-11. Print.                     
Alexie, Sherman. "Superman and Me." The Bedford Reader. Twelfth ed. N.p.: n.p., n,d. 582-85. Print.   

I commented on Hannah's and Emma's blog post.