...2nd, 2012 Synthesis essay Today we live in a society that is often called a "salad bowl". It is called a "salad bowl" because it consists of various different people from various different backgrounds. We all live together in a society, but we still retain our own distinct flavors which helps to contribute to the richness and diversity of society. Unfortunately, today we also live in a society in which some of these groups are marginalized and looked down upon by others. Hence, often times as individuals we feel the need to compromise the way in which we communicate our ideas so that we can appeal to the views of the majority. Two authors explore how their attempt to compromise almost caused them to become detached from their roots. In "Mother Tongue," by Amy Tan, Tan talks about growing up as a young child in America and learning the English language. She speaks about growing up as a writer and her mother's imperfect diction which had a major influence on her. On the other hand, In her essay, "Censoring Myself," Betty Shamieh talks about being an American playwright and having to censor herself because of how her work was viewed. Both authors explore the influence that their background had on their ability to express themselves. As individuals we should not be afraid to express ourselves because of our differences, rather we should use our differences and show how our distinctions make us very unique. Firstly, In ""Mother Tongue," Tan talks about how her mother's...
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...American children are taught throughout their school years that the United States is a melting pot. The United States has residents from every country in the world. People are classified as Black, White, Asian, Hispanic and many other things whether it is politically correct or not. The many intersectionality’s or “hats” that people could have acquired through their lifetime are shown through Jeannine Capó Crucet’s essay “Taking My Parents to College”, Amy Tans “Mother Tongue”, and Sherman Alexie’s “Superman and Me.” Jeannine Capó Crucet is a first generation college student who was born in the US, to her Cuban born parents. She was born and raised in Miami, Florida in a low income family. (Crucet 1) These are all intersectionality’s that she sheds light on her essay “Taking My Parents to College”. Crucet has quite a few culture shocks when she starts her freshman year of college at Cornell University. She finds that she was raised differently than the other students. Other students were eager to say goodbye to their parents during the first week while she was hesitant to let them go. (Crucet 1) Jeannine finds herself without the...
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...Critical Analysis Essay I have chosen “Mother Tongue” for the subject of my essay. I chose this essay because Amy Tan has a unique writing style which has tone that is clear and identifiable. Tan makes her arguments in a way that is easily understood. While her tone is sometimes humorous and captivating, it still clarifies some serious issues. These qualities among others leave Tan’s work to be desired by almost any reader because her tone and style are both genuine and upfront. This essay will talk about how Tan’s work in her essay “Mother Tongue” uses several different styles and tones to make her point of regarding the differences of her communications with her mother and other people in her life. In a way, Tan’s story is about tone and style, in the sense that how you convey a message is just as important as the content of your statement. Tan’s essay examines the differences in how she communicates with her mother, and how she communicates with everyone else in her immediate environment. I find it interesting that you can find examples of her point right in the story. You can see that Tan focused her essay to be grammatically correct, and descriptive, so that the readers such as ourselves can interpret it. It’s clear that she considers this in the very beginning of the text where she states, “I spend a great deal of my time thinking about the power of language-the way it can evoke an emotion, a visual image, a complex idea, or a simple truth”(Tan 34). Tan examines how tone...
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...Breaking the Language Barrier Dawn Schwaeber FYS-102-DL2A: First Year Seminar Adjunct Professor Camille A. Kramer March 23, 2014 Abstract “The Mother Tongue” which was written in 1990 is a touching story of acceptance and appreciation written by Amy Tan, who is most famous for her novel “The Joy Luck Club”. I read over the story several times, and in doing so I realized what language, and interpretation of that language really is. This inspiring writing piece shows that it’s not just a mere combination of words and grammatical phrases thrown together to form sentences and even paragraphs, it’s really about conveying a message with passion and emotion. A message that might inspire an idea, an image or a resolution to a problem. Tan’s essay shows me that the language a person learns at home is not necessarily the normal language of the society. Despite the limitations her Mother’s broken English placed on her as a child, Tan has become a successful writer. This to me, is truly incredible and breaks the language barrier. The Mother Tongue Amy Tan is someone who has always been fascinated by language. In the beginning of her narrative essay “The Mother Tongue, which was published in 1990 she states that “I am fascinated by language in daily life. I spend a great deal of time thinking about the power of language. – the way it can evoke an emotion, a visual image, a complex idea, or the simple truth.” She goes on to describe the various forms...
