.. What is the theme of the excerpt from "Fish Cheeks"? Support your claim with at least one piece of evidence from the text

The theme of “Fish Cheeks” is be proud of who you are. Initially, Amy was

embarrassed about being Chinese, especially in the face of having her crush, Robert,

who is white, come to her house for a Chinese Christmas dinner. That dinner “threw

her deeper into despair” and she “wanted to disappear” with embarrassment.

When her father belched loudly to show his satisfaction with the meal, Amy was

“stunned into silence for the rest of the night” because she was so embarrassed.

What Amy couldn’t see was that her parents chose all her favorite Chinese foods to

celebrate their culture and share it with the minister and Robert. Amy’s father even

saved the best part of the fish, the cheek, for her.

The fish cheeks symbolize a celebration of Amy’s culture in this story and by

offering them to Amy, her father is telling her to be proud of being Chinese. However,

Amy’s mother also recognizes that Amy wishes to be American, and so gives her a

mini-skirt, which in this story symbolizes Amy’s desire to be American. By giving Amy

both the fish cheek and the miniskirt, her parents are telling her that it’s okay to be

both Chinese and American and she can be proud of being both. Her mother advised

her that “your only shame is to have shame,” meaning don’t be ashamed of who you

are, rather celebrate your differences and the aspects that make you, you. Years later,

Amy realizes (epiphany) that her parents, by choosing all her favorite Chinese foods,

were trying to tell her to be proud of being Chinese, and that realization leads to the

theme of the story: be proud of all the aspects of who you are.

Explanation:

the play romeo and juliet was one of the most famous love tragedies ever written. this love story unfortunately had a fatal ending. many people argue over why the lovers had died, was it over free will or fate?  

the death of romeo and juliet was partially because of free will. the fact that romeo and juliet got married knowing that there was a bitter feud between their families, the montague and capulet’s. this feud brought on many problems, such as the murder of tybalt by romeo. juliet knew that this might be a problem for her and romeo. juliet had said: “what’s in a name”? which explains her ill fate of being a capulet and romeo being a montague. when romeo tells his servant “ ay, mine own…show more content…

i believe they had died over the love they had for each other, strong enough that their lives could end so suddenly if something horrible had come between them, and that was exactly how it happened. this tragedy occurred within five days of the two meeting, they experienced love at first sight, got married and quickly were dead. free will became a part of this when juliet decided to take friar laurence’s advise in inhaling a potion that will make people assume she is died but will awake in 42 hours prier to when she took it. when romeo had heard the news that juliet was dead, he assumed it was true, and responded with the line; “well juliet, i will lay with thee tonight”. to me this line indicated how he feels for juliet by dying in her will. the fact that free will didn’t take control of the story; it left fate to be the murder of the lovers. fate first kicked in when their eyes met at the capulet party. when romeo and juliet spoke, their words had powerful contentment; they had such a strong feeling for one another that they could lay in each other’s arms forever. their happiness didn’t last long; there were many reasons for this, for example; the marriage lord capulet arranged between paris and juliet. i believe that the plot of the play thus far leads the audience to believe that the deaths were a result of fate. the last act will determine once and for all if it is fate or free will. romeo again challenges fate.

explanation: