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Comparing Mother Tongue By Amy Tan And Chocolat By Lasse Hallest

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These two short stories, Mother tongue by Amy Tan and Chocolat by Lasse Halleström, utilize literary elements to convey alienation from society (person vs society).
Both Chocolat and Mother Tongue show mothers being alienated. Amy Tan’s mother because she’s a chinese-american woman whose english is “broken.''and Chocolat, where Vivane (mother of Anouk.) isn’t religious, in a town of heavily religious people. There are multiple instances where this happens to the both of them, an example of Amy Tan’s mother facing this is. Quote “The hospital did not apologize when they had lost the CAT scan.” (Tan 3) secondly “me, who spoke in perfect English - lo and behold - we had assurances the CAT scan would be found.” (Tan 3) and finally “people in department stores, at banks, and at restaurants did not take her seriously, did not give her good service, pretended not to understand her, or even acted as if they did not hear her.” (Tan 2). These quotes are evidence of Amy Tan’s mother’s not being taken seriously, discriminated against , and ignored - all which lead to alienation. …show more content…

Her daughter has no father which is seen as strange and weird, she owns a chocolate shop and she opens it during lent. Quote “Satan wears many guises” and “the maker of sweet things, mere trifles, for what could be more innocent, than chocolate?”- (Halleström) this quote came from one of the fathers of the church in town, Father Henri. He has influence over the town because he’s seen as god’s messenger in christianity thus, it leads to her being alienated even more. Both Amy Tan’s mother and Vivane are treated differently because of how they grew up and the characteristics that came from

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