Preview

Summary Of Mother Tongue By Amy Tan

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
385 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Summary Of Mother Tongue By Amy Tan
The reading I will be doing my analysis essay on is “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan. I believe that the audience for this paper will be people who are uncertain about Amy Tan’s perspective in “Mother Tongue”. This audience would benefit from my analysis because they would gain additional perspective on the use and power of language. The analysis may also help to provide them with a more thorough look into the text so that they may find something to relate to their own experiences. This audience may be more difficult to persuade because they may have their own biases and being confronted with bias can be uncomfortable and often shut a conversation down. However, I believe that my insights would assist them in finding common understanding with people

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    The essay “Mother Tongue” describes a writer who grew up with a mother of Asian origin and the limitations created by her mother’s speech. The author, Amy Tan, defines her mother’s English as “broken” and that it created communication barriers. For example, when Tan’s mother would need to call her boss about work, she would rely on her daughter to make the phone call and use proper english. When Tan decided to go into English in college, it seemed foolish since she was more skilled in math and science. The author also mentions how not everyone’s speech is the same, but that is not a bad thing. Tan decided to start writing fiction, and write a book in a way her mother would comprehend. Though the writing was harshly critiqued, Tan knew she…

    • 227 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In what ways did the English colonies develop differently from the Spanish and French colonies?…

    • 735 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Amy Tan’s essay “Mother Tongue” Tan grew up in a home with her Chinese mother who spoke English that she considered “broken”. It was difficult for others to understand what her mother was saying. Tan then realized that when she was with her mother that she spoke English differently than she did. She was trying to figure out how her background affected her life, such as her education; but she eventually learned to except her background. At the same time Tan wanted to become a writer and she found that by spending time with her mother who again spoke “broken” English. Even though she was told that writing was her worst skill by her boss, she was determined to make it work.…

    • 197 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Amy Tan, the author of “Mother Tongue,” gives the audience a new outlook and better understanding of the struggles that every immigrant who lives in United States had gone through every day. Amy Tan gives the audience the positive view on the “broken” English speakers by using herself and her mother as an example. Her mother did not get respect from the hospital and also the stockbroker due to her limited use of English. In contrast, Amy Tan was treated very well because of speaking proper English. This shows that there is discrimination between people who speak proper English and people who do not. Further, Amy Tan points out that although her mother speaking is not fluent, her comprehension is really good. The author argues that people should not judge the others (especially immigrants) based on their spoken language successfully because she uses most of rhetorical appeals pathos, ethos, and logos to show that language is not a credible indicator in measuring individual’s competency.…

    • 887 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    After reading “Mother Tongue”, I was reminded of how wrong it is to judge people because they can’t express their ideas or feelings due to of their limited language skills were…

    • 797 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Amy Tan’s story “Mother Tongue” starts by the affirmation that she is not a scholar of English or literature. She is just a writer and the person who understand the power of language. From Tan’s observations from her daily life, she realizes that there are different types of English that she uses. The first time Tan notices the difference is when she gives a speech on her book “The Joy Luck Club” using academic English, the one that she never uses to talk with her mother. The second time is when Tan talked using “fractured” English unconsciously with her mother when walking down the street. After that, Tan recalls her memories from her early age: the phone call for her mother to the stockbroker, the meeting with a doctor in the hospital for her mother’s CAT scan result to demonstrate her mother’s realization of “limited” English. Then Tan agrees with the idea that language spoken in…

    • 760 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The objective of the United States entering the war was to stop communism from spreading to South Vietnam. They were not successful in stopping communism because they lost the war. Them losing the war was factors of many things like not receiving support from U.S citizens.…

