Identity In Amy Tan's Fish Cheeks

“Identity comes and goes as quick as lightning” - Anonymous. Identity is formed by people’s need to be have family and to recognized as popular, most people struggle to find their identity in who they are, they want to be someone they are not. What people don’t realize is God made people to be themselves, and your family and popularity are to big reason that the world struggles with identity. One’s identity is created by his/ her popularity and his/ her family life. The first way people create identity is popularity. People can view themselves highly if they have more friends and people know them. For example, in “The Necklace”, when Matilda wanted jewelry, she said “my neck is bare, for I have no jewels” (Maupassant 12). The character wanted to feel wanted, accepted, and appreciated by her appearance. Another example of how popularity impacts one’s identity can be found in Amy Tan’s “Fish Cheeks”. Amy didn’t want to be embarrassed by her family because her crush was coming to dinner. Afterward her mother had told her to “Never forget her culture”, and Amy realized that her mother had made all her favorite foods for Christmas dinner (Tan 1) Amy learned that looking good in front of people doesn’t mean everything. A final way identity is shown through popularity is “More Facebook Friends, Less Real …show more content…
Family makes people feel good, they find happiness in kind words their family says. For example Sherman Alexie speaks about this very well in his story his father loved books and that made him want to be like his father (Alexie 1). Very wise is what Alexie pursued. Another example is in “Fish Cheeks”, Amy Tan should’ve embraced who she was with a wild family. she needed to love her family and show her true colors. Another family example is “Where I’m From”, George Ella Lyon told the reader about where she came from. She had very southern roots and grew up a long time ago, but still honors her family and the way she grew