Societal and Cultural Expectations for Young Adults 

Societal places high expectations for young adults; they are expected to achieve independence and fulfill the expectations of their cultural heritage. These expectations are clear, but as young adults, they are sometimes hard to follow because of all the pressure that is put upon them. This can be seen in different short stories and essays. 

In the essay Fish Cheeks, it talks about a girl that wants to impress the minister son. She cannot impress him because of her family and the Chinese culture that she is embarrassed by her. “My relatives licked the ends of their chopsticks and reached across the table, dipping them into the dozen or so plates of food.” This shows how the family of the main character acts. She wants her family to act the ones in the American culture. 

You should be proud of your culture instead of hiding from it or trying to change it. If an individual doesn’t appreciate the way your family acts than you should not be associated with them. “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. It wasn’t until many years later—long after I had gotten over my crush on Robert—that I was able to fully appreciate her lesson and the true purpose behind our particular menu. For Christmas Eve that year, she had chosen all my favorite food.” This shows the realization that the main characters face at the end of the passage. The cultural expectations that individuals from the passages face were from there culture. Making people feel uncomfortable or ashamed of there culture when others look into what their life is like at home. These pressures are put on the individual because they just want to fit in with everyone else around them. They will soon find out that family will always be there for you and they will always know what is best. Even if you don’t realize it. From these examples, it is clear that we all face different expectations. Whether these expectations are cultural or societal, they have a big impact on the individuals experiencing these problems. Many teens nowadays can relate to these passages because they are put with the same pressures and expectations. An individual can only handle so much pressure before they are drained out. How many societal or cultural expectations do you face?