In Amy Tan’s essay, Mother Tongue, Tan discusses her struggles growing up as an Asian-American born to Chinese immigrants. She examines certain aspects of the language she speaks and writes, against the language her mother speaks and writes. Amy has a keen grip on “proper” English, most likely due to her being raised in America. Alternatively, Tan’s mother speaks in fragments of English due to her being an immigrant who fled China’s Cultural Revolution (Amy, 1990). Tan realises her different “Englishes” when she was giving a public lecture about her book, The Joy Luck Club, she states how she had given this talk to “half a dozen other groups” (Amy, 1990) and that she suddenly realised one major difference in this group, a difference which put
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She noticed the struggle those who have a native tongue other than english have in America, they are generally viewed as less intelligent. Along with this, they also get pushed throughout school to focus on things such as math and sciences and farther away from English and literature, which leads to the majority of them primarily being into jobs such as engineering and sciences. Tan later describes how she was “rebellious” against this forcing in school and studied language in college (leading to her becoming a nonfiction writer), and that she was fortunate to do what she wanted to do, instead of what was easiest. By doing this, Tan gained a better grip on the English language, and a broader aspect of the world and society.
Amy Tan’s essay, Mother Tongue, explicitly states various factors leading into her personal struggle of being an Asian-American born to Chinese immigrants in america, and the struggle she noticed her mom having while she was growing up. In Tan’s essay, she conveys the importance of understanding other people and their situation and to not judge upon someone’s way of speaking, because there is more to a person than their level of
She noticed the struggle those who have a native tongue other than english have in America, they are generally viewed as less intelligent. Along with this, they also get pushed throughout school to focus on things such as math and sciences and farther away from English and literature, which leads to the majority of them primarily being into jobs such as engineering and sciences. Tan later describes how she was “rebellious” against this forcing in school and studied language in college (leading to her becoming a nonfiction writer), and that she was fortunate to do what she wanted to do, instead of what was easiest. By doing this, Tan gained a better grip on the English language, and a broader aspect of the world and society.
Amy Tan’s essay, Mother Tongue, explicitly states various factors leading into her personal struggle of being an Asian-American born to Chinese immigrants in america, and the struggle she noticed her mom having while she was growing up. In Tan’s essay, she conveys the importance of understanding other people and their situation and to not judge upon someone’s way of speaking, because there is more to a person than their level of