—Anonymous
I think great English work can relate to our daily life experience. “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan, tells a story about Tan and her mother. The essay relates the differences and conflict between Chinese and American cultures. She uses her own way, which is writing to make a bridge between these two cultures, because she thinks that language has power that we can’t imagine. In fact, Tan wants to break the stereotype that Asian people can’t do well in the liberal arts but do well in math and science. She enjoys writing papers to share ideas with readers.
Also Amy Tan gives details of her experiences with her mother, particularly about her mother’s use of English. In her essay, Amy Tan mentions her mother’s “limited English.” Even though Tan speaks English well, she was always able to know what her mother meant when she spoken “broken” English. One of example is between her mother and her mother’s stockbroker. Sometimes, Tan knows that her mother’s English is not easily understood by others, because she doesn’t speak perfect English. Her mother said “Why he doesn’t send me check, already two weeks late. So mad he lies to me, losing me money.”Then, Tan answers her in Standard English. We can see that her mother always get in troubles with her “broken” English. Despite this, she even shouts at her stockbroker, but she doesn’t realize that her English is hard for others to make sense. This event exemplifies that her stockbroker is an American who is not respecting her mother. This kind of experience apply to a lot of of Chinese Immigrant, a lot of time Chinese do not speak clear English and most of time Americans do not show any respect to the Chinese immigrant.
I think “Mother Tongue” is great work because Tan’s use of archetype, satire, and dialogue, she demonstrates that language has power and you can use this power to express your feelings and experiences to others.
