#12-2. Fish Cheeks

Fish Cheeks, a reflective essay written by Amy Tan, is one of the top-notch examples of 

well-written reflections. Even with its short length – only 500 words – it conveys a lot of contents, including Tan’s emotions (when she felt ashamed in front of the boy she was crushed on), a life lesson that Tan’s mother wanted to give Tan (“You must be proud you are different”), etc.
There are several factors that make this essay so attractive: first, vivid descriptions; second, honest tone; third, irony of the last sentence.

First, Amy Tan vividly describes the Christmas food, the people’s actions, and words, even though this event happened when she was only 14 and more than 10 years have passed. It is evident that Tan would not be remembering all the details of her 14th Christmas; nevertheless, she described things vividly – “The kitchen was littered with appalling mounds of raw food”, for example. This makes the reader forget that this event happened a very long time ago, thus focus into the story much more.

Secondly, Tan’s tone throughout the essay attracts the readers. Tan is being very honest about her emotions to the readers. From the very first paragraph, she confessed that she was crushed on a boy – which is, definitely, a “secret” for a fourteen-years-old girl. Also, throughout the essay, she speaks honestly about the embarrassment she had experienced ("Dinner threw me deeper into despair," or "I wanted to disappear," for example). This honesty about her personal feelings bestows such an intimacy to the readers that they feel close to Tan – as if they are teenage friends of Tan, sympathizing to her embarrassment in front of her crush – therefore focus much on her story.

Third, the irony of the last sentence is what makes this essay different from ordinary diaries of teenage girls. The irony is that her mother "had chosen all [Tan's] favorite foods", but Tan did not enjoy it because she was ashamed of her culture different from the American's. This sentence shows that Tan's embarrassment of her own culture had been serious – so that she refuses even her favorite menus – and at the same time infers that the mother indistinctly predicted Tan would be shamed, and thus tried to reduce her humiliation by providing Tan's best menus. Therefore, this sentence underlines the mother's love which tried to protect her daughter from indiscreet embarrassment of being "different", deeply moving the readers.

Via Tan's effective use of vivid descriptions, honest tones, and ironical last sentence, Fish Cheeks makes its readers to focus and to be moved. Hope I can be a writer like her, whose works capture the readers' mind and convey message emphatically. :D