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Amy Tan Literacy Analysis

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Learning literacy is not something easily done or provided. Some individuals are given the opportunity easily and other have to face many obstacles to even get the chance to have the secondary discourse. Literacy is all around us and the fact that not every individual is able to succeed in the secondary discourse is what separates society. These discourses of which include only two, primary and secondary discourse. Primary discourse, meaning sources around you and secondary discourse, sources that teach you, for example teachers. And in conjunction with these discourses, groups in society will be divided accordingly.
To begin, literacy is something commonly seeked within an individual in today's society, in regards to knowing at least the basics …show more content…

In the article Tan states, “I know this for a fact, because when I was growing up, my mother’s “limited” English limited my perception of her. I was ashamed of her English. I believed that her English reflected the quality of what she had to say that is, because she expressed them imperfectly her thoughts were imperfect” (pg 2). Tan explains, because her mother wasn't introduced to the secondary discourse, she wasn't given the opportunity to extend her knowledge in literacy, so with that, Tan was ashamed that her mother had “broken” English, while Tan herself was already on the road to be more successful in literacy than her mother ever was. Tan was the lucky one between her mother and herself because she was given the opportunity to learn from her mother's mistakes and take in the secondary discourse that were available for her. Tan paints an image in the reader’s mind about her experiences with having to cope with her mother being unable to communicate professionally with higher authorities, and how she found that embarrassing. Tan found that embarrassing because she believes her mother wouldn’t be taken serious because of her vocabulary and knowledge on literacy and how it isn't advanced. Tan is afraid that without high literacy skills, one will not be taken as serious as they want to be compared

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