Anthony Tan And Her Mother Summary

Tan shows that she is embarrassed in her family for their lacking of proper American manners. Although at the time she felt ashamed, the words spoken by her mother, “Inside you must always be Chinese. You must be proud you are different. Your only shame is to have shame” became better understood later in life. In Amy Tan's work, the strong use of description of both the event that are occurring and Amy’s feelings about them, draws the reader in and makes them feel as if they are part of the action. Tan's Chinese-American culture and life stories are imprinted in her writing which gives the reader an opportunity to gain knowledge about the way of life in her family, friends, and even the Chinese culture. Tan's main purpose of writing is to inform and educate people about growing up as a minority in the American society.

In the work of Amy Tan’s “Mother’s Tongue” she provides a look into how she adapted her language to assimilate into American culture. She made changes to her language because her mother heavily relied on her for translation. She was the voice of her mother, relaying information in standard English to

In “Mother Tongue,” Amy Tan an American writer, shares her experience growing up with the family where no one speaks perfect English, and how it affected her education and her life. As the second generation of Chinese immigrants, Tan faces more problems than her peers do. Her mother, who speaks limited English needs Tan to be her “Translator” to communicate with the native English speakers. Tan states, “I was ashamed of her English” (2). Her mother is like a burden to her, at least in Tan’s early years. But the cultural conflict she becomes the theme of her writing and it is under this situation she wrote many novels and essays including “Mother Tongue.”

On the other hand the main focus on Tan’s story is to show the beautiful and passionate side of her mother that people can't see. Tan describes how all of the English’s that she grew up with, normal English and "mother tongue" English, has shaped her first outlook of life. She writes, "But to me, my mother's

Mother Tongue is a story that describes how Amy Tan’s mother was treated unfairly because of her “broken English”. As the second generation of Chinese immigrants, Tan faces more problems than her peers do. Her mom, who speaks “limited” English, needs Tan to be her “translator” in order to communicate with the native English speakers. Tan has felt ashamed of her mother “broken” language at first. She then contemplates her background affected her life and her study. However, she changes her thought at the end since she realizes things behind language might be more valuable than language itself sometimes. Through the various different literary devices and rhetorical strategies such as the ethos, pathos, and logos appeals, as well as a

Tan was born to a pair of Chinese immigrants. Her mother understood English extremely well, but

She feels very embarrassed and wishes she were American. In the end of the story, she writes a quote that her mother actually told her, “You want to be the same as American girls on the outside. But inside you must always be Chinese. You must be proud you are different. Your only shame is to have shame” (Tan). In the end the character understood and knew that her mother was right. Tan was not confident with her Chinese identity when she was young, and that influenced some of her works like “Fish Cheeks”.

Although this short essay is based on a true incident in Tan’s life it does contain pieces of fairytales and modernism. The story is revealed by Tan through first person narrative. The narrator, June May, is speaking about the events that she is experiencing. It begins with the memory of when she was in high school and how she was explaining to her mother that she did not feel Chinese (paragraphs 1-4). The narrator only knows of the situations she has been told about and experienced. Tan explains exactly how the reader is feeling along with giving the reader hints through June Mays’s actions and words.

On the other hand, Nguyen talks of the language difficulties that she experienced being a Vietnamese in the United States. At first, she is enrolled to a school far from home as it offers bilingual education to help her integrate with the system of learning. She works hard to raise her academic performance with hopes of falling in favor with the teacher. However, as the teacher knows her Vietnamese origin, she manifests her stereotype on Nguyen’s comprehension in literature readings. For instance, while it was her turn to read, the teacher would interrupt her making sentiments such as “you are reading too fast….things she did not do to other students” (Nguyen, 35). She also faces a “school-constructed identity” together with her sister with all sorts of jibes thrown against them. As Vollmer puts it, “such assumptions affect the interpretations made of student behavior and school

In the story Tan brought up how people in america could not fully understand her mother. “Yet some of my friends tell me they could understand 50 percent of what my mother says. Some say they understand 80 or 90 percent. Some say they understand none” (Tan 1013). The lack of understanding her friends had on her mother did show that americans only know their own mother tongue and this lead to problems for her mother. Tan brought up a few occurrences where she would have to pretend to be her mother while speaking so she would be treated right. “Then she began to talk more loudly. “What he want, I come to New York tell him front of his boss, you cheating me?’” (Tan 1014). Tan understood exactly what her mother said and had to translate it accordingly in order for her mother to get fair treatment. Another story Tan used another story that gave her purpose a very strong

As an adult, Tan understands that her mother’s English is the language of intimacy. She now understands that her “mother’s expressive command belies how much she actually understands” Her mother reads “The Wall street Journal” and converses with their stockbroker on matters Tan doesn’t comprehend. It becomes evident that her initial

After the dinner, Tan’s mother surprised her with a miniskirt which Tan believed was also a norm for an American girl. Her mother points it out when she states “You want to be the same as American girls on the outside”. However, she tells Tan “But inside you must always be Chinese. You must be proud you are different. Your only shame is to have shame.” Tan at the time didn’t feel the same way and even stated she “didn’t agree with her then” but it wasn’t till later that she was able to “fully appreciate her lesson”. She comes to accept herself when she realizes that her mom had cooked “all my favorite foods”. This realization is that her shame was based off what she perceived other people outside her heritage might think instead of her own true feelings. Tan with stating how those were all her favorite food displayed how she concludes that these foods is what made her up as a person. She no longer put emphasis on her American background but instead as Chinese American

According to Tan’s mother, America is the “Land of Opportunity”. With high hopes of her daughter possessing the ability of being a prodigy, she molds her daughter into people she is not, such as comparing her to Shirley Temple, expecting her daughter to recite the Bible in one night, and taking her to a beauty training

After reading Tan’s Mother Tongue, I learned that Tan “was born in Oakland, California, to Chinese immigrant parents”. In other words, Tan was well spoken in English and Tan’s mother is presumably strict and responsible. What I found interesting, she shows how her mother’s English seems good and understandable that Tan mostly talks about how her mother’s is so limited. This proves that, some people can/could understand of what her mother is saying like going to take a CAT scan. What I basically know that, Chinese cultures are really strict and well-respected to show respect, discipline and dignity to others at all times. For example, my Indonesian/Chinese culture, is also well-respected and somehow/seems to be strict that I must respect and

In Amy Tan’s excerpt, “Two Kinds,” Tan mentions a series of events that happened to the main character Jing-Mei’s childhood. These key events portrayed the type of relationship that the daughter and her mother had. Readers observe that Jing-Mei slowly gives up on trying in her studies due to her mother’s constant pressure to excel. With the relationship of the daughter and mother in mind, is it possible that the daughter’s attitude and behaviors portrayed in the story became so due to her mother’s strict treatment? It is said that children behavior is influenced by the treatment of the parent or guardian.