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Mother Tongue Amy Tan Analysis

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The objective of this essay is to respond or react to the story, “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan. From a bibliography perspective, Amy Tan is the daughter of immigrants fleeing China’ Cultural Revolution in the late 1940s (Hall & Emblem, 1996). The author of the story was born in Oakland, California in 1952. Amy Tan has a Chinese name, An-Mei, which is an illustration of the essence of being ‘blessing from America.’ In the development of her essay, Tan focuses on optimizing the platform to narrate her experience and reflect on the issue as a bilingual child with the ability to speak both English and Chinese. The essay is an original publication on 1990 in the Threepenny Review (Hall & Emblen, 1996)

Are Languages a Frontier to Find a Better …show more content…

The essay provides the platform for Tan to express her love for language. Additionally, she uses the essay as an indication of the fact that ‘broken English’ does not translate to lack of intelligence (Hall & Emblen, 1996). In the essay, Tan tends to focus on her mother because of the ability to learn through her experiences concerning the cruelty of people against individual they perceive to be less off in comparison to what they are within the society. In most cases, she believes that people aim at exploiting her mother based on her inability to speak clear English. The essay proves to be a narrative describing Tan’s life and experience with her …show more content…

Tan has been able to use her rebellious nature to do what she loves, which is writing about language. Notably, she has been able to use this urge to do what she wants to do rather than execute what the society would expect her to do with her life. Additionally, I believe that the essay offers more than just the description of Tan’s love for language. I believe that language is a significant tool, which society members can use to comprehend and conceptualize social and cultural issues, as well as diversities. In the essay, I was able to learn on the different uses of language highlighting the contextual importance of language as a tool for communication. For instance, in documenting science reports, engaging scholars, interacting with friends, and families, individuals tend to use different languages or mode of communication for effectiveness and efficiency in the presentation of the

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The power of language We all have some form of language limitations, no matter where we come from and what our background is. “Mother tongue” by Amy Tan and “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” by Gloria Anzaldua both share similar themes in their stories that demonstrate how they both deal with how different forms of the same language are portrayed in society. In both stories they speak about what society declares the right way of speech and having to face prejudgment, the two authors share their personal experiences of how they’ve dealt with it.

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Rhetorical Precis #4: “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan Amy Tan’s purpose in her article “Mother Tongue” is to show the influence of her mother’s style of english. She also relates this to a more broad topic of the idea that there are many different types of english that people speak that are tailored to whoever they are speaking to. She begins this piece by stating plainly that she is not an english scholar. Instead of decreasing her credibility it actually increases it and paints this piece as a more personal set of observations rather than a bland overview of the entire language.

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The essay "Mother's Tongue" is written by Amy tan and published in 1990. In her essay she talks about languages and how they all vary especially how the English language varied in her life. She talks about all the "Englishes" she knew and used growing up. She has become a successful author and had attended events were she was invited to talk about her book. In one of those events she took her mother and during her speech she realized the way she was talking to the group of people was different from the way she would talk to her mom.

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In this article, Tan 's argue that her mother 's "Broken English" has caused unfairness, disinterest, and limitations throughout their life. Tan 's mother was discriminated a lot throughout her life, all because of her "Broken English". Growing up speaking "Broken English" has caused Tan 's mother to be treated unfairly. For example, in one body paragraph, Tan talks about her mother having her to call people on the phone pretending to be her.

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She struggles occasionally from day to day tasks. Since Tan’s mother English was poor, she tends to ask Tan for help “...she used to have me call people and the phone and pretend I was she” (300). Tan’s mother would tell Tan to pretend to be her to complain, ask for more information, and even

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Summary of "Mother Tongue" by Amy Tan In "Mother Tongue, Amy Tan writes about how her mother 's broken English affects her life. She begins this narrative essay by talking about the day she became aware of the different forms of English that she was using at home and during formal events. Amy says, "The talk was going along well enough, until I remembered one major difference that made the whole talk sound wrong. My mother was in the room. And it was perhaps the first time she had heard me give a lengthy speech, using the kind of English I have never used with her" (Tan 1).

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When she was around others she would talk differently than how she talks with her mother. “…all the forms of Standard English that I had learned in school and through book, the forms of English I did not use at home with my mother” (118). Throughout her story she refers to the English her mother speaks as “Broken English” because her mother would say sentences like “Why he don’t send me check, already two weeks ago, but it hasn’t arrived” (119). Her mother didn’t have much difficulty understanding or reading English. When Tan was younger, she would feel embarrassed when her mother would speak because many people couldn’t understand her well.

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The article 'Mother Tongue ' by author Amy Tan is about the variations in the English language the author uses in her life. She describes her English when giving a speech to a other people, English she uses when speaking to her mother, and English she uses in her writing. She tells of difficulties faced by both her mother and herself from these many differences. Amy 's goal in this article is to show that a person does not have to speak proper English to be seen as smart or intelligent.

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While at a public speaking, Tan realized that she was using all these large words that her audience understood but her mother did not. “I was saying things like, “The intersection of memory upon imagination” and “There is an aspect of my fiction that relates to thus–and-thus…the forms of English I did not use at home with my mother” (Tan 58). Tan’s mother was in the room while Tan was giving the speech and that was when she realized that language could be a powerful tool that can connect each other in different ways. The English language can also bring people together who speak English but not in such a common way. “We were talking about the price of new and used furniture and I heard myself saying this: “Not waste money that way” (Tan 58).

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