Question

Read the following excerpt from "Fish Cheeks" by Amy Tan, in which Tan recounts a Christmas Eve dinner.

I fell in love with the minister’s son the winter I turned fourteen. He was not Chinese, but as white as Mary in the manger. For Christmas I prayed for this blond-haired boy, Robert, and a slim new American nose.

On Christmas Eve I saw that my mother had outdone herself in creating a strange menu. She was pulling black veins out of the backs of fleshy prawns. The kitchen was littered with appalling mounds of raw food: A slimy rock cod with bulging fish eyes that pleaded not to be thrown into a pan of hot oil. Tofu, which looked like stacked wedges of rubbery white sponges. A howl soaking dried fungus back to life. A plate of squid, their backs crisscrossed with knife markings so they resembled bicycle tires.

After everyone had gone, my mother said to me. “You want to be the same as American girls on the outside.” She handed me an early gift. It was a miniskirt in beige tweed. “But in side you must always be Chinese. You must be proud you are different. Your only shame is to have shame.”

And even though I didn’t agree with her then, I knew that she understood how much I had suffered during the evening’s dinner It wasn’t until many years later -- long after 1 had gotten over my crush on Robert -- that I was able to fully appreciate her lesson and the true purpose behind our particular menu. For Christmas Eve that year, she had chosen all my favorite foods.

Identify one internal and one external conflict in this excerpt, and explain how these conflicts are related to cultural. Be sure to use specific details from the text to support you answer.

Answer 1

I think the correct answer on edgunity is B

Answer 2

One external conflict might be between Amy and her mother when she feels embarrased because of the food she is preparing. One internal conflict is the struggle she feels between her Chinese roots and her desire to look like an American, for example in her skin and the nose. These are cultural conflicts, because as Amy's mother says, she does not feel ashamed for being Chinese. Every person should value his/her own culture.