    • 192 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    In this article, Deborah Tannen predominantly focuses on the difference in the use of language by male and female students and how it impacts the classroom participation, equal opportunities and diversity amongst the students. Tannen believes that every class is distinct in nature and form: with people from both genders, separate backgrounds, cultures, ethnicities - as a result of which students have unique personalities and attitudes so there should be diverse methods to cater to different students in a way that elevates individuality instead of teachers painting the whole class with the same brush. There would most probably be no definitive audience segmentation or boundaries. This article could be of as much interest to teachers and parents as it would be to students. The passage mainly highlights the generic and ‘innate’ male and female…

    • 1816 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the article, "Mother Tongue" by author Amy Tan, she uses its context to persuade readers not "Judge someone's intelligence by their English" (Tan, 20) but instead treat others the way you would want to be treated, therefore acceptance is essential because it helps us respect other people who are different than we are, to avoid misconceptions about another person, and to accept others for who they are regardless different ethnical backgrounds.…

    • 575 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Amy Tan, author of “Mother Tongue”, wrote a novella on the difficulties of her mother speaking and writing English; or more simply put, learning the correct rhetoric. Throughout the story, she ridicules her mother for her lack of ability to better express her thoughts in the 2nd hardest language on the Earth but seems to do it in the most loving way possible. Well, she tried to the best extent she could. Given the context of the situation Amy isn’t a horrible person or hatful towards her mother, her attitude is just…complex. She begins in paragraph seven with an emotional line of sentences: “But to me, my mother’s English is perfectly clear, perfectly natural.…

    • 474 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Rhetorical Reading

    • 362 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In Amy Tan’s essay “Mother Tongue” (1990), she emphasize that her mother’s way of speaking English has created a cultural wall. Tan used truth from her life and her mother’s personal experiences to express how society treats people who speak poor English. Tan’s purpose was to encourage the reader not to prejudge a person who speaks imperfect English and in spite of how the individual speak, they should be treated the same way as the person who speaks perfect English. Tan’s anticipated audience was anyone who’s been judge or mistreated because of their imperfect English and anyone who judged or look down on a person that speaks imperfect English.…

    • 362 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Mother Tongue” is a narrative of Tan’s life, it is written in the genre of a literacy narrative. Within her story, Tan wrote about how she chose the audience for her writing. She carefully selected those like her mother for her audience, she even stated that she had her mother read early drafts of her writing to “test” how it would be received. She knew that if her mother understood what she was reading then others within her target audience would too. I then made the connection to the literacy narrative we are writing in class. I did this because I will be sharing this with the class and I want to make sure that I am writing and speaking in tones and vocabulary that those within a college classroom could relate…

    • 613 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    After reading “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan, it was rigorous for Asian Americans learning the English language. The article discusses the different languages of English that Tan had learned and frequently used throughout her life. Then the difficulties that she had learning in school because English wasn’t her best subject. Additionally, were issues that follow along her, due to the way Amy’s mother spoke English. English as a second language for Tan was very difficult, but through her mistakes, she succeeded. When she became a writer, it got easier after she realized the variety of languages she had already spoke throughout her lifetime. She constantly used diverse languages with multiple people and had absolutely no idea she was. It became easier for Amy to differentiate and correct herself. Tan’s life was hard for her to become the aspiring writer she wanted to be. As an Asian American, to succeed in something that no one believed she could was foolish. And even though English wasn’t Amy’s first language, in the long run it changed her understanding of the English language. Tan’s purpose was to show us how language can separate, unite, or isolate those who don’t speak perfect English. Literacy should have no limitations on how people view other people.…

    • 307 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Power of Language

    • 1073 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Tan, Amy. Mother Tongue. The Norton Field Guide to Writing, with Readings and Handbook. 2nd ed. Ed. Marilyn Moller. New York: Norton, 2010. 564-570. Print.…

    • 1073 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    HARRY POTTERR

    • 613 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In today’s society it is common for both parents to work. Unlike a few years ago, it used to be just the men working. Now women are working many hours, while they take care of their children. This could have an impact on the children. From personal experience and from seeing other children it is clear that it does have a huge impact on the children of today.…

    • 613 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays