Mother Tongue by Amy Tan Essay

Four Chinese mothers have migrated to America. Each hope for their daughter’s success and pray that they will not experience the hardships faced in China. One mother, Suyuan, imparts her knowledge on her daughter through stories. The American culture influences her daughter, Jing Mei, to such a degree that it is hard for Jing Mei to understand her mother's culture and life lessons. Yet it is not until Jing Mei realizes that the key to understanding who her

Currently, there are over 6,000 living languages spoken in the world. Even with these many languages spoken, people are still discriminated in America. Language is a part of many cultures and daily life, for example in Amy Tan's "Mother Tongue", Tan says "I've heard other terms used, 'limited English,' for example. But they seem as bad, as if everything is limited, including people's perceptions of the limited English speaker." Language should not be a border where people today are still treated as "broken".

In Mother Tongue by Amy Tan, she begins her writing by doubting herself as a writer. My initial thought about this opening statement was confusion; why would she start a paper doubting her ability and possibly turning readers away? However, I read the opening sentences again and found myself wanting to read through her paper. I found her first sentences provided a unique and interesting way to describe herself and I wanted to know why she would describe herself in such a way in the very beginning of her piece. I think she chose to say this because she feels that no one can be an expert in the language of English. There are just too many versions of the English language itself and then add on all the variations that American people have added

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.

This essay will look at Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior. The Woman Warrior explores Kingston’s life as a young girl through a mixture of storytelling and reality. Kingston deals with five different narratives throughout the text. This allows the reader to grasp an understanding of her society and what the people in this society believe to be their norms. Her stories combine that of Chinese history, myths and spouts of reality. The narrator, Kingston, tries to come to terms with the pressures which the two surrounding, opposing societies impinge upon her through narrating oral stories. Storytelling and silence are both dominant and persistent themes throughout Kingston’s narratives. They display the oppression felt by females in the

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.

Every individual has traditions passed down from their ancestors. This is important because it influences how families share their historical background to preserve certain values to teach succeeding generation. N. Scott Momaday has Native American roots inspiring him to write about his indigenous history and Maxine Hong Kingston, a first-generation Chinese American who was inspired by the struggles of her emigrant family. Kingston and Momaday manipulate language by using, metaphors, similes, and a unique style of writing to reflect on oral traditions. The purpose of Kingston’s passage is to reflect upon her ancestor’s mistake to establish her values as an American

She can never fully assimilate to the American way because others cannot over look her different cultural heritage. However, she cannot fully revert back to her Japanese culture. She has lost touch to the language and traditions. Her linkage to Japanese culture go back so far that the only remnants of her Japanese identity can only be identified through blood. Trying to find an escape from this scrutiny, Nishio seeks refuge in art. However, coming from the west coast, she remains an outsider when she comes to the east coast. The artistic styles differ on the opposing coasts, which makes it hard for Nishio to identify as one or the other. Nishio’s background puts her in the position of an outsider. Another outsider who presents her story through her memoir The Woman Warrior is Maxine Hong-Kingston. Kingston is an outsider in both the American and Chinese community. Kingston could never figure out “American-feminine” (Kingston, 204). Her Chinese blood interferes with Kingston’s potential of becoming a “true American.” The Chinese and American standards contrast one another rather than complement each other, which compiles Kingston’s hate, especially towards her Chinese

Chang-Rae Lee’s Native Speaker expresses prominent themes of language and racial identity. Chang-Rae Lee focuses on the struggles that Asian Americans have to face and endure in American society. He illustrates and shows readers throughout the novel of what it really means to be native of America; that true nativity of a person does not simply entail the fact that they are from a certain place, but rather, the fluency of a language verifies one’s defense of where they are native. What is meant by possessing nativity of America would be one’s citizenship and legality of the country. Native Speaker suggests that if one looks different or has the slightest indication that one should have an accent, they will be viewed not as a native of

Linh notices that “All the white Jinnys have a different sound in their names from the ihh in hers” (Rosenblum 1). Xing is a name given to her by her employer to make her sound more foreign but “It’s not a Vietnamese name. It’s not a Canadian name. It’s a no-name” (3). Linh is forced into a new culture and that ultimately strips her of any identity.

What specific elements of Amy Tan's essay "Mother Tongue" can appeal to a variety of readers and audiences? How does her essay demonstrate how people can better understand their own challenges in creating identity through language and literacy? Amy Tan ’s essay “Mother Tongue” appeals to a variety of readers because it has a theme that is very relatable; everybody is somebody’s child and though most people spend their childhoods trying to emerge from their family’s grasp, true success is not achieved until one gains the recognition of the person who was the biggest influence in their life.

In the essay titled “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan, first line of the essay has a very good grabber. The essay will surely catch reader’s attention to read more because Tan introduced how the essay will be on personal opinion, which I believe many likes to hear or listen to others opinion other than reading about facts that can be seen anywhere, for example online search engine. Tan might accomplish this in the essay as she pointed out how an English language could be a change with certain limits in everywhere. That line is a strong grabber that would capture reader’s attention as I was captured by it to read more. I am a lazy reader; yet, I was captured by Tan’s ‘hook sentence.’ I was curious to know how English language could be a change with

Amy Tan is a Chinese-American author of stories like The Joy Luck Club. In a short piece called Mother Tongue, Tan explains the struggles of her and her mother living in America. Her mother was a Chinese immigrant and did not speak English at a high level. This made things difficult for her as some people did not really respect her and doubted her intelligence.

In the narrative "Mother Tongue" (1990), Amy Tan shows the battle of her mom's dialect hindrance and the supposition in view of Asian generalizations. Tan examines how she came to understand the distinctive kind of English dialect she utilizes, especially about her mom's "broken" dialect. The creator underpins her theory by giving her own encounters with her life which additionally incorporated her mom's encounters. The narrative is composed of a group of people who have been known to have any sort of "dialect obstruction" or has been pushed in a specific profession because of their nationality.

In ‘Mother Tongue’, Amy Tan explores the theme of prejudice, suggesting how her mother was suffering from a lack of proper respect and attention by others in a foreign country due to her Chinese accent and presumably her identity of a Chinese woman. As an American-born Chinese, Tan’s attitude towards racism and her mother’s ‘broken’ English was seemingly straightforward but intricate, manifested in her life memories and demonstrated by the changes in tones. Meanwhile, it perfectly illustrates that culture--relating to the surrounding environment-- exerts a significant impact in constantly shaping and developing one’s identity, behaviors, and fundamental perceptions; It is beyond parental influence. Tan and her mother came out of different