Topic > Amy Tan's "Mother Tongue" Evaluation and Perspectives on Language

In the essay "Mother Tongue" published in the American Literacy Journal, Amy Tan goes on to highlight the identity struggles and expectations of American and Asian society, through its two linguistic worlds. He proves his point through his mother's perspective, as well as through his own life experiences while growing up. Overall, I think his point is valid and clear through his examples which will be analyzed in this essay. To begin with, Tan's two universes experience the negative effects of a linguistic conflict, which hinders his awareness of his own identity. His first world, which revolves around his Chinese-speaking mother, involves speaking “broken, flawless English” so they can communicate better with each other. Spoken English is the definition of simple and easy. Throughout this world, Tan feels uncomfortable with the English that flows between her mother's teeth, to the point that she believes it "almost had the effect of limiting her possibilities." From stories of her visiting the department store, or the stockbroker, even simply talking to her daughter's friends, Tan's mother's English is and will always be broken to others. However for Tan herself, “her mother's English becomes perfectly clear and natural,” which helps her “make sense of the word,” thus encouraging her discovery to identify the primary language. He discovers that his “mother tongue” will constantly have an alternative social methodology in this private world. On the other hand, in the professional and formal world, Tan is an ideal English scholar. Being able to speak grammatically and formally well, Tan's identity of perfect English is clearer than his world that revolves around “limited English”. Consequently, the movement between these two universes with various dialects, has the effects on the very character of Tan's language. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get Original Essay Additionally, Tan says she is judged by society of both American and Asian populations, she places an equivalent measure of weight on the recognition of her language. As an English graduate with Chinese heritage, American expectations and stereotypical views of Asians prey on her life like a pride of lions hunting for food. Even in high school, her teachers wanted her to study math or science rather than anything else, further proving that what was expected of her was something completely different from her own expectations. This huge stereotype that Asians are more associated with math and science, rather than anything from the English realm, plays a major role in how identities diminish over the life course of any educated individual whose first language is not English. He also highlights the fact that English tests require more evaluation of one's point of view, while mathematics is simple and exact with only one right answer. However, Tan didn't let this stop her while growing up and pursued a major in English, even though her worst skill, writing, was a big part of her career. Furthermore, even in her mother's normal daily existence, the heaviness of judgment is high and from time to time people, because her English is not the expected perfect language in the eyes of the public, would ignore her or take what she said as a joke. . Finally, because of her native language, it is evident, directly and implicitly, that ethnicity clouds society's judgment of Tan and her mother. Please note: this is just an example..