Amy Tan Discrimination

When we look around us in our daily lives, we often see different groups of people interacting with each other using different languages. Every single person has a different identity, but most people share a similar language with others. These languages allow people to connect with each other, but in doing so, creates a rift between themselves and others who don’t share their language. This is where discrimination and the social hierarchy of languages are created. Discrimination against others is bad in general, because it makes those who are oppressed feel inferior in society, but there are also positives in this situation. Although the separation of cultural groups based on linguistic distinction leads to a hierarchal ladder of discrimination,

Amy Tan has “been thinking about all this lately, about my mother’s English, about achievement tests. Because lately I’ve been asked, as a writer, why there are not more Asian Americans represented in American literature. […] Fortunately, I happen to be rebellious in nature and enjoy the challenging of disproving assumptions made about me. I became an English major my first year in college.” (889-890) Due to the discrimination that Amy Tan has experienced with her mother, she began to question herself as a member of society on why linguistic discrimination occurs. In doing so, she found a passion and something that she wished to pursue. The linguistic discrimination that she observed throughout her life led her to reflect on her own values and beliefs, resulting in the development of her unique identity. Anzaldua does the same when she reflects on the identity of Chicano Americans. She states that, “Chicanas who grew up speaking Chicano Spanish have internalized the belief that we speak poor Spanish. […] For the longest time I couldn’t figure it out. Then it dawned on me. […] We are afraid of what we’ll see there. Pena. Shame. Low estimation of self.” (501) The discrimination that

After a firsthand encounter with linguistic discrimination, I have become more aware of the differences between myself and others. Having a different language than most my peers has made me realize how different and unique I am to everyone else, and in what ways I am unique. The separation in language has made me curious about my own values and beliefs, resulting in a deeper exploration of my culture and self through various thought processes. There is a bad linguistic discrimination, however, linguistic distinction can also contribute in the formation of one’s identity to be unique, yet equal to that of