Amy Tan

shaping who you are and who you’ll be; it determines your true identity. Authors Amy Tan, Putsata Reang, and Sherman Alexie all implemented clear descriptions of their personal relationships with their parents. Despite how complex their relationships might have been, these authors tell us how their relationships with their parents did indeed shape them into becoming the individuals they are in present day. Amy Tan would not be the individual she is today if she did not face the obstacles that…

People are often left to wonder how much control they have over the events and circumstances in their own lives. The extent to which they can control their lives is massively varied from situation to situation. The short story, ”Two Kinds,” by Amy Tan, the book, The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas, and the short story,”The Pedestrian,” by Ray Bradbury, all demonstrate different instances in which the lives of their characters have varying amounts of control over their lives. The…

Tan describes how her mother insisted that “she had spoken very good English, her best English, no mistakes. Still, she said, the hospital did not apologize when they said they had lost the CAT scan and she had come for nothing.”(Tan). Like the narrator in Tan’s essay, I had to jump in and help my mother solve a problem by speaking English. While the problems we were…

In literature, a literary device known as symbolism is used to convey an idea about a subject, person, or place. In the works of Amy Tan and Julia Alvarez, symbolism is influential throughout their stories. The story of ¡Yo! is a great example of how well Alvarez converts the symbol of a haunting folklore to a real-life terror. Although the story of ¡Yo! takes place in the United States, it tells the story of a family that escapes from The Dominican Republic during the time of a terrifying wave…

Language is the key to communication. Language represents words, whether it is writing or speaking. On the other hand, communication is all about the message. “Mother tongue”, an essay written by Amy tan, “explores ‘all the Englishes’ that are part of her identity”. The story focuses on the prejudices of Tan and her mother and the limitations that imperfect English can impose on society and the richness that such English could bring into writing. Which scrutinizes…

Amy Tan a well-known English author, grew up experiencing language barriers. In her article “Mother Tongue”, Tan shows that English, like other languages is a form of expression and communication, and that “it can evoke an emotion, a visual image, a complex idea, [and] a simple truth.” Language according to Tan, ties to one’s culture and identity. Tan’s dialect ties to her Chinese American heritage – the “broken” English that her and her mother spoke in private setting, is what shapes how Tan…

Parents seem like they always push their kids to do something that they don’t want to do. Have you ever wondered why parents often force their children to do things they don’t want to do? “You want me to be someone that I’m not” (Tan 231). “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan. The conflict in the story was that Jing-mei’s mother wanted her to be a prodigy but she didn’t want to listen to her mother. After a careful analysis of the story, the reader understands how Jing-mei’s feelings toward her mother changed…

Amy Tan’s talk, Where Does Creativity Hide? was interesting. She talks about her process of creativity. There were some elements that I could identify with and others that I found conflicting to my beliefs of creativity. The first thing that I identify with in Tan’s speech was when she said, “…one of the principals of creativity is to have a little childhood trauma”. I too, had traumas growing up as many do. My mother was diagnosed with MS when she was pregnant with me and I had a brother die…

Form/type of writing: Mother Tongue is an narrative, Amy Tan talk about the experience she learn growing up in an immigrant household and her realization that those experience make us who we are. The goal of this narrative is to addresses the substance of languages and how language is not only a tool of communication, but a sociological tool of measuring individual worth. Main focus (topic) of the text: The main focus of this narrative is to show the importance of language and and the idea that…

Cultural and historical understanding can easily be lost between generations as time goes on. The Joy Luck Club is a novel written by Amy Tan about the stories of Chinese-American mothers and daughters who have many misunderstandings throughout their lives. The mothers having very different childhoods, opportunities and struggles than their daughters, causes this. Changes in language, culture, and lack of communication leads to many misunderstandings between characters in the story.…