Sample prompt:
Consider universal ideas your texts share in common (i.e. love, friendship, loyalty, perseverance,
prejudice, family, integrity). What is each author’s theme for this topic? What events and actions
show this to be true? Do the authors of the two texts differ in their beliefs of this topic?
Write a well-organized analysis essay selecting ONE topic shared by both summer reading
books. Explain each author’s theme in regards to the topic and how you know the authors’
opinions on the topic. Pay close attention to the rubric. Be specific in your essay in both themes
and certain plot points and character actions that prove the theme. Organize your essay and write
with clarity and skill.
Sample Essay
Amy Tan’s “Fish Cheeks” and Tobias Wolff’s “Powder” are both personal narratives in
which the authors learn something from his/her parent. In “Fish Cheeks”, Tan comes to realize
that her mother taught her an important lesson about accepting her heritage. While in “Powder”,
Wolff’s irresponsible father teaches him a valuable lesson about embracing the pleasures of life.
Both personal narratives express the theme that family will help a person see what is not always
evident.
In “Fish Cheeks”, Tan is embarrassed by the authentic Chinese cuisine her mother prepares
for Thanksgiving. Her crush is likewise horrified which makes Tan all the more mortified.
Through Tan’s grotesque description of the food, the reader is led to believe that Tan hates the
food. It is not until the end of the narrative in which Tan’s mother tells her she can be American
on the outside as long as she remembers to be Chinese on the inside, that the reader comes to
find out that the “slimy” and “appalling” food was actually all of Tan’s favorites. Her mother had
made these and Tan had rejected the food much such as she was trying to reject her own Chinese
heritage. Through this epiphany, the theme that family helps a person see what is not always
evident appears. Tan’s family – specifically her mother – helps her see that her heritage is not
something she should ever be ashamed of and that no matter how hard she tries to be “America”,
it will always be within her.
Just as Tan’s mother helps her discover a truth about life, so too does Wolff’s father in
“Powder”. Throughout the narrative the reader can infer that Wolff is more responsible than his
father. His father has neglected to be done with skiing in enough time for a young Tobias to be
returned to his mother for Christmas Eve dinner. With the roads closed and barred by a police
officer, his father calls in a fake report to distract the police officer, and both Wolff and his father
illegally drive of the freshly fallen snow. Wolff’s lack of using “Doctor” and his silence show
that he is taking the situation more seriously than his father. His father even comments upon
young Tobias’s ability to think ahead. Tobias is characterized as more mature and responsible.
But as they cruise on the road, Wolff describes the beauty of the moment and the realization he
actually trusted his father at that moment in time. Wolff is able to do something on that drive he
had not been able to do previously: sit back, relax, and enjoy the present. His father shows him
the beauty of living in the moment instead of worrying about the consequences.
Even though the parents in each story are quite different, each of them plays an important
role in bestowing wisdom upon the writers. Both authors would agree that a person can learn
valuable life lessons from elders, oftentimes unexpectedly. During Tan’s embarrassment and
Wolff’s worrying both of them could have thought those events as unremarkable, but through
reflecting on the past, they are able to understand the subtle lessons of their parents and convey
those lessons to the reader.