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  • Essay / Assessment of Amy Tan's "Mother Tongue" and Perspectives on Language

    In the essay "Mother Tongue" published in the Journal of American Literacy, Amy Tan goes on to highlight the identity struggles and expectations of American and Asian society, through its two linguistic worlds. She demonstrates her point of view through her mother's perspective, as well as through her own life experiences growing up. Overall, I believe his argument is valid and clear through his examples which will be analyzed in this essay. To begin with, Tan's two worlds are adversely affected by a linguistic conflict, which prevents him from realizing his identity. Her first world, which revolves around her Chinese-speaking mother, involves speaking “impeccably broken English” to be able to communicate better with each other. Spoken English is the definition of simple and easy. In all this world, Tan makes a point of feeling uncomfortable with the English that flow through her mother's teeth, to the point that she feels that it "almost had the effect of limiting her possibilities ". Whether it's stories of her visiting department stores or the stockbroker, or even simple conversations with her daughter's friends, Tan's mother's English is and always will be broken with the others. However, for Tan herself, "her mother's English becomes perfectly clear and natural", which helps her "make sense of the word", thus encouraging her discovery of identifying the main language. She discovers that her “mother tongue” will always have an alternative social methodology in this private world. In contrast, in the professional and formal world, Tan is an ideal English scholar. With his ability to speak well grammatically and formally, Tan's perfect English identity is clearer than his world which revolves around "limited English". Therefore, moving between these two universes with different dialects has effects on the specific character of Tan's language. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay Furthermore, Tan expresses being judged by society of the American and Asian populations, and gives equivalent measure to its recognition of its language. Being an English student of Chinese descent, American expectations and stereotypical views of Asians attack her life like a pack of lions searching for food. Even in high school, her teachers wanted her to pursue math or science over anything else, demonstrating that what was expected of her was completely different from her own expectations. This massive stereotype that Asians are associated more with math and science, rather than anything English, plays a major role in how identities diminish throughout the life of any cultured individual whose native language is not English. She also points out that English tests require more assessment from one's own perspective, whereas mathematics is simple and exact with only one correct answer. Nonetheless, Tan didn't let this stop him growing up and continued his studies in English, even though his worst skill, writing, made up a large part of his career. Additionally, even in her mother's daily life, the heaviness of judgment is high, and from time to time, because her English is not the perfect language expected in the public eye, would ignore her or take what she communicated like a joke. Finally, due to her native language, it is evident, directly and implicitly, that ethnicity influences society's judgment of Tan and her mother. Keep.