Madeleine Thien’s “Simple Recipes” is not mainly about the father cooking food and his treatment towards his son, instead, the author uses food to symbolize the struggles her immigrated family experienced in Canada. While it is possible to only look at the narratives that food symbolizes, the idea is fully expressed when the father is compared with the food. The theme of food and the recipes are able to convey the overall troubles the narrator’s family encountered. Although, food is usually a fulfilling necessity in life, however, Thien uses food to illustrate the struggle, tensions, and downfall of the family. Yet, each food does represent different themes, but the food, fish, is the most intriguing because of the different environment it …show more content…
The four different environments are: “[the] plastic bag filled with water” (339), the sink, the wok, and the dining table. In addition, the different environment and the time before it was placed onto the dinner table signify the tension built within the family. When the fish was in the plastic bag and the sink, it implies the trapped Malaysian culture within the family. The narrator was able to see and touch the fish’s “gills and the soft muscled body” (339), indicating that she’s able to feel her cultural roots. When the fish was placed in the sink full of water, it fish hopelessly tries to survive. Similar to the father, he tries to pass on the culture hoping it could survive within the family. Sadly, the culture “[was] slowly dying” (341) in the sink. When the fish was being cooked in the wok, it is described as “tires on gravel, a sound so loud it drowns all other noises” (342). The noise level hints a tense argument that has been built up within the family for years. As such, when the fish is served, the tension and dissatisfaction between the son and father imploded; hence, the father acted violently towards his son for being “ungrateful” (344). The cooked fish signifies the death of the Malay culture within the family. However, the father didn’t give up. In the future, the narrator moved to an apartment, where she was …show more content…
Like the narrator’s father, he notices the family’s cultural identity is slowly dying. His wife, a native Malaysian, is adopting a new identity as a “sales clerk at [Woodworks]” (340) in Canada. In marriage, a couple is supposed to share the responsibility to raise their children and support each other. However, she may have given up on the teaching responsibility from the moment the language “never came easily to [the daughter]” (340). Ultimately, the father is solely responsible handing down his family’s cultural and social roots to his children. The father tried to teach his daughter the culture through rice cooking, but she fails to replicate the method; whereas the brother avoids the cultural lessons by integrating himself into the local culture. This heavily suggests the brother rejects speaking the language and the culture, compared to the daily exposure of the Canadian culture and speaking English. The story “Simple Recipes” masks itself as a family having internal conflicts on the dinner table. While analyzing the story, it suggests the difficulty of integrating the local and origin culture in multicultural immigrant families. By evaluating the fish’s importance in the story, it showed a clear representation of the Malay culture’s struggle for survival. The actions of the father acted as a doctor trying to save and revive the culture, despite
Alice presents the idea that the relationship between Chinese children and their parents is one quite different from that of Australian children and their parents. ‘These were questions Chinese children never asked their parents.’ (Page 144) She suggests that different etiquette and customs are undertaken and that the bond between them differs. Alice alludes to the idea that these differences in the home are the foundation for the differences Alice perceives socially.
In the short story, “The Rip”, author Robert Drewe uses the idea of Sophie holding a jellyfish “at arms length” to display how she is becoming wary of her father, John, and is keeping him distanced from herself. he reassures her, as if he was trying to reassure himself that their relationship will not become an “anecdote”, but a reality. John is thinking about how he wants to be freed from his emotional turmoil, and how badly he wants to spend this quality time with his daughter and protect her. This “protection” is symbolised by the shark attack (the divorce of John and his wife), and the fear running through everyones minds. This makes the reader feel as if John is putting pressure on himself to make Sophie like him.
“My mother would tell my father she was considering fixing chitlins for the holidays. My father would groan, twist his mouth, and protest in vain. ‘Why you got to be cooking them?’ My two sisters backed him up with exaggerated whimpers, calls for gas masks, threats to run away from
Both families from the essay share and strongly believe in to keeping their culture. Amy Tan’s mother does not want her daughter to forget and feel shame about her culture. For example, Amy does not want her mother to cook their traditional dishes, and her mother decides to cook their traditional food anyway (111). However, Firoozeh Dumas’ parents do not want
Amy Tan uses imagery in the short story “Fish Cheeks” in order to let the reader feel the way Amy felt at the table on Christmas Eve. For example, in the story it states, “ My relatives licked the ends of their chopsticks and reached across the table dipping them into the dozen or so plates of food.” This explains that Amy felt embarrassed that her family wasn’t realizing the fact that they had no manners at the table. Amy was completely embarrassed with the fact that, that was the way her family had acted while they ate. Everyone is put into a situation where they wished their parents or family members had not acted the way they did in front of them, and Amy Tan writing this story makes you remember those times.
