Fish And Incense

Mark Bradley
Jaymie Watts
English 102
19 September 2007

Fish and Incense: Views of Culture Mixing in Narrative Essays

America is familiarly known as a melting pot of different cultures, while at the same time maintaining a sense of its own identity. Writers such as Amy Tan and Andrew Lam, who represent this mixing of cultures, have written about the experiences within their families and expressed their personal views on both their own heritage and that of their new American culture. In “Fish Cheeks,” Amy Tan recounts a holiday dinner shared with an American family. Andrew Lam reflects on his mother’s traditions and customs in “Who Will Light Incense When Mother’s Gone?” and how they could affect him in the future. While the children in the essays of Tan and Lam both feel disconnected from their heritage, each has a different view toward their own culture shift.

In both essays, the main conflict between the new and old cultures lies in the generation of mother to child. Whether or not this is because of the families being a matriarchy cannot be said, but within the context of each story it is clear that the mother is the dominant figure and representation of the culture. There is no mention of Lam’s father in “Who Will Light Incense…” It is his mother that performs the customs and tells Lam what she thinks of the American culture. In “Fish Cheeks,” however, Amy Tan mentions her father, but he is not a main character. He only “poked his chopsticks just below the fish eye and plucked out the soft meat,” and later “leaned back and belched loudly.” There is no insight to her father’s view on the new culture, only doing what is natural to his own.

It is how the mothers view the American culture that provides the contrast to how each of the children views it. For example, Amy Tan’s mother takes pride in the meal selection, having “outdone herself,” and her relatives “murmur with pleasure when my mother brought out the whole steamed fish.” Even after the dinner, she knows how her daughter is feeling, yet she tells her that her “only shame is be ashame” and to take pride in her own Chinese heritage.

The mother in Andrew Lam’s essay shows her devotion to her Vietnamese culture by following the ancient ritual of lighting the incense and praying to the dead “the way she would in Vietnam” (1037). At the same time, just below the shrine that she has set up to honor the dead, she has placed the trophies of her children’s accomplishments, showing that she respects the new culture at the same time. Lam recognizes this contrast. He points out that the “agrarian-based ethos” is blending and “slowly gives way to the glories of individual ambitions” (1037).

The main difference, however, is how each of the children feels about their gradual loss of their heritage and becoming more American. Amy Tan’s mother says it best when she gives her the early Christmas gift: “You want to be same like American girls on the outside.” She wants to become more American despite her Chinese background, and even though the Christmas dinner consisted of all her favorite foods, the way she describes the “appalling mounds of raw food” and comparing them to deplorable items such as “slimy”, “rubbery” and “resembling bike tires” shows that she is embarrassed to enjoy them.

Andrew Lam, on the other hand, has a feeling of “guilt and regret” (1037) when his mother calls him a “cowboy.” This remark sticks with him, and begins to see how he has slipped away from his ancestry. He wishes “I could assure my mother that, after she is gone, each morning I would light incense for her and all the ancestor spirits before her, but I can’t” (1037). He regrets his being estranged from his family’s culture. He doesn’t intentionally push himself away from it, unlike Tan, but he feels they “live in different worlds” (1037) and is just unable to connect in the way his mother would want him to. He does embrace the culture, feeling “strangely comforted” by his mother’s observance of the rituals, and it leaves him wondering what will happen to those customs, and in turn the beliefs of the culture itself, after she is gone.

At the end of both essays the narrators go through a realization, that they are as much a part of the culture of their ancestors as they are of America. This awareness does not have a negative effect on them, nor does it change how they feel about their parents views. Tan becomes “able to fully appreciate her lesson and the true purpose behind the menu.” Lam too, feels the connection to his mother, as he can “share her fear that her generation…will fade away like incense smoke” (1037). This mutual understanding brings about a sense of closure, that there may be a smoother transition after all.

Works Cited

Lam, Andrew. “Who Will Light Incense When Mother’s Gone?” Literature and Composition. Ed. Sylvan Barnet et al. 8th ed. New York: Longman, 2007. 1036-1037.
Tan, Amy. “Fish Cheeks”.
<http://www.visalia.k12.ca.us/teachers/dpatton/Short Stories/Fish Cheeks.htm>