Maya Angelou’s Champion of the World and Amy Tan’s Fish Cheeks touch on experiences with racial identity. Although Angelou and Tan’s stories share the feeling of young girls who are minorities, they have their differences. For instance, Tan resents her heritage where Angelou embraces it, their figures of admiration differ and the moods in each story differ, where one writer explains her happiness throughout the story the other explains how miserable she is . Tan, a young Chinese American author relives her encounters as a preteen minority. Tan had issues accepting her heritage in a country where “a slim new American nose” and blonde hair were seen as the ideal images of beauty (Tan 116). At the Christmas dinner, Tan’s mother has invited
…show more content…
On Christmas Eve I saw that my mother had outdone herself in creating a strange menu” (Tan 117). Tan goes on to express her embarrassment towards the food while using words such “appalling”, “slimy”, and “rubbery” and comparing an entree of squid to “bicycle tires” (Tan 117). Tan continues to explain her shame of her Chinese relatives because of their different customs such as, “[Licking] the ends of their chopsticks and reached across the table dipping them into the dozens or so plates of food” and belching to show their appreciation for their meal (Tan 117). Overall, Tan conveys embarrassment throughout her story towards her …show more content…
Louis symbolizes the strengths and achievements of the black community. Angelou goes on to explain that if Louis failed so would the entire race, “ It was our people falling. It was another lynching, yet another black man hanging on a tree” and “ If Joe lost we were back in slavery and beyond help” (Angelou 113). Although it seemed as though Louis was about to lose, when he won, a sense of pride was returned to the black community, “Joe Louis had proved that we were the strongest people in the world” (Angelou 113). In contrast to Tan, Angelou admired her black community and not the white community. Lastly Tan and Angelou differ due to the moods conveyed in each story. While Angelou indicates the joy and jolly at her gathering, Tan continuously discusses how she is not having a great time. Angelou states, “The real festivities would begin after the fight”, illustrating that the community is having fun currently and they will have even more fun later (Angelou 111). In contrast to Angelou, Tan states, “... I had suffered during the evening's dinner” and “Dinner threw me deeper into despair”, expressing how much she was not having a good time displaying a difference in the moods of each story (Tan
On Christmas Eve I saw that my mother had outdone herself in creating a strange menu” (Tan 117). Tan goes on to express her embarrassment towards the food while using words such “appalling”, “slimy”, and “rubbery” and comparing an entree of squid to “bicycle tires” (Tan 117). Tan continues to explain her shame of her Chinese relatives because of their different customs such as, “[Licking] the ends of their chopsticks and reached across the table dipping them into the dozens or so plates of food” and belching to show their appreciation for their meal (Tan 117). Overall, Tan conveys embarrassment throughout her story towards her …show more content…
Louis symbolizes the strengths and achievements of the black community. Angelou goes on to explain that if Louis failed so would the entire race, “ It was our people falling. It was another lynching, yet another black man hanging on a tree” and “ If Joe lost we were back in slavery and beyond help” (Angelou 113). Although it seemed as though Louis was about to lose, when he won, a sense of pride was returned to the black community, “Joe Louis had proved that we were the strongest people in the world” (Angelou 113). In contrast to Tan, Angelou admired her black community and not the white community. Lastly Tan and Angelou differ due to the moods conveyed in each story. While Angelou indicates the joy and jolly at her gathering, Tan continuously discusses how she is not having a great time. Angelou states, “The real festivities would begin after the fight”, illustrating that the community is having fun currently and they will have even more fun later (Angelou 111). In contrast to Angelou, Tan states, “... I had suffered during the evening's dinner” and “Dinner threw me deeper into despair”, expressing how much she was not having a good time displaying a difference in the moods of each story (Tan