Mother Tongue

identity is heightened through the varying levels of intimacy in her tone to ultimately mirror the fluctuating reverence and admiration that she has for her mother. Though unaddressed, it is implied through the absence of “we” that there is a prevalent cultural divide between Tan and her mother. Tan speaks to daughters of immigrant mothers in, Mother Tongue, as she analyzes the limits of being culturally and linguistically authentic in a society where the “standard English” is the accepted norm.…

Society discriminates those who are deemed “different”, thus, society discriminates immigrants. In her essay “Mother Tongue”, Amy Tan shares her and her mother’s personal experiences with discrimination after moving to the United States from China. She believes that immigrants who cannot speak perfect English are unfairly judged. Non-immigrants need to understand the hardships that are faced by people who move to different countries. Speaking about discrimination, Tan utilizes parallelism,…

In “Mother Tongue” Amy Tan discusses the differences in English among different cultural backgrounds. In Tan’s article she focuses on how people are narrow minded towards those of different culture and language backgrounds. She does not criticize nor correct others language. Tan says, “I am not a scholar of English or literature. I cannot give you much more than personal opinions on the English language and its variations in this country or others.” Tan argues that it is not about the whether…

Her mother actualized that her English is limited that’s why she let her daughter Amy response to her calls and pretend to be Mrs. Tan. One day Mrs. Tan get a call from stockbroker in New York that he will send to her cash from her small portfolio they were going to New York the next week but they did not get the money yet so Amy call them and pretend to be he mother because her English was perfectly, her mother was standing in the back and said in a weak voice…

Five-day-old male accompanied by his mother and his father. Parents are the primary historians and they are deemed reliable. Chief Complaint: First check up after discharge from the hospital. History of Present Illness: This is a 5-day-old male presenting to the office for first checkup following discharge from the hospital 3 days ago. Parents report that baby is breastfed every 2-3 hours. Mom reports that baby is latching with no difficulties, feeding last about 20 to 45 minutes. During the…

“a melting pot.” However, it is typical of Americans to marginalize those who have not yet assimilated to American ways and customs. In the case of Amy Tan, her mother was affected by her inability to speak English as coherently as others. Her “broken English,” as Tan calls it, caused her to be treated unfairly in society. In “Mother Tongue,” Amy Tan discusses this phenomenon in American culture, and uses stories from her own life to develop a unique stance on the issue. Through the lens of…

In The Mother Tongue, author Bill Bryson asks a variety of questions about English. These questions range from wondering about how we can be overwhelmed and underwhelmed but not whelmed with to why colonel is pronounced with an r when one does not exist in the word.The overall purpose of Bill Bryson’s book is to determine why English is the way it is today. Bill Bryson dives into the history and evolution of English through the appeals of ethos, pathos, and logos, the best example starting with…

spoke in perfect English — lo and behold — we had assurances the CAT scan would be found, promises that a conference call on Monday would be held, and apologies for any suffering my mother had gone through for a most regrettable mistake” (2). This is important because, the article clearly demonstrate how Tans mother wasn’t able to access her information from the hospital without the help of her daughter Tan due to the fact that she had a limited amount of English to express herself on a high…

What would be your first reaction if you found a singing girl in the middle of a campsite with a human tongue necklace? The singing girl’s name is Mary Anne, and she was a straight- out-of-high-school student who went to go visit her boyfriend during war. She became very intrigued with the war which lead her to participate like a soldier. The things that Mary Anne saw taking place in the war transformed her into a killer, and during the war gender was irrelevant so Mary anne blended in like the…

I woke up to the irritating ring of my alarm, the smell of French toast lingering through the air, and the feeling of a spider crawling up my arm. It started out like any other day, but little did I know that this day was going to be a day to remember. I woke up early that day so that I could get revenge on my sisters and make them feel an icy cold shower while I felt the heat of a hot shower. The shower, however, was freezing because my sisters had the same idea as me. The shower that day was…