Professor Cantice Greene
September 10, 2012
Amy Tan’s
narrative essay “Mother Tongue” (1990) Tan informs her audience that although a
person can come from a home that does not speak the accepted language, their
learning capabilities to improve their grammar skills are not limited. Tan
writes about how she spoke in many “different Englishes” in situations to
appeal to the appropriate audience whether it was around family or outside the home.
In order to prove that English connects to identity and is a crucial issue for
adolescent growth, Tan brought her audience back in time to her upbringing
where showed examples of how her mother spoke and how she translated it the
correct way of speaking. Tan’s intended audience is her mother as well as all
first generation-Americans with emigrant parents.
I
understand where Amy Tan is coming from in her story and how difficult change
can be for people who are unfamiliar with a countries language. It’s not easy
being misunderstood by your peers and having to translate for your parents. I
sympathize for her having to deal with that responsibility as a child and
having to see her mother go through some of the trials she endured being
misunderstood. She also had to juggle her personal life and professional life
as to how she spoke in public verses how she would hold a conversation with her
mother or husband.
I
felt that the meaning of this story was to get the audience to better
understand Amy and the difference in her lifestyle. She would tell about
certain situations that would happen to her mother and how she would have to
defend or speak for her. One incident occurred when her mother did not receive
her pay check. Her mother called the company about the issue but they weren’t
able to understand what she was saying so Amy had to speak for her. I can only
imagine having to do something like that. Amy developed a system for her use of
language and she was able to turn it off and on depending on her surroundings.
This helped her adjust to life and still manage to communicate with her mother.
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