Amy Tan 's Mother Tongue

The two main rhetorical devices used in Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue” are tone and symbolism both of which connect the reader’s emotions to the purpose of the essay. The are multiple tonal shifts throughout “Mother Tongue”. From guilt, to shame, to pride, to many more. One of these

In Mother Tongue, Amy Tan talks about how language influenced her life while growing up. Through pathos she explains to her audience how her experiences with her mother and the Chinese language she came to realize who she wanted to be and how she wanted to write.

In Amy Tan article “Mother tongue”, Amy Tan was talking about her love and fascination of language in daily life. Amy Tan explores the various forms of English that people from around the world use as they immigrate to the U.S. and how they are classified by the way they speak. Her mother plays a big role in telling of how her perspective on language has been changed. The author’s analyze the purpose and evaluate the effectiveness in her writing using persuasive devices to influence her audience. Through the article Amy use the various different rhetorical strategies such as the pathos and logos.

There are numerous bilingual and multicultural individuals on the planet today. For some, decisions of which language they utilize, and how they utilize it, relate to what social or social group they have a place with. Amy Tan, a Chinese American writer, depicts this well in her short exposition “Mother Tongue”. Tan experienced childhood in two unfathomably unique universes utilizing diverse English’s. The primary world, which comprises of her nearby family, she talks what we may call “broken” or “constrained” English. The second world, which is her business and expert world, tan talks and composes culminate standard and scholastic English.

The article "Mother Tongue" by Amy Tan shows firsthand instances of how Amy's mother was treated because of the way she spoke. She was disregarded, not taken seriously, and thought of as dim. The author uses logic, emotion, and reasoning to show why this way of thinking is not often true. The article’s main claim of how people perceive the intelligence of those who speak broken English is easily defined because of the authors use of writing techniques like telling personal stories, creating an appeal to emotion, and an appeal to logic.

The essays, "Mother Tongue" by Amy Tan and "Public and Private Language" by Richard Rodriguez are recollections of both of the author’s personal encounters and difficulties with the gap that was created between their families by differences in languages. These two writers grew up with bilingual families, in which English was not the primary language. Consequently, they had a hard time accepting and understanding the issues surrounding the different languages they spoke with their families at home, and within society. Because of this, the gap between their public and private languages that had been created through the introduction of a second language slowly grew larger, and eventually impacted their relationships with their family and caused them to view them in a different light. In their writing, Both Tan and Rodriguez reflect on their personal experiences and memories and illuminate the effects that a private language can have on various aspects of life.

Not all people whose English as a second language speak it in the same way. This argument made by Amy Tan in her story, “Mother Tongue”. In this essay, she successfully uses all three of Aristotle’s rhetorical styles such as ethos, logos, and pathos. Tan also notably balances each part of the rhetorical triangle and ultimately led to creating a very effective and thought provoking essay.

The author’s purpose in writing this essay is to show that there are different forms of English – there is no one way of speaking the language. The moment of realization for Tan occurs when she is speaking to a group of professionals and notices that she is speaking to them differently than she would her mother. Tan obviously sees the difference in her speech pattern when she notes, “Just last week, as I was walking down the street with her, I again found myself conscious of the English I was using, the English I do use with her.” (Tan, 2006) In spotting her different versions of English with her mother, Tan proves the point of her essay. She is correct in her theory that we speak to different people in our lives in a variety of different manners. She brings to light an occasion with her mother’s stockbroker where her mother’s “broken” English would have caused confusion and Tan had to represent her mother with a clearer English to make the point adequately. In that one memory, Tan integrates the English people believe they should hear and the English that exists in her life.

However as Amy Tan reflects upon in her essay ‘’Mother Tongue’’, ‘’She used to have me call people on the phone to pretend to I was she.’’(Tan, Tongue) A young Amy would have to translate her mother's broken english whenever an important call would have to be made, or any transaction was needed. Making it very difficult for her family to afford what they needed, along with the overall discrimination.‘’The fact that 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, Tongue) Not having the ability to communicate as easily as her daughter meant that her options for work were very

Critically acclaimed author, Amy Tan, in her essay “Mother Tongue”, considers cultural standards and preconceived notions propagated by society in the terms of language. Tan explores the perceptions behind those who speak in ‘broken English’ and the validity of all forms of self-expression by revisiting past experiences in her own life with her mother. She adopts a sincere and emotional tone in order to expose audiences to the discrimination many immigrants face in society on a continual basis. Ultimately, through the use of devices such as definition, comparison and contrast, and her masterful command of language; Tan expresses her central claim that all of her ‘englishes’ are deserving of recognition and respect.

Languages have been developed by human beings in the beginning of time as a mean of communication and to this day no other way has proved to be as efficient, even people with deficient hearing or speaking have created a language for themselves. However, the diversity of languages around the globe seems to be representing a barrier between nations. People who speak one language tend to subconsciously cluster together, as if they are attracted to each other by an invisible force. While that may be beneficial in terms of the workings of the inner society, it actually makes it more difficult for populations speaking different languages to relate with each other. People should not be evaluated based on their imperfect use of a foreign language,

The short story ‘Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan, starts off by clearing things out, she mentions that she is not an English or Literature scholar, rather that she is just a writer who enjoys writing. Amy talks about how she gets to a point in her life where she realized that she and her mom were talking the same English, but it was still different. Amy explains how her mom speaks Chinese, but she also knows English. Amy explains how a difficult it was for her mom when dealing with situations where they felt less because of their broken English.

In “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan, there are multiple “Englishes” mentioned in Tan’s article. For example, there is a formal, proper “English” that is used in the everyday American society, which is commonly found with businesses, acquaintances, and even literature. Another type of “English”, is the more intimate and informal type, which is commonly used around friends and family. Nevertheless, each English can be interpreted or used differently depending on the person.

Over time, Tan realizes that her mother’s English made her into the person she is today. In “Mother Tongue” Amy Tan discusses the large roles of the two types of English in her life, they’re impact on

I enjoyed reading Mother Tongue by Amy Tan. I thought by just reading the first paragraph that I was able to make a strong connection with Amy Tan and her essay.