The Identity Of A Country Like The United States Of America

America is commonly characterized as the greatest country in the world, the glorious “land of the free and the home of the brave”, “indivisible, with liberty and justice for all”. This idealization of the American identity conveniently focuses on what people want to hear and blurs out most everything else. In reality, Americans do not live up to the dreamscape created by our views, and we never really have. America is no longer characterized by its freedom and democracy, nearly every first world country can afford that luxury. Nor are we set apart by the great opportunities given to our people, for those are far from universal. We aren’t equal, we aren’t unified, we aren’t kinder or smarter or richer than any other country across the board. It’s easy to find the shortcomings of American culture, all the things we aren’t, but the things we are have proven to be more elusive. First, let’s examine the nots.

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

On one side, Amy Tan “Mother Tongue” shows how Amy Opens doors for her mother. One example of this is when Amy says “Just last week, I was walking down the street with my mother, and I again found myself conscious of the English I was using, the English I do use with her. We were talking about the price of new and used furniture and I heard myself saying this: "Not waste money that way." My husband was with us as well, and he didn't notice any switch in my English. And then I realized why. It's because over the twenty years we've been together, I've often used that same kind of English with him, and sometimes he even uses it with me. It has become our language of intimacy, a different sort of English that relates to family talk, the language I grew up with ” (Tan 363). This opens a door for her mother by being in and understand a conversation that she is not normally involved in. This is as simple as Amy talking to her mom in her mother’s language. This is similar to an adult explaining something to a child in the in

“Mother Tongue” was a speech Amy Tan made in front of many authoritative scholars who had investigated English literature for long time. Tan perhaps had great pressure for the experience she talked about is not familiar at all to those experts. They wouldn’t understand easily how someone from an immigrant family felt. Later the speech became a well-known essay of Tan and the audience changed. She was talking to everybody, especially the ones who speak perfect English. She wanted them to know that one with limited English could still be intelligent. Things behind language might be more valuable than language itself sometimes. That was something exceeded fluency, vocabularies and grammar. Amy Tan’s purpose of writing Mother Tongue is to remind the native English speakers to respect the “broken English” speakers and to find out the worthy thoughts concealed by the imperfect languages.

Amy Tan’s literacy narrative “Mother Tongue” is about the different dialects of English, she is familiar with. She explains that her intelligence is judged by the way she speaks. Amy Tan, explains memories from her life where she encounters many forms of English. Her mother, a Chinese immigrant spoke “broken English.” She describes her mother as someone who was able to understand English, well the mother claims that she understands everything, but when it came to speaking, she spoke without the correct grammar. Due to her mothers broken English, Amy Tan has adapted to the type of English her mother speaks, their own type of English language. Tan feels as if the English she is speaking with it outside world is more complex than the English she

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

The purpose of Amy Tan’s essay, “Mother Tongue,” is to show how challenging it can be if an individual is raised by a parent who speaks “limited English” (36) as Tan’s mother does, partially because it can result in people being judged poorly by others. As Tan’s primary care giver, her mother was a significant part of her childhood, and she has a strong influence over Tan’s writing style. Being raised by her mother taught her that one’s perception of the world is heavily based upon the language spoken at home. Alternately, people’s perceptions of one another are based largely on the language used.

From an article called My Mother’s English of Vision Across Americas, the author called Amy Tan intend to tell us that the differences between her mother’s English and standard English. Plus, the process of how she finds these differences. Moreover, she tells us the influence of it to her mother, even to her. She makes some examples to prove that her mother suffered from unfair treatment because of her mother’s nonstandard English. In other words, English limit affect the daily life of her mother. Therefore, she always pretends to be her mother when she was fifteen years old. When she grows up, she was ashamed of her English and find why her English is different from other people. Then, she tries her best to improve her English.

“ When I was growing up my mother limited english limited my perception of her, I was ashamed of her english I believed that her english reflected the quality of what she had to say” ( Tan 8 ). In the article “ Mother Tongue” Amy Tan convey’s her central message by using pathos, Logos, And ethos to show how her mother was treated, and how it affected her growing up

In Amy Tan’s narrative, “Mothers Tongue”, Tan speaks about the unique dialect that she and her mother share. Only she could understand and conversations with her mother and understand every word she is saying. Tan writes about how she grew up with the variations of English; the perfect English that she spoke to the public, and the broken English she used with her mother. Tan writes that from a young age she was very embarrassed by the limited knowledge of English and how that “… reflected the quality of what she had to say.” (Tan, pg. 635) Tan reflects that with her mother’s limitations, she had to talk on her mother’s behalf just to have others hear what her mother had to say, Amy recalls a time where she was called to basically interpret

English is an invisible gate. Immigrants are the outsiders. And native speakers are the gatekeepers. Whether the gate is wide open to welcome the broken English speakers depends on their perceptions. Sadly, most of the times, the gate is shut tight, like the case of Tan’s mother as she discusses in her essay, "the mother tongue." People treat her mother with attitudes because of her improper English before they get to know her. Tan sympathizes for her mother as well as other immigrants. Tan, once embarrassed by her mother, now begins her writing journal through a brand-new kaleidoscope. She sees the beauty behind the "broken" English, even though it is different. Tan combines repetition, cause and effect, and exemplification to emphasize

Amy Tan wrote a short story “Mother’s Tongue” who ruminated and judged “broken” English. In her life she realizes that everyone speaks English in different ways. For example, Tan’s mother speaks “broken” English, when she is with her she speaks simple English. When she is in the outside world she speaks proper English. Tan’s mother is the reason why Tan studies the various English’s that everyone speaks. While growing up, she noticed she spoke differently to her mother than to others. This

In “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan, she opens the story by informing us that she speaks more than one language. She states that she is a writer and she is someone who has always loved language. Throughout the story she explains the different situations that she experience because of the way she talks such as when she has to translate for her mother on the phone and how she talks proper when she is giving a speech. She feels as if her mother’s English “limits” her perception of her. She also states that at one point she was ashamed of her mother’s English. On the other hand, her mother’s English is perfectly clear to her and she describes it as her mother tongue.

In, “ Mother Tongue” Amy Tan characterizes her mother English is not perfect. Her mother cannot use the correct English when she speaks. She doesn’t care all the forms of standard English, and she can say whatever words she likes. However, Amy’s mother really like to read Shirley Maclaine’s books, and talks with everybody. Some people can not understand her mother, and some people understand about 50 or 80 percent. That is why, she could not have a good service when she went to banks, restaurants or every public place. For example, she came to the hospital to get the result of her brain CAT scan, and the hospital did not find her scan. However, they did not say sorry to her, and would not give her the another appointment. By the way, Amy Tan always think her mother English is perfectly and clearly.

As a Chinese woman, Amy Tan, whose culture based on respect and veneration of parents, supports and helps her mother on a long way to tide over her “broken” English. (Tan 119) The connection between a daughter and a mother allows Amy to understand her mother’s “limited” language just by a heart. (Tan 119) Language is a very powerful and strong instrument, but the related blood between the two main characters is capable to express everything without the words. Amy loved her mother so much and did not want to hurt her feelings by calling her English “broken” or “fractured”, “as if it were damaged and needed to be fixed, as if it lacked a certain wholeness and soundness”. (Tan 119) Despite the global misunderstanding of society and her mother, Amy thinks that her mother’s language “is vivid, direct full of observation and imagery.” (Tan 119) It is her “mother tongue” and she is ready to protect and support her in any situations.