"Mother Tongue" was written by Amy Tan, who is famous for her writings of her experiences as a Chinese immigrant growing up in American culture. Her primary purpose is to inform the reader about the prejudices her mother faced because her mother could not speak perfect English. In her essay, Tan shares stories of her mother's broken English and how people took advantage of her mother. Tan's intended audience are those who are unaware of people like her mother whose limited English is taken advantage of in everyday life. The experiences Tan shares with the readers is an emotion inducing strategy which Tan uses throughout her writing and it is proved to be very effective. One of Tan's most effective methods of conveying her purpose is her strong diction. "And sure enough, the following week..... was shouting at his boss in her impeccable broken English." (398) She uses "impeccable" and "broken" in the same sentence which is an antithesis. By emphasizing two antonyms impeccable and broken, Tan makes the point her mother's English is broken but yet filled with underlying meanings. The word choices Tan uses was an effective method to emphasize the idea of contrast by doing so Tan was able to draw the reader's attention, but also at the same time to make her argument more credible. As a result, she was able to portray to …show more content…
By applying anecdotes she was able to allow the audience in her shoes. By doing so ,Tan was able to connect with the audience and explain her stories of her struggles due to her mother's English. "I think my mother's English almost had an effect on limiting my possibilities in life was well." (399) By engaging the reader in her personal experiences, she was able to allow the reader to experience how she felt and by doing so she was able to make people who spoke broken English more
In the article “Mother Tongue,” Amy Tan cogitates about how her mother’s spoken English is compared to the Standard English language. Tan believes that language is not only a tool of communication, but also a sociological tool of measuring self worth. She’d always loved language, but never had she appeared expressive and rhetoric in front of her mother, due to the fact that her immigrant mother could not speak the Standard English language, but rather a “broken” English language. She discloses that between her mother, the outside world, and herself, only three languages exist: “broken” English (as her mother speaks to her), “simple” (as she speaks to her mother), and “watered down” (as she translates her mother’s tangled up broken English to
“Amy Tan: Mother Tongue” In Amy Tan’s essay ¨Mother Tongue¨(1990), Amy Tan, a Chinese American Author, asserts that all languages are very significant. Ms. Tan explains her idea by praising her mother´s broken English, and sharing personal stories and conversation between her Mother and her husband The purpose of of praising the broken English is make her book easier to read and have the people who have mixed Englishes understand her life story. Her audience is the many people who speak broken English and people that understand her writing. The tone of the story was very solemn and hopeful because of the mixed Englishes to tell her story.
The effect was intentional because Tan included the whole quote to really cement the fact that Mrs.Tan spoke English, but not well. At the same time, it allows Tan’s audience to understand what her mother said and how absurd it is to deem her as
Tan puts many her life experiences as evidence to persuasive readers that just because someone can’t speak perfect english doesn’t mean this person is unintelligent. In the ending, she impresses readers by pointing out her mother tongue teaches her the goal of writing which is to reach the depth of one’s heart. For readers, it is easy to feel Tan’s love and appreciation to her mom from her severe language and casual tone. As for Tan herself, a good book is the one that her mom regards as “So easy to read”(314 Tan’ mom), because she believes her mother tongue will lead her to know her mom’s world
Divided by Speech James Baldwin uses this essay to address a divide taking place in our country. Not by our appearance, nor by our beliefs. The divide that is taking place in our country is by our speech, our slang, and as well as our culture. A thin line exists between every language.
In her writing, Tan often describes her experiences as the child of Chinese immigrants, growing up in northern California and living in American culture. Tan explains how she has learned to embrace the many Englishes her mother speaks and how her background has also caused her to have different Englishes. While others classify her mother's English as "broken" she finds no fault in it. In Tan's view, just because something is broken does not necessarily mean that it is in need of fixing. In her essay, author Amy Tan addresses the connections between languages and cultures in describing the different Englishes her mother uses.
By engaging the reader in her conversation she was able to put the audience the shoes of the people who was not able to speak perfect English and that makes people who spoke broken English more
Out of Breath Becoming accustomed to a new language is difficult, especially when it is not one’s primary language. Amy Tan, the author of “Mother Tongue” went through this same situation. Tan’s mother had a hard time with the way she spoke English because no one seemed to understand what she wanted to convey. Amy Tan uses her story as a way to let the audience know about how language can lead people to be prejudice, connect people, change perception and open new doors in life.
Rhetorical Analysis on Anzaldua’s How to Tame a Wild Tongue The passage How to Tame a Wild Tongue is a very defensive and straightforward argumentative essay which defends her language and the people who speak it against the discrimination that the author herself has experienced first hand (Ethos). From this text we can infer that the author is most likely from hispanic descent as she is speaking spanish a lot of the time throughout the text. This text mainly speaks about the discrimination many Mexican-Americans suffer because they are spanish speaking.
The power of language We all have some form of language limitations, no matter where we come from and what our background is. “Mother tongue” by Amy Tan and “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” by Gloria Anzaldua both share similar themes in their stories that demonstrate how they both deal with how different forms of the same language are portrayed in society. In both stories they speak about what society declares the right way of speech and having to face prejudgment, the two authors share their personal experiences of how they’ve dealt with it.
Novelist , Amy Tan, the author of “mother Tongue”, illustrate the problems every immigration family faces in their life due to their ‘broken English’. As immigration herself, she gave us the real-life story about her mom and herself which make the readers to consider the culture racism. Amy Tan states different Englishes that she uses in her life to imply that there is no right type of enlist, therefore there should be no prejudice. Amy tan begins her essay by emphasize her identity as a writer.
Rhetorical Precis #4: “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan Amy Tan’s purpose in her article “Mother Tongue” is to show the influence of her mother’s style of english. She also relates this to a more broad topic of the idea that there are many different types of english that people speak that are tailored to whoever they are speaking to. She begins this piece by stating plainly that she is not an english scholar. Instead of decreasing her credibility it actually increases it and paints this piece as a more personal set of observations rather than a bland overview of the entire language.
After reading Mother Tongue by Amy Tan, my perspective changed about the struggles for people who are not as good at English. All throughout this article Tan uses personal experience from her mom to show the readers the struggle while also using primary sources to back up her claim. All the evidence backs up her initial claim and as the reader your perspective changes after reading about how she personally was effected. The author 's main claim of Mother Tongue is to persuade people so respect people who struggle with English because she has serval personal connections, she has fact based proof, and she is an experienced writer on this topic and in general. All throughout the reading she uses many personal stories and personal experiences on how difficult it was for her mother to go through her everyday life.
Those two represent the Western-American language. This supports Amy 's goal of showing us that her mother was intelligent even with her speaking
This quote from the narrative showed the author 's realization of the difference in the way that she speaks in different environments. Later Amy grasped that she uses the same type of English with her husband, but she comprehended that it was the language of family talk or the language she grew up with. Tan starts to tell her mother 's story about the gangster that wanted her mother family to adopt him. She states, "You should know that my mother 's expressive command of English belies how much she actually understands" (Tan 1). This part of the narrative inserts that her mother knew what she was talking about even though she spoke improper English.