Amy Tan Mother Tongue Analysis

Amy Tan Mother Tongue Analysis

Novelist and essayist, Amy Tan, in her essay, "Mother Tongue", emphasizes the hardships faced by those who speak with limited English. Tan strives to broaden awareness of the damaging stereotypes thrown upon those with limited English, creating a personal and reflective tone that develops her attitude toward her mother. Tan uses connotative diction to develop her attitudes towards her mother. As a child, Tan was "ashamed" of her mother's English. But as she grew, she came to the realization that she, in fact, uses the same English her own mother uses. Her relationship with her mother strained due to the boundaries of language. Tan's mother's "broken" English causes tension and resentment from daughter to mother. Tan's "regrettable" experiences, helping her mother with phone calls and appointments, led her to have a negative attitude towards her mother at an early age. As Tan grew up she realized the injustices found in the world, especially those directed at "broken" English. Her perception of her mother changes as she ages. When she is older, she is "conscious" of the struggles her mother faces. She exudes all respect to her mother, for her mother's English was the most familiar "rhythm" she has ever come to know. Tan also uses oxymora to develop her attitudes in her mother/daughter relationship. Tan sees that her mother's speech is "Impeccably broken,". To be impeccable is to be of the highest standards. To be impeccable is to be faultless; flawless. Tan views her mother's English to be so flawlessly broken that no one can fix it. This one oxymoron contributes to the entire piece, fitting in the crevices. Tan, at an early age, was ashamed of her mother's English, the sentence structure and simple word choice, because it was broken. The oxymora in this piece reflect the idea of the stereotypes drawn from society. Those who do not speak perfect English are not validated. For Tan's mother's speech was so flawlessly unfixable, that it was unable to be understood. A reader would think that those words are contradictory, that something flawless could not be broken or shattered, but indeed can. Because something so broken, can be so flawless because it's as broken as it can possibly be. Tan uses

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