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Journal Analysis of Mother Tongue by Amy Tan...

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Krystal Williams Journal Analysis Mother Tongue By: Amy Tan The context of this essay is Amy Tan’s own personal experience with growing up with a mother whose English is considered “broken” or “fractured” and how it affected her life. Growing up, Tan struggled with feelings like being ashamed of her mother. At one point in the essay she writes, “I was ashamed of her English. I believed her English effected the quality of what she had to say. That is, because she expressed them imperfectly, her thoughts were imperfect.” (P. 21-22). I believe Tan’s purpose for this essay is to inform her readers of the challenges posed by being raised by immigrants with language barriers. She crafts her essay in a conversational style and uses subjective and reflective tones. What I have learned from my early analysis of this piece is the diverse ways this article can be construed. When I first read this piece, I had originally believed it to be only about judging a book by its cover. But after reading this piece and analyzing it more closely, I now understand that it is also about the problems a daughter struggled with, growing up around a mother with language barrier issues. And how she has dealt with those issues. I am having trouble with this second question. But I am going to answer it as best as I can. A close analysis of the author’s claim and the structure of the writing helped me learn more about this reading because of the way she breaks down her memories and feeling in each section. In the beginning of the essay she describes a time when she was giving a talk to a large group of people while her mother was in the audience. She says, “It was perhaps the first time she had ever heard me give a lengthy speech, using the kind of English I had never used with her.”(P. 20) That is

when I knew this essay was more about the different languages used between the mother and daughter. In the second section titled “Language Barriers” she goes on to describe parts of her childhood and the feelings of shame she felt about her mother a one point. She also described the way her mother was treated because of her language issues. And in the last section titled “Blending Old and New” I feel like she goes on to tell about how she overcame those issues by using her skills as a writer to author stories for people like her mother. She says, “I began to write stories using all the Englishes I grew up with: the English I spoke to my mother, which for lack of a better term might be described as "simple"; the English she used with me, which for lack of a better term might be described as "broken"; my translation of her Chinese, which could certainly be described as "watered down"; and what I imagined to be her translation of her Chinese if she could speak in perfect English, her internal language, and for that I sought to preserve the essence, but neither an English nor a Chinese structure. I wanted to capture what language ability tests could never reveal: her intent, her passion, her imagery, the rhythms of her speech and the nature of her thoughts.”(P.23) I do believe that the author’s writing was effective in achieving her purpose because she used informative writing to educate her readers about the issues many immigrants have using English in this country. But she also used expressive writing by using her own personal and emotional experiences she had growing up with a mother who has language barrier issues. She was effective her purpose because of the way she broke down her story in groups. She opens the first group by telling her intended readers a little bit about her career and how she has always been fascinated with language. She also brings her mother in by telling her readers about the kind of English she uses with her. In the next group, she incorporates a little bit of her back story by telling her readers about a time she had to make phone calls pretending to be her mother and how

her mother was sometimes treated because of her “fractured” English. And in the last group, she explains how she was able figure out a way to get passed all the issues she had by drafting stories for people like her mother. People that have language barrier issues....