Immigration experience has five fundamental components to it the Honeymoon Phase, Rejection Phase, Regression Phase, adoption phase, and Reverse Culture Shock phase. This story incorporates the rejection and adoption phase. The rejection phase is depicted many times throughout the story through one of the main characters Poh-Poh (the grandma). This can be seen through the eyes of Poh-Poh when she believes she is going to die soon because a cat crossed her, goes to alleys ways and trash bins searching for glass fragment, makes wind chimes, sends her grandchildren to Chinese schools, and by using herbal medicines. All of this substantiates the fact Poh-Poh is rejecting to give up her cultural practices and adopt Canadian cultural practices.
I think the narrator is saying that like the sea his mother is dark and intimidating like her people who are also fishing people. In my opinion I think the mother makes the mood of the story dark and melancholy. She wants so much out of her husband and children, and when they don’t do what she wants she doesn’t talk to them. The mother puts too much pressure on the family to do what her family did. I can understand that the mother didn’t want to be alone, but as a mother you should want you kids to do better than you did and want them to succeed in life.
Also, the fish represent the obstacles that one may face while trying to reach their goal and shaping their ability to achieve it. This ultimately challenges them to decide whether to accept the task and grow or abandon their dreams by giving up. The girl’s the environment around her influenced her hard work ethic and her decision to have patience to accomplish her
For a nine-year-old who wants nothing more than to make her mother proud this was exciting. In the beginning, we can see her excitement and desire, “in the beginning I was just as excited as my mother, maybe even more so.” (Tan). However, as we follow the story we see her excitement quickly fade to sorrow and anger. The high expectations immigrant families place on their children is still a very relevant social issue and can be witnessed throughout the United States.
She reflects on how her family has adapted to American culture and how Thanksgiving has become a way for her to feel connected to her new home. The essay also touches on the idea of assimilation and how it can be both a positive and negative experience for immigrants. Lee’s purpose in this article is to explore the idea of how food can be used to bridge cultural divides and create a sense of belonging. Overall, Lee’s article celebrates the cultural diversity in the United States.
Rhetorical analysis Do you believe in order to understand other culture you need to try different food ? These are some ideas of this article from Amy S. Choi a freelance journalist. She wrote this article,“What americans can learn from other food cultures”. Choi betters her argument by providing real stories from other countries.
Article “If You Are What You Eat, Then What Am I?” was published in 1999 in the Kenyon Review. The author describes her childhood life growing up with Indian immigrants. She feels a deep separation from not just her parents but her culture as well. Writer Geeta Kothari explores her personal identity through food. Kothari uses unique writing structure and personal stories to form a well-written piece.
Immigrants brought their culture, including their gastronomy, and recipes, from their homeland as a way to preserve and express their heritage and pass it on to their children. Moreover,
Immigrants that are new to the American society are often so used to their own culture that it is difficult for them to accept and adapt to the American culture. The language that is spoken, as well as the various holidays and traditions that Americans entertain themselves with, aren’t what most immigrants would deem a neccessity for their life to move on. Nonetheless, they still have to be accustomed to these things if they have any chance of suceeding in a land where knowledge is key. The story “My Favorite Chaperone” written by Jean Davies Okimoto, follows the life of a young girl who along with her brother Nurzhan, her mother known as mama, and her father whom she refers to as Papi have immigrated to the United States from Kazakhstan, through a dating magazine. Throughout the story each family member faces problems that causes them to realize just how different their life is know that they’ve immigrated..
They feel and become left out when they are with their community’s group of friends. In addition, some older children who came to the United States have a hard time learning a new culture because it was a culture shock to them. There are two major things that become problems in their journey to adopt a new culture; barrier to language and living their lifestyle. While adapting new culture, they have a difficult journey because of the bully, discrimination, and racism that they encounter. Some of these situations that Chin refugees face can be related to how Faith faces her problems with cultures and