Similarities Between Amy Tan And Isaac Asimov

These two articles are similar in that they are both writing pieces by authors writing in first person about their books or writings. Amy Tan and Isaac Asimov are both writing about something specific about their writings. Amy Tan talks about how her experiences with her mother contributes to her writing and Isaac Asimov analyzes why he is a good science fiction writer and what it takes to be one. In the article Mother Tongue by Amy Tan, Amy writes about what it was like growing up with her mother's limited English. "because when I was growing up, my mother's 'limited' English limited my perception of her. I was ashamed of her English." (1) As the author implies in this passage and throughout the article, other people's perception of
her mother affected her own perception of her. Amy had to pretend to be her mother a lot to professionals because they did not take her seriously or understand her. "When I was fifteen she used to have me call people n the phone and pretend it was her. In this guise, I was forced to ask for information or even to complain and yell at people who had been rude to her." (2) Eventually, the author realizes that her mother and the experiences helped form her in to the writer she is today. Those Crazy Ideas by Isaac Asimov is about his fans asking him where he gets his crazy writing ideas. Isaac is a science fiction writer. He explains that to be a science fiction writer, you must possess as many "bits" (facts or information) as possible, you must be able to combine the "bits" well, and you must have intuition. (3) These two are articles are both written in first person. Although Isaac and Amy are writing about two totally different subjects, they are both relevant to being a writer. Those Crazy Ideas is more or less Isaac teaching people what it takes to be a good science fiction writer. He attempts to help people understand his thought process while writing and his take on creativity. He analyzes creativity itself. This article is has a more informational purpose than Mother Tongue; which is the first difference other than their subjects. Mother Tongue and Those Crazy Ideas are different in that they have different purposes.
Mother Tongue, Amy Tan is sharing a personal story and relating it back to the way it affected her writing style and technique. His main purpose is sharing for understanding. "We used a similar routine just five days ago, for a situation that was far less humorous. My mother had gone to the hospital for and appointment, to find out about a benign brain tumor a CAT scan had revealed a month ago." (4) Isaac, in his article, is essentially answering the question "Where do you get your crazy ideas?" and is elaborating on that. He uses a lot of factual information and examples to prove his arguments about being a science fiction writer. "To begin with, in 1831, when Charles Darwin was twenty-two, he joined the crew of a ship called the Beagle." (5) The difference in Mother Tongue is that Amy does not use any hard facts but, instead, used her personal accounts to get her point across. These are two different styles of writing that partway has to do with the subjects their writings are
about. In the end of their articles, Mother Tongue by Amy Tan and Those Crazy Ideas by Isaac Asimov, they both relate their articles back to something specific about the way that they write. In Amy Tans experience she learned to write in a way people would understand instead of trying to prove her good English by uses big intelligent words that the average person could not understand. "Fortunately for reasons I won't get into today, I later decided to I should envision a reader for the stories I would write.
And the reader I decided upon was my mother, because these were stories about mothers. So with this reader in mind-and in fact she did read my early drafts- I began using all the Englishes I grew up with: the English I spoke to my mother, which for lack of a better term might be described as 'broken'; my translation of her Chinese, which could certainly be described as 'watered down'; and what I imagined to be her translation of Chinese if she could speak in perfect English." (6) Isaac Asimov concludes his article, answering the question "Where do you get those crazy ideas?" with a blunt "I don't know." He reiterates that we need to encourage scientific creativity and experiment more with creativity itself. "How, then, does one go about encouraging scientific creativity? For now than ever before in man’s history, we must; and the need will grow constantly in the future." (7) "I don't know. Here, it seems to me, is where we need experimentation and perhaps a kind of creative breakthrough about creativity. Once we learn enough about the whole matter, who knows- I may even find out where I get those Crazy Ideas."
(8) In conclusion, the two articles, Mother Tongue by Amy Tan and Those Crazy Ideas by Isaac Asimov, are the same in that they are both in first person and both relate back to each author's writings somehow. They are different in that they are on different subjects; they have different purposes and different ways of getting their point across. Amy uses her personal experiences and Isaac uses hard facts.

Bibliography
Asimov, Isaac. Those Crazy Ideas
Tan, Amy. Mother Tongue

Works Cited
(1) Tan, Amy. Mother Tongue pg. 87 paragraph 9
(2) Tan, Amy. Mother Tongue pg. 87 paragraph 10
(3) Asimov, Isaac. Those Crazy Ideas pg. 145 paragraph 28
(4) Tan, Amy. Mother Tongue pg. 86 paragraph 4
(5) Asimov, Isaac. Those Crazy Ideas pg.143 paragraph 9
(6) Tan, Amy. Mother Tongue pg.90 paragraph 21
(7) Asimov, Isaac. Those Crazy Ideas pg.150 paragraph 81
(8) Asimov, Isaac. Those Crazy Ideas pg.151 paragraph 91