Fish Cheeks by Amy Tan Rhetorical Strategies Essay

Gifted author of Fish Cheeks, Amy Tan, assures young girls that organism different is not only acceptable, but also advantageous. Rhetorical strategies-such as imagery, tone, diction, and appeals (logos, ethos, pathos)-were the brushes with which she painted a portrait of self-acceptance for teenage girls everywhere. Tan uses a appealing tone to relate to the awkward teenage reader that is experiencing the same topic and the nostalgic adult reader that has experienced.Tans word picking diction exposes her insecurity in her heritage and desire to be an average American teenager, in her opening. The author described traditional American food in an appealing way, roasted turkey and sweet potatoes but omitted any period slightly Chinese food. She labeled American manners as priggish, but dubbed her relatives and their Chinese customs as noisy. The significance of this scheme lies in its ability to make the text relatable. The entire narrative relies on the authors shared experience with the audience, being ashamed of their incongruousness and their pursuit of normality.In the third paragraph, Tan enlists the aid of imagery to contribute the reader with a more accurate depiction of the scenery on that night. Vividly detailing the assortment of food Tan was not describing how she truism the food but how she feared Robert would. As revealed later in the text, Tan is preferably fond of her cultures taboo cuisine. So, the description of the food victimization negatively connoted nomenclature like slimy, bulging, fleshy, rubbery, and fungus were used to transmit her concern about how she and her family would be perceived. This use of imagery and diction exemplifies Tans transmitting of emotion-first worry and anxiety, then relief and acceptance- to her audience throughout the text.The appeals to ethos and pathos were springy for Tan to be able to relate to the audience. She had to first establish her credibility as someone who had experienced being a part o f 2 different cultures and the desire to fit in. She did this by telling the narrative in first person. Also she showed great contrast between the two cultures she belonged to by illustrating her familys traditional Chinese Christmas contrary to American traditions. Then, she appealed to pathos by frequently attaching an emotion to every part of the story. For example, in the opening she conveyed a sense of worry with her use of repetitive questions. Likewise, Tan suggested a step of relief in the end with her shift in diction, from negative words like despair to more positive words like stupefy.