Jonathan Moore
M. Schroeder English Composition 101 October 20, 2016 Blog Post 3: Summary and Choice of Analysis Fish Cheeks In Amy Tan’s Fish Cheeks she targets the teenage audience and attempts to encourage pride in individual heritages and cultures by relating her teenage angst, at the age of 14 years, during a Christmas dinner at which her crush was invited to enjoy Chinese dishes. Through imagery she effectively relates the embarrassment she experienced with panicked exposure of the seemingly brutal differences between Chinese and American cultures only to realize later in life that living in both cultures was a strength. As her mother told her “You must be proud you are different. Your only shame is to have shame.” (par. 7) Superman and Me In Sherman Alexie’s Superman and Me he attempts to relate the struggles he faced as a victim of prejudice and stereotypes to the general reader. He recounts his childhood as a poor Spokane Indian boy who was able to teach himself to read by the age of 3 years with the use of comic books. His metaphor about paragraphs being “a fence that held word” and his world around him was filled with paragraphs was very effective in helping the reader understand a segregated point of view. Though a target of peer pressure from his fellow Native Americans, he persevered and was able to overcome the belief that “a smart Indian is a dangerous person.” (par. 6) Now focusing on educating “Indian kids” children he hopes to help end the stereotype and help his students achieve their potential. (par. 8) My Choice Though I disagree with Alexie’s method, I related more to his story than to the story in Fish Cheeks. Having been raised with a father who preached prejudice and intolerance I was exposed to one sided hate for 15 years of my life. I never understood the reasoning behind it, it simply made no sense to me. Whatever the reason, prejudice has no place in the real world, but teaching this only to those victims of prejudice is pointless. By choosing to educate only “Indian kids” and not all children (par. 8) he is, in fact, prolonging the very ignorance and prejudice he wants to end. This is why I disagree with his methods. We are one people, one race. Everyone needs to be educated equally. Works Cited Tan, Amy. “Fish Cheeks.” The Bedford Reader. Ed. X J. Kennedy et al. 12th ed. Boston: Bedford, 2014. 110–111. Print. Alexie, Sherman. “Superman and Me.” The Bedford Reader. Ed. X J. Kennedy et al. 12th ed. Boston: Bedford, 2014. 582-585. Print. Links to Blogs I Commented On Kaylin Jordan Shelby
1 Comment
Melinda Schroeder
10/27/2016 09:24:21 am
I really liked your reason for choosing the essay you did! I want to point out, though, with summaries, try to revert from using any direct citations from the text. Otherwise, excellent job. Looking forward to reading your essay?
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