Daily Agenda

1.Why does Tan cry when she finds out the boy she loves is coming for dinner?

2.Why does Tan’s mother go out of her way to prepare a disturbingly traditional Chinese dinner for her daughter and guest? What one sentence sums up the lesson Tan did not understand until years later?

3.How does the fourteen-year-old Tan feel about her Chinese background?

4.How does Tan illustrate her lack of understanding as a fourteen-year-old?

5.What is Tan’s purpose in writing this essay? Does she just want to entertain her reader or is there a deeper meaning? Explain your answer.

6. How does Tan draw her reader into the story from the beginning?
7. How does Tan use transitions to drive and clarify her narrative?
8. What is the irony of the last sentence of the essay?
9. Paragraph three is a descriptive paragraph. Why does Tan linger over food? What is the effect of this paragraph?