Final answer:
Amy Tan's 'Fish Cheeks' primarily uses the mode of narration, recounting a specific event in her adolescence with a focus on storytelling, although it also includes descriptive elements.
Step-by-step explanation:
Amy Tan's Fish Cheeks is a personal narrative that uses the mode of narration. This mode is characterized by the telling of a story or an account of an event or series of events. In the case of Fish Cheeks, Amy Tan recounts a personal experience from her youth, focusing on a Christmas Eve dinner when she was fourteen years old and in love with an American boy named Robert, who was a guest at their traditional Chinese dinner.
The essay is structured in the form of a narrative, sharing the progression of events through Amy Tan's eyes as she navigates the complexities of cultural identity and adolescence. Tan's story is rich with descriptive details that create a vivid image of the dinner, from the menu items that embarrassed her to the interactions between her family members and Robert. However, the primary mode is still narration, as the essay centres around the unfolding of this personal story rather than merely describing a scene or setting.
While there are elements of description in the text, as well as some exposition to provide background information on why Amy felt embarrassed, the overarching mode that Amy Tan employs in Fish Cheeks is narration. This is because the essay follows a chronological sequence and aims to tell a story with a beginning, middle, and end, focusing on personal growth and reflection.