Amy Tan Mother Tongue Literary Devices

In the text, “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan, Tan reminisces a particular speech she is giving towards a crowd and in this crowd contains her mother. At some point she suddenly realizes that the type of language she is using is quite different than when speaking directly to her mother; Understanding the complexity of it, she decides to ultimately change her ways by changing the type of English she uses- that of which she was accustomed to using with her mother. After noticing several similarities, I decided that “Mother Tongue” was a great text to relate to: the (unable to speak English) parent, the struggle to translate or talk in their place, and the dislike for writing. Although it was not a call to a broker, I recall having to speak to a few representatives sometimes not even knowing why or who I

The texts use of alliteration towards the end presents the argument, the intent of communicating is worth preserving. The text repeats “ the English I spoke to my mother, which for lack of better term might be described as ‘simple’; the English she used with me, which for the lack of a better term ’broken’...” and so on thus pointing to the attention of this topic (Tan 21). The text even directly states it “sought to preserve its essence” and by doing so, this appeals to the emotional trait of others as well as hers. Thus, the text makes it seem that although the language is imperfect it is still worth speaking. The alliteration is not only applied to the difficulty of speaking English but as well as Tans struggle to speak Chinese. Tan repeats “ my translation of Chinese… her translation of Chinese”( Tan 21) to illustrate that although they both may struggle to speak a second language they are able to communicate with each other perfectly fine. To conclude, the texts includes that the intent of communicating with others is more important than being able to speak