My Mothers Tongue by Amy Tan - 596 Words

In the personal essay â€Å"My Mothers Tongue† (1990), Amy Tan, widely known author explains her insights on language and culture identity using details and memories from her own life experiences. Tan conceals that the language in which her mother used with her â€Å"was the language that helped shape the way [she] saw things, expressed things, made sense of the world† (1208) and in the process it made her who she is today as an author. Tan illuminates the euro centricity of the Master Narrative by retelling stories of her mother being treated poorly because of her â€Å"broken† or â€Å"limited† English. She recalls many past experiences where her mother suffered from bad service and treatment from restaurants, stockbrokers, and even hospitals. Using examples from her personal life Tan gets her point across about language and culture characteristics in order to show how Chinese culture is affected by the master narrative and also encourages others to inc lude a variety of cultures in order to overcome bias opinions. Tan’s apparent audience can be ranged from the child of an immigrant to a doctor and offers an authentic and rich portrayal of Chinese history through her conflicting experience of her Chinese and American cultures. In the essay â€Å"Straw into Gold: The Metamorphosis of the Everyday† (1984), Sandra Cisneros, nationally known Mexican-American author, uses an informal tone and fragment sentences such as â€Å" I’d never seen anybody make corn tortillas. Ever† (1226) to help create a voiceShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of Mother Tongue By Amy Tan913 Words   |  4 Pages Analysis of Mother Tongue by Amy Tan In the narrative essay, â€Å"Mother Tongue† by Amy Tan, the author sets out the story between her mother, whose English is her second language, and Tan herself can speak native English very well. The essay covers the tonal shift of Amy Tan s psychological change, from grudge to understanding. Although she begins the essay saying, I am not a scholar of English or literature. I cannot give you much more than personal opinions on theRead MoreMother Tongue1199 Words   |  5 PagesRhetorical Analysis of â€Å"Mother Tongue† written by Amy Tan â€Å"So easy to read†(p.4). Amy Tan ends her essay, â€Å"Mother Tongue† with this short and even grammatically wrong sentence. She tells us this mother’s brief review is a proof of success of her writing. Why does she think that easiness is an essence of her writing? She suggests answers to this question by her essay. In her essay, Amy Tan effectively convinces her readers that â€Å"broken English† is not an inferior language, but justRead MoreHow Language Is The Defining Aspect Of Person s Culture And Identity1122 Words   |  5 Pagesaspect of person’s culture and identity. In the essay, â€Å"How to tame a wild tongue† by Gloria Anzaldua and from the â€Å"Mother Tongue† by Amy tan, both reading conveys the importance of culture in society and it is possible to suffer If we can’t use it properly, however anzaldua was far more confidence about her language but Amy tan was depressed about her language impacted on her life experiences. At my home I speak Urdu with my family but in school I speak English. This situation makes very hard forRead MoreMother Tongue By Amy Tan1553 Words   |  7 PagesAdelina Belecciu (Professor’s Name) ENG101 (Date) â€Å"Mother Tongue† Response Essay In the essay â€Å"Mother Tongue,† Amy Tan emphasizes the idea that the language we are taught in childhood plays an important role in our lives. She writes about the profound effect language has on her life and how she is inspired by her mother’s â€Å"impeccable broken English† to become a writer (317). Tan describes her mother as an educated person who can read sophisticated and technical literature written in EnglishRead MoreFormal English Essay1311 Words   |  6 PagesProf. Isaac Eng 14 25 November 2012 Many writers share their experiences about literacy and language. The writer Helen Keller wrote The Day Language Came into My Life, an essay where she tells the reader her experience with how she learned how to speak, read and write even though she is blind and deaf. Amy Tan wrote Mother Tongue, an essay where she talks about the trouble of speaking English as an immigrant in a new country. Frederick Douglass wrote Learning to Read and Write, an essay whereRead MoreComparisson of Mother Tounge and Everyday Use1417 Words   |  6 PagesEdgar Hernandez Professor Ali ENC 1102 March 20, 2014 Amy Tans, â€Å"Mother Tongue† and Alice Walkers â€Å"Everyday Use† both share similar traits in their writings of these two short stories. â€Å"Mother Tongue† revolves around the experiences Tan and her mother had due to her mothers English speaking limitations, she also revolves her story around the relationship of a mother and daughter. Alice walker on the other hand writes a story narrated by â€Å"Mama† the mother of two daughters Maggie and Dee andRead MoreHow I Learned to Read and Write by Frederick Douglass and Mother Tongue by Amy Tan1178 Words   |  5 Pages How I Learned to Read and Write by Frederick Douglass and Mother Tongue by Amy Tan are essays that share a common theme. The theme is opposition and how it is necessary to build strength. In the essay How I Learned to Read and Write, Frederick Douglass explains that he was born into slavery and faced his own ignorance with a resolve to overcome this challenge. Faced with o ppression by the master and mistress of the house, a young Frederick Douglass used any means necessary toRead MoreMother Tongue767 Words   |  4 PagesMother Tongue, by Amy Tan Comprehension 1. What Tan is classifying in this essay is the different kinds of English she uses. 2. Tan identify the different categories she discusses in â€Å"Mother Tongue† almost in the last paragraph, where she named all the kind of English she uses. 3. Tan does illustrate each category she identifies 4. Some specific situations where Tan says her mother’s â€Å"limited English† was a handicap is when her mother could not be able to talk directly with peopleRead MoreConfidence Enables A Person to Try New Things1471 Words   |  6 Pages During my early years I was bullied in and out of school. My first experience with bullying started when I was in daycare. A girl named Mary Doe. Every time I saw her she would talk about either my hair or my clothes or the way I looked. One day, my brother and Mary Doe’s sister were watching Mary Doe and I and then Mary Doe’s aunt had told her to leave me alone. And after her aunt left the room, Mary Doe started pushing me to see what I would do and after a while I got really mad so I punched herRead More Amy Tans Mother Tongue Essay1106 Words   |  5 PagesAmy Tans Mother Tongue The Essay written by Amy Tan titled Mother Tongue concludes with her saying, I knew I had succeeded where I counted when my mother finished my book and gave her understandable verdict (39). The essay focuses on the prejudices of Amy and her mother. All her life, Amys mother has been looked down upon due to the fact that she did not speak proper English. Amy defends her mothers Broken English by the fact that she is Chinese and that the Simple English spoken