Tiger moms, as they are called in America, are typically mothers of Asian descent who hound their children into prioritizing music and academic success rather than athletics and theatrical performance. Amy Chua—Yale Law School professor and author of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother—exemplifies this in her op-ed excerpt entitled “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior.” Chua argues that because of strict parenting methods, an Eastern parenting style is superior to the more relaxed Western style. She does this through use of many rhetorical techniques, of which some help her argument while others hinder it. By utilizing an organization built upon juxtaposition, Chia presents an I-am-right-you-are-wrong attitude as she relays conflicting personal stories
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Chua uses an aggressive attitude through the length of the article to make an impact on the reader, a weak tone and attitude would have left the reader unimpressed and without memory of the argument itself. Chua starts off the excerpt with a forceful tone that grabs the reader’s attention, “a lot of people wonder how Chinese parents raise such stereotypically successful kids”…”well I can tell them, because I’ve done it” (1.) This technique makes her argument more believable because of its emphasis on a strong point of the assertion, which also makes the argument more reputable. Likewise, when Chua tells the story of teaching her daughter Lulu a new piano piece, she mentions how her husband believed she was insulting her daughter, “he told me to stop insulting Lulu—which I wasn’t even doing” (7.) The demanding attitude persuades the audience to be on her side, instead of her husbands. In addition, the strong and sarcastic tone Chua used allows her argument to be better understood and more clearly defined. Besides tone and organization, the use of anecdotal evidence, if used correctly, can dramatically change the influence of an argument, as well as the specific audience it …show more content…
Using anecdotal evidence—personal stories that are designed to strengthen an argument—is highly beneficial to an author if used in the correct way. Unfortunately, Chua uses the evidence as a way to give factual evidence, though it is based off of a story, which consists of opinions. Chua uses the story of teaching her daughter a new piano piece, and after hours and hours of trying, Lulu, could still not get it down. Chua forced her to stay awake through the night with no breaks in order to accomplish the task. Lulu showed frustration by destroying the music and throwing a fit, but still nothing worked. In the end she did end up mastering the piece, but not without hours of agony and chaos. The end result could have been achieved in a much more desirable way for Lulu and Chua. The sole focus on Chua’s family and no other Chinese families lowers the impact of the argument substantially, as it will not be believed by readers. Similarly, Chua uses her point of view only when using anecdotal evidence which leaves the reader with a one sided view of the argument which cannot be believed. Attitude, anecdotal evidence and organization are all techniques to use when proving an argument, but it is how they are used that determines the quality of that
Chua uses an aggressive attitude through the length of the article to make an impact on the reader, a weak tone and attitude would have left the reader unimpressed and without memory of the argument itself. Chua starts off the excerpt with a forceful tone that grabs the reader’s attention, “a lot of people wonder how Chinese parents raise such stereotypically successful kids”…”well I can tell them, because I’ve done it” (1.) This technique makes her argument more believable because of its emphasis on a strong point of the assertion, which also makes the argument more reputable. Likewise, when Chua tells the story of teaching her daughter Lulu a new piano piece, she mentions how her husband believed she was insulting her daughter, “he told me to stop insulting Lulu—which I wasn’t even doing” (7.) The demanding attitude persuades the audience to be on her side, instead of her husbands. In addition, the strong and sarcastic tone Chua used allows her argument to be better understood and more clearly defined. Besides tone and organization, the use of anecdotal evidence, if used correctly, can dramatically change the influence of an argument, as well as the specific audience it …show more content…
Using anecdotal evidence—personal stories that are designed to strengthen an argument—is highly beneficial to an author if used in the correct way. Unfortunately, Chua uses the evidence as a way to give factual evidence, though it is based off of a story, which consists of opinions. Chua uses the story of teaching her daughter a new piano piece, and after hours and hours of trying, Lulu, could still not get it down. Chua forced her to stay awake through the night with no breaks in order to accomplish the task. Lulu showed frustration by destroying the music and throwing a fit, but still nothing worked. In the end she did end up mastering the piece, but not without hours of agony and chaos. The end result could have been achieved in a much more desirable way for Lulu and Chua. The sole focus on Chua’s family and no other Chinese families lowers the impact of the argument substantially, as it will not be believed by readers. Similarly, Chua uses her point of view only when using anecdotal evidence which leaves the reader with a one sided view of the argument which cannot be believed. Attitude, anecdotal evidence and organization are all techniques to use when proving an argument, but it is how they are used that determines the quality of that