'Mother Tongue' By Amy Tan

Influence is the prime factor in the way choices are made. Things like past experiences, self relevance, and cognitive biases build up the influence in decisions. In “Abuela Invents the Zero” by Judith Ortiz-Cofer, Constancia makes a number of decisions that are influenced by cognitive biases, self-relevance, and past experiences. The text specifies this by saying, "I 'm so embarrassed that even though the woman next to me is shooting daggers at me with her eyes, I just can 't move to go get her" (Ortiz-Cofer para 14). Constancia and her grandmother were sitting in church and were being judged by the woman sitting next to them for the way Abuela was acting.

Racial stigmas and stereotypes have negative effects on a multitude of ethnic groups. Across our nation, members of numerous races experience difficulties surrounding their identity and inability to refine their English dialects. Anna Marie Quindlen, an American author, journalist, and New York Times columnist, once said, “Ethnic stereotypes are misshapen pearls, sometimes with a sandy grain of truth at their center... but they ignore complexity, change, and individuality”. Quindlen’s viewpoint is skillfully displayed in “Mother Tongue”, a first person narration by an Asian-American woman, Amy Tan.

One relationship that emphasized the fluctuation of loyalty is the connection between mother and daughter. This relationship is closely shined upon as the dominant figures, such as men, are decrease and eliminated from the lives of the women. Morrison has created several instances where there is a conflict between Hannah and Sula in order to emphasize the central theme of loyalty by demonstrating the selflessness mothers possess to provide for their children. While creating a complication between mother and daughter, Morrison also fulfilled the problematic trust that is displayed within the friendship of Sula and Nel. This relationship was used in order to display the everlasting loyalty that true friendships hold.

Sam Xiang Professor Luis Orozco English 28 18 June 2015 Intimacy family language In the short essay "Mother Tongue" by author Amy Tan she writes about her struggle with her mother's broken English. Amy compares her English to her mother's english. Tan describes their language as the language of intimacy because they understand each other.

In her autobiography, Neisei Daughter, Monica Sone shares her journey and struggles of growing up, a task made more difficult as she faced racial and gender discrimination. Over the course of the novel she becomes aware of her unique identity and goes from resenting it, to accepting and appreciating her identity. At the age of six, Sone became aware of the fact that she was different, “I made the shocking discovery that I had Japanese blood. I was a Japanese (p. 3).”

My Rhetorical Analysis Language is a part one’s identity and culture, which allows one to communicate with those of the same group, although when spoken to someone of another group, it can cause a language barrier or miscommunication in many different ways. In Gloria Anzaldua’s article, “How to Tame a Wild Tongue”, which was taken from her book Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza, she is trying to inform her readers that her language is what defines her. She began to mention how she was being criticized by both English and Spanish Speakers, although they both make up who she is as a person. Then, she gave convincing personal experiences about how it was to be a Chicana and their different types of languages. Moreover, despite the fact that her language was considered illegitimate, Anzaldua made it clear that she cannot get rid of it until the day she dies, or as she states (on page 26) “Wild tongues can’t be, they can only be cut out.”

If she were to change her point of view or look at it from another angle, she might have seen books as a door to opportunities and other possibilities. Nevertheless her close mindedness is what pushed her kids away, caused the death of her husband, and left her living alone. Moreover, Jenny, throughout the majority of the story gives the reader the ability to sense that she is scared. This fear is what caused her life and most of the people that are in it to take an unfortunate turn, which is what makes her such a powerful character. When one reads the story "The Boat" from the portrayal of the mother through the narrator.

Throughout the article, Tan uses a number of personal examples to show and support her point. These examples span from phone conversations and hospital visits to standardized tests. By using examples that cover a wide variety of topics, Tan is able to demonstrate the large effect that her mother’s style of english had and how it was woven into her whole life and not just a part of it. Particularly in the hospital example, Tan also brings in the stereotyping of people who speak “broken” english as not being very smart. In bringing this issue that is at the very root of our society, she darkens the tone to melancholy.

By providing Mrs. Tan’s speech, Tan demonstrates to her readers how her mother’s English is not perfect in a grammatical sense, but it is understandable. The audience gets the impression that Tan’s mother speaks in “broken” English, but it is understandable at what is she trying to say. As well as having a greater understanding on how Tan felt angry when some people labeled Mrs. Tan unworthy to listen to because she had difficulty speaking English.

Learning on how people treat newcomers and learning the different ways they can solve that type of problems like the doctor who treated Tan’s mom differently because of her broken language. Tna had to learn how to speak proper english to help her mom get the help she

In amy tan’s “ fish cheeks “, Tan’s uses a motif to express her main message. The motif that is carried throughout the story is culture and a message she ties into that is that always keep culture close to who you are. In the short story tan tells us something she learned from her mom was if you are “want[ing] to be the same as american on the outside… but [on the] inside you must always be chinese.” ( tan 7 ) tan tells us this because she wants us to realize that it doesn't matter who or what we are; meaning if we are wanting to be american great but keep your culture close to and apart of you.

After reading Mother Tongue by Amy Tan, what stood out to me the most was how Amy would always do her best to help her mother. From making a phone call and speaking to health professionals, she did the best she could to help her mother get out of uncomfortable and frustrating situations. This was a personal essay because Amy Tan used a personal experience involving her life and her mother's life. Tan used ethos, logos, and pathos in her essay. She used ethos because she was identifying herself to the reader.