Mother Tongue Text Analysis

The world is connected through a variety of languages and cultures. There are 7 continents on Earth. Each is broken into countries, states, cities, and regions. Each differs from each other in multiple ways. In the united states alone is made up of 50 states, all culturally different. Although all the millions of people who live in the United States are all interrelated due to the fact that we all live in the same country, but we all differ in the language we speak and our culture. Text such as The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang, “Studying Islam” by Peter Berkowitz and Michael McFaul, and “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan, explore the idea that language and culture shape and give individuals their identity. No two …show more content…
In the book American Born Chinese, Jin Wang lost touch with his identity and became someone he himself could not recognize. He left who he was and the only cultural he knew to fit in with his surroundings. Another book that connects to the ideas of identity and culture is The Joy Luck Club. The book is made up of stories from the perspective of several mother’s and their four daughters Waverly, Jing-mei, Lena, and Rose . Each section is from another point of view. The daughters throughout the book talk about the difficulties they faced in their life growing up in American culture as well as their Chinese background. Growing up as American and facing their adulthood, they faced trouble in their marriages and careers , their mother’s traditions and superstitions for their problems did not coincide with their American life. As adults each daughter had to go back to the traditions from their mothers generation. Each had to talk to the elders at the Joy Luck Club and find themselves again because they had lost touch with their identities as they were growing up in an American society. Both American Born Chinese and The Joy Luck Club connect on many topics. The main topic they both connect on is losing one's identity to conform to another culture but then finding oneself once again. In American Born Chinese Jin Wang wanted so desperately to become white and in the process completely lost touch with who he was and bacem someone he wasn't. It was not until his cousin Chin-Kee/ the monkey king makes him realize who he truly was. In the The Joy Luck Club the daughters also lost touch with their roots and had to go back to the elders at the club and reconnect with who they were. Both authors would agree on the terms that losing touch with one's culture and identity will never last too long. Sooner or later the need to find exactly who you are will be a