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...Professor Ali ENC 1102 March 20, 2014 Amy Tan's, “Mother Tongue” and Alice Walker's “Everyday Use” both share similar traits in their writings of these two short stories. “Mother Tongue” revolves around the experiences Tan and her mother had due to her mother's English speaking limitations, she also revolves her story around the relationship of a mother and daughter. Alice walker on the other hand writes a story narrated by “Mama” the mother of two daughters Maggie and Dee and explains the conflicting relationship she has with Dee, both writers similarly emphasize on the relationships these mother and daughter characters had and they unravel both short stories based on these relationships. Although both short stories share this one similar characteristic it is clear that both writers have opposite point of views of their described mother daughter relationships. To begin comparing, both Tan and Walker use the characters of mother and daughter to evoke the importance the relationship plays in the telling of the story. There are similarities that both these characters share. One of these similarities are shown through the use of words that describe a similar feeling of shame or embarrassment both Dee and Tan have towards there mothers at some point in the stories. In one part of the story Tan describes feeling “ashamed” of her mother's broken English (Tan 345). Walker also shows the character Dee having some sense of shame of her mother and sister Maggie by saying “Its really...
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...Sarah Travis ENGWR 101 Inst. Kronzer 13 Sept 2014 Reflective Essay Language has fatal consequences, from my own personal experience, when working in healthcare, speaking unprofessionally can cause me to be terminated, although it may be challenging to change the way you speak a language, you just have to deal with what the employer wants from you or you will lose your job. According to James Baldwin, language “is the most vivid and crucial key to identity: It reveals the private identity, and connects one with, or divorces one from, the larger, public, or communal identity. There have been, and are, times and places, when to speak a certain language could be dangerous, even fatal” (650). Baldwin explains that there is a time and place that certain language should be speaking because language has fatal consequences. I agree with Baldwin, there is a time and place for everything. I also agree that language can be dangerous, even fatal. In James Baldwin’s essay, “If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?” Baldwin confronts the topic of “Black Language.” Baldwin states, “Language incontestably, reveals the speaker” (Baldwin, 648). The language one speaks can say a lot about a person. People may speak the same language, but it is always going to be different based off where the speaker comes from, what type of person the speaker is, what the speaker does as their career, and what the speaker has experienced in their life. Baldwin states that his argument has...
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... Kristen Galley Professor Lee Harrison ENGL 1301, Tuesday 2:30p.m (Class Red) 30, September 2013 Language and its Meaning Language defines someone’s culture or character as a person, it is a means of history and ancestry. Without language it would be hard for people to communicate on a level to which they actually understand one another. In Amy Tan’s and James Baldwin’s essay’s they both go into detail about their aspects of what language is meant to them, and discusses it in detail throughout their stories. James Baldwin in his essay discusses a main and questionable factor of a type of English called “Black English” and it actually being a language. While, Amy Tans story is mainly about different types of English languages that she had to pursue her entire life whether it be broken, simple, or watered down English. Each author speaks of different perceptions on English, which should not be judged or ridiculed in any way. James Baldwin in his essay, “If Black English isn't a Language, Then Tell Me What Is?," he starts off by stating that Language isn't the main issue in his essay, it is just apart from what has truly evolved in international societies. He refers to the Americans as not recognizing that Black English is a Language, because it is a different kind of language and isn't necessarily acceptable to them. According to Baldwin Black English is a language, because slaves used it in order to communicate in a submerged society in which they...
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...Comprehension 1. Tan is classifying how she uses different Englishes with her writings and with family. With her family, she usually uses “broken” English, and with her writing she uses “professional” English. 2. I believe that she introduces the categories in paragraphs 7 and 8. I believe she identified the categories at a right time because she begins by talking about her family and work, and then she introduces her categories. 3. Yes, Amy Tan goes into explaining the categories by sharing personal experiences. Amy does not treat both equally. I do not see it as a problem because there is no way to treat the Englishes equally when you use them in a different form. 4. Amy believes that her mother’s limited English is a problem in department stores, banks, and restaurants. 5. Her mother’s English has an effect on her life because of how broken it is she needs to pretend to be her at points, watch her mother be treated poorly, and go through several bad situations. 6. She says that math is precise and had a specific answer, as for in English was assigned several questions where she had to fill in the blank and get “bland combinations” as answers. No, I do not think her problems come from her family’s language skills. I believe that it’s pretty much an excuse that she is using, being an Asian American, and it all depends on the person to limit themselves to the English language or not. 7. She offers the explanations that Asian Americans might come from a “broken” English...
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...My Time in Israel In the essay “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan, Tan claims that the idea that we speak different languages and that we are judged by the way we communicate with each other. She is really amazed by the way other people speak so she decides to use that in her work. When she walks down the street she observes all the different types of English. When she was a child she spoke two different types of English. She spoke proper English and broken English depending on who she was around. When she was in school she had to speak proper English because that is where it felt right. When she is at home she speaks broken English because her mom does not speak very much English. Her mother was sometimes judged when she went out in public and had to speak to people. When she had to talk to people they would ignore what she had said or they would pretend that they did not know what she had said. When tan was a child her mother would make her speak to people so there would be no confusion while they were talking. Tan believed that the language spoken at home affects how the children will speak in the future....
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...Mother Tongue, by Amy Tan Comprehension 1. What Tan is classifying in this essay is the different kinds of English she uses. 2. Tan identify the different categories she discusses in “Mother Tongue” almost in the last paragraph, where she named all the kind of English she uses. 3. Tan does illustrate each category she identifies 4. Some specific situations where Tan says her mother’s “limited English” was a handicap is when her mother could not be able to talk directly with people, or would not be taken serious by the people she talked to. 5. One of the effects that her mother’s limited English has had on Tan’s life is the fact that, that was the language that helped shape the way she saw things, expressed things, and made sense of the world. 6. Tan account for the difficulty she had in answering questions on achievement tests, particularly word analogies: she could not be focused on the answers, she would read the example, and then those words would be stock in her mind keeping off the rest of the options. I do think her problem in this area has something to do with the level of her family’s language skills, because she grew up with that level of language as well, that is the way that she learned. 7. In paragraph 18, Tan considers the possible reasons for the relatively few Asian Americans in the fields on language and literature. Some explanations she offers are that Asian students do better on math achievement tests than in English and that there...
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...Both essays, Mother Tongue by Amy Tan and How to Tame a Wild Tongue by Gloria Anzaldua, seem to be different at first glance. However, when you look deeper into them, one would find similarities and differences at the same level. While it is more important that Tan and Anzaldua speak different languages, have different identities, and are immigrants from different countries. What’s more important is how they conform to the new society due to struggles they face because of the way they speak the dialects of their languages in America. In both essays, language is one of the themes that both authors focus on. Tan and Anzaldua are struggling with speaking their language. Amy Tan is struggling with her mom’s broken English, while Gloria...
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...After reading Amy Tan’s essay “Mother Tongue”, I have come to several conclusions. Right away, I identified her audience as the general public, specifically those reading The Threepenny Reviews since this is where her paper was published. However, after further analysis, I see she could have been targeting specific groups. I also think that Tan could be explaining her story to people who read her works, since so much of her literature seems to be influenced by how she views language. Also, there are parts throughout the essay that give tidbits on how she overcame what was expected of her, since she did not do as well with English-related schooling as she did with the Sciences, for example. This leads me to believe that Tan is explaining how she came to be to fellow colleagues who are interested in her story, perhaps. When reflecting on her piece, I find that Tan has a few purposes. I believe that one purpose is to show the influence of language on life experience. For example, when Tan made phone calls for her mother or communicated for her in any way, this showed that the mother’s life experiences were limited due to the language barrier. The converse of this statement can also be argued, because experience also has an influence on language. In saying this, I mean that what you go through in this life influences your interpretation of how you see language. Before reading this essay, I rarely thought about my language, but now I realize more about how I speak. Since...
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...English 100 – 19 Professor Fisher Essay 4 – draft one December 9, 2014 Intro: The world we live in today is far more globalized than that of our previous generation. Before social media and other instant forms of communication existed, people did not need to worry about speaking a different language or the way it was spoken. Dialects and accents had little meaning because of the barriers that surrounded each community prohibited the inhabitants of much interaction with people from other societies. Today however, people can speak with each other regardless of location, which emphasizes the importance of the power of language. The negative consequences that come from this is that those who do not master a language perfectly or differ from perfect speech are discriminated against in the general community. A phenomenon, which writer Gloria Anzaldúa, who wrote the article “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” calls “Linguistic Terrorism.” According to her, linguistic terrorism negates not only the speaker, but also the experiences and culture behind that person (Anzaldúa). Thesis: Although language can be used as a tool of power, the use of faulty and imprecise language negates the speaker and causes negative consequences. Body 1, Tan: An accent is an example of imprecise English, which causes people to make negative or positive assumptions about the speaker based on the information that accent reveals. Example: In Amy Tan´s essay “Mother Tongue,” she provides an example drawn from...
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...in the essay Mother Tongue, Amy Tan talked about her love and fascination of language, and how language can evoke an emotion, a visual image, and how it’s a tool she uses everyday in writing. She then goes into how she is aware of the different ways she uses the English language, she was in a middle of a speech, talking very precise about her book to a group of people using her knowledge of correct grammar that she has learned throughout school, and books, until she spotted her mother, and started to reminisce about how she holds a conversation with her mom. She starts off by giving a example of a conversation with her mom, they were talking about a price of a piece of furniture and Tan heard herself saying, not waste money that way, and she knows this different kind of English , she has been speaking with her mother, family talk ,she calls it, all of her life. Tan also expresses how at the same time her mother is very intelligent. She reads Forbes report, listens to Wall Street Week, and converses daily with her stockbroker. Tan calls this "Broken" or "Fractured" English. Tan goes into a explanation about how she was also ashamed of her mother’s English, because Tan believed that her English reflected the quality of what she had to say. Tan states she thinks family is the major influence of the way one speaks a certain language. Because of her mother's influence over her life Tan decided to write a book using the English she grew up with, maybe not the correct grammar that critics...
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...English 150 18 December 2014 Unconsciously, we all speak different languages; we categorize the way we speak by the environment and people at which we are speaking too. Whenever a character enters an unfamiliar environment, they experiment with language to find themselves and understand reality. For immigrants, language is a means to retain one’s identity; however, as they become more assimilated in their new communities their language no longer reflects that of their identity but of their new cultural surroundings. When an immigrant, immigrates to a new country they become marginalized, they’re alienated from common cultural practices, social ritual, and scripted behavior. It’s not without intercultural communication and negotiation do immigrants conform to new surroundings. In “Drown,” the title story of his narrative collection, Junot Diaz enumerates the story of a Hispanic youth growing up in New Jersey. Though Diaz explores issues of queerness, shamelessness, and familial relations within this selection, it is his use of language that proves most intriguing. Rather than simply describing the struggles of adapting to a new language or customs, Diaz portrays how, at an early age, he manipulated language as a tool to makes sense of his new hybrid identity. The use of language in Junot Diaz’s Drown is spare and unadorned, often rendered in "Spanglish," an unpredictable mixture of both English and Spanish. Diaz uses Spanish words in the midst of standard English sentences...
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