1. What does the menu description in paragraph 3 reveal about how the narrator views her
family’s cultural traditions?
A. She views them as humorous.
B. She views them as disgusting.
C. She views them as honorable.
D. She views them as annoying.


2. How does the narrator's embarrassed attitude towards her culture affect the way she
describes events in the passage?
A. She describes the food as foreign and unappealing.
B. She focuses on her desire to be more “American.”
C. She focuses on her crush’s reactions to her family.
D. She criticizes every little detail of her mother’s cooking.


3. Which piece of evidence best reveals the narrator’s feelings about her family’s behavior
during dinner?
A. “And then they arrived — the minister’s family and all my relatives in a clamor of
doorbells and rumpled Christmas packages.” (Paragraph 4)
B. “Robert and his family waited patiently for platters to be passed to them.”
(Paragraph 5)
C. “I was stunned into silence for the rest of the night.” (Paragraph 6)
D. “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.” (Paragraph 8)


4. Which word best describes the tone of paragraph 5?
A. miserable
B. cheerful
C. shocked
D. proud


5. What does Amy’s mother mean when she says, “Your only shame is to have shame”?
(Paragraph 7)
A. It is wrong for Amy to be embarrassed of her family’s traditions.
B. It is wrong for Amy to be embarrassed of her love for American food.
C. It is wrong for Amy to be embarrassed about having a crush on Robert.
D. It is wrong for Amy to be embarrassed about fitting in with her classmate

6. What does paragraph 8 reveal about how the narrator’s point of view changed as she got
older?
A. She realized the minister’s son was not as friendly as she thought.
B. She learned to love her mother’s cooking, which she previously hated.
C. She regretted not expressing her real emotions to Robert and his family.
D. She learned to appreciate her family and her Chinese American identity.

Discussion Questions

1. How does the speaker’s family act during dinner? How does the minister’s family act during
dinner? Why do they act so differently? Explain.


2. What shapes a person’s identity? Is it possible for a person to change their identity? Should
they try? Explain.


3. What do you think could be the positive or negative consequences of ignoring your family’s
past and traditions in favor of something that seems more popular or “normal”?