Champion of the World vs Fish Cheeks Comparison - Essay Example

Essay Comparison INTRODUCTION A teenager often fails to take on an unbiased and selfless perspective of any given situation in contrast to an adult or even child. Maya Angelou and Amy Tan use narration to articulate their perspectives on cultural differences experienced while living in the United States in “Champion of the World” and “Fish Cheeks” respectively. Both authors capture differences by describing their previous experiences with relatives and peers. Both authors are from different minority cultures in the United States but narrate their experiences differently. Angelou uses direct quotes to recreate the experience for the reader while Tan describes her idea of the teachings her mother imposed on her. Angelou’s style of narration and description are better and more effective than Tan’s methods because Angelou’s readers take on a selfless and unbiased perspective of cultural difference in the United States. MAIN POINTS Narration. Tan’s narration style reflected her level of maturity, which is adolescent. Tan says she “prayed for this blond-haired boy, Robert, and a slim new American nose” (Tan 1). Evidently, Tan was submissive to peer pressure while at home and school, making it unlikely for her to embrace her heritage. Tan was not proud of her Asian ethnicity since she was focused on gaining Robert’s approval. At the same time, Tan was ashamed of her family’s culture clash. Tan’s family clang on to Asian cultures while residing in a non-Asian country, which she found embarrassing, especially when with her peers. Description. Tan described her experience as an Asian in a White majority nation from the perspective of a teenager. Tan’s description was highly self-conscious. Tan called her relatives “noisy Chinese relatives who lacked proper American manners” (Tan 1). This culture clash acts as a barrier for Tan to describe her experience with cultural difference positively. From her perspective, the best way to deal with this change was to change in favor of the American culture. However, Tan’s essay included a description of the realization of her teenage ways of thinking, which she delivered swiftly. Tan’s realization of the true value of her true heritage was described in a moving manner. The description of Tan’s realization is in the form of a memory. Tan got a lesson from her mother, which was that the way she handled her culture conflict was wrong. While Tan’s style of narration and description focused more on her personal challenges, and later her mother’s lessons, Angelou’s narration styles and description were simplified and general. Narration. Angelou revealed her maturity from the beginning through quotes of her thoughts of cultural differences as a child. Angelou narrates how, “Babies slid to the floor as women stood up and men leaned toward the radio” (Angelou 3). Even though Angelou narrated her views as a child, the level of reasoning for these views were surprisingly mature. In her essay, Angelou started out as a child who was highly observant and closely hanged around her family and African American peers. For instance, Angelou spoke of how numerous older Blacks at the retail outlet supported the wrestler. In effect, Angelou attempted to match their enthusiasm and anxiety by chanting along with them. Description. Angelou described this situation as a calming and propagator of her sense of belonging. Readers easily picked up Angelou’s pride for her ethnicity, which was a reflection of those immediately around her. In addition, Angelou used direct quotes to express this heightened sense of belonging. Every remark Angelou described occurred simultaneously with the event. This concurrence reflected the similarity of Angelou’s thoughts with her African American kin and peers. More specifically, Angelou chose to describe her reflection of the grownups’ yearning for defeating Joe Louis. In this case, the essay described Angelou’s “apprehensive mood [as] shot through with shafts of gaiety, as a black sky is streaked with lightning” (Angelou 1). Since these African Americans assembled in a retail outlet, Angelou took advantage of the emotional atmosphere of this setting. Angelou described her ethnic group’s triumph for tens of years of suffering under the authority of Whites in a proud manner. Unlike Tan’s essay, Angelou’s work had a desire-filled style of narration that revealed how unashamed she was about her African American heritage, which readers took on from the start. COMPARISON Narration. Angelou’s readers took on a mature and unbiased perspective of cultural difference in the United States. Narrates how the “Black boy” was the “Champion of the world. A Some Black mother’s son. He was the strongest man in the world” (Angelou 3). Angelou was proud of her African American culture while Tan, a teenager at the time, succumbed to popularity pressure. In Tan’s case, popularity represented an American culture and not her original heritage. While Angelou concentrated on the unfolding conflict and responses of her adult friends towards the conflict, Tan is individualistic. Tan’s narrations were delivered in an emotional and seemingly selfish manner. More specifically, Tan narrates how “wanted to disappear” after her father offers her “tender fish cheek” because of the embarrassment she felt in front of her relatives during the dinner (Tan 1). Description. Tan describes how she “was stunned into silence for the rest of the night” (Tan 1). Unlike Tan, Angelou concentrated her inner thoughts on the overall community to reflect her role in it, as well as those around her. For instance, Angelou describes how her, “race groaned. It was our people falling. It was another lynching, yet another Black man hanging on a tree” (Angelou 2). Angelou found it crucial to reveal her community’s experience during Louis’ rule along with the enthusiasm it cultivates. Tan described her individual struggle of cultural identity instead of her family or community. The styles of narration and description elements of both authors delivered a mature reception even though Angelou’s deliverance was evident throughout the essay. CONCLUSION Maya Angelou delivered her narration about and description of African Americans in a general and simplified manner while Amy Tan’s description and narration styles at first focused on her individual thoughts, and later her mother’s teachings. Angelou and Tan used narration to express their thoughts on cultural differences experienced while they lived in the United States in “Champion of the World” and “Fish Cheeks” respectively, but differently. Both authors described desires to belong to a society that was hesitant to accept them. However, the two accounts were different in the approaches they use. Angelou’s narration and description elements were more effective than Tan’s ways because of her use of direct quotes and powerful opening sentences that reflect her surprisingly mature perception of cultural difference. Works Cited Angelou, Maya. Champion of the World. Print. 5 Apr. 2015. Tan, Amy. Fish Cheeks. 5 Apr. 2015. Read More