What defines us? What constitutes our identity? Whether it is religion, nationalism, ethnicity, lifestyle or gender/family; we all have traits that identify us. For some, identity can be good, and for others, bad. Amy Tan uses ethnicity, gender/family, and religion to describe how she feels about identity. Mary Matsuda Gruenewald also uses ethnicity, gender/family, and religion to express her feelings of identity. Lila Abu-Lughod believed that identities are not natural, permanent, or fixed. Even though people think they are, she also thinks you have multiple identities. Identity is always defined by difference from something else. Livelihood identifies usage because for poor people, their goal is simply to feed themselves daily, but as for a wealthy person, they may be concerned about access to an exclusive club. As for religion, if you are Jewish, you will celebrate Hanukkah, while if you are Christian, you will celebrate Christmas. During a global sporting event such as the Olympics, your national identity would identify you as American, Russian, Chinese, etc. In Algerian and Muslim countries, women would have to hide their identity because women did not have the same freedom as men. Your ethnicity depends on your cultural background, for example Chinese, Caucasian or African American. We are all made up of certain traits or characteristics that create our identity. Amy Tan shows her interpretation of identity by showing the differences between cultures in a short, sweet and heartwarming short story. This story is interesting because it is a clear comparison between American and Chinese cultural traditions/beliefs. Imagine yourself sitting at a table on Christmas Eve, ecstatic with the...... middle of paper ...... to that extent it can be helpful in describing an emotional scene like that. Parents must now destroy their precious possessions. “One by one, they examined each record and took turns breaking them, silently feeding their beloved music into the furnace until each record was destroyed. The flames illuminated the sad but determined faces of my parents. The family must destroy their precious possessions. Through details, it helps set the mood for the reader. You almost feel like you're there. The term identity has many meanings, most identities have issues, for some it is simply how one celebrates the holidays, but for others it means being placed in a relocation camp. Identity is who you are, not who someone else is. Today in society people always want to have a different identity. People must accept their identity as it is, not as it could be.