"Mother Tongue"

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses and analyzes the essay, "Mother Tongue," by Amy Tan. The paper describes how the author uses rhetorical strategies to make her argument, while critiquing cultural standards. The paper states that Amy Tan writes of the different forms of English she uses in her life and illustrates the myriad ways that people express themselves, depending on their audience and their needs.

From the Paper:

"Throughout Amy Tan's essay, she compares the English she uses everyday, to the English she uses with family and close friends. She uses the English she has learned as a tool to express the stilted English that makes up her cultural memories and the words of her mother. She writes, "But to me, my mother's English is perfectly clear, perfectly natural. It's my mother tongue. Her language, as I hear it, is vivid, direct, full of observation and imagery. That was the language that helped shape the way I saw things, expressed things, made sense of the world" (Tan). Therefore, some of Tan's earliest memories include memories of her mother's stilted English, which is both comforting and cultural to her. She knows her mother's education and ideas are not stilted, but also recognizes that her limited way of speaking might make her appear "limited" or less than perfect to other listeners."

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