Acosta 1
Mickey Acosta
Dr. Lisa William-White
English 1A
1/25/10

“Communication to Life”

In these three stories Liked for Myself by Maya Angelou, The Day Language Came into My Life by Helen Keller, and Mother Tongue by Amy Tan, tell of the similar difficulties these women faced when it came to communicating with the people around them. Angelou was a young girl when she found herself unable to speak out loud unto her peers, similar for Keller as she was blind and deaf by an illness at an early age, and Tan was ashamed of her “broken” English that was spoken amongst her family. These three women each faced challenges in their lives, which gave them the confidence to communicate with the world around them, even though these women faced different challenges and struggled to communicate different from each other. Angelou was a young girl when her mother’s friend sexually assaulted her. This tragic event left her with little self esteem, and she found it very difficult to speak out loud amongst her peers. She moved to Acosta 2
Arkansas to live with her grandmother shortly after this horrific event. She was a very bright student when it came to reading and writing. Angelou’s biggest challenge was her lack of confidence in her self. By the same token, Keller found her own challenges to be extremely difficult, for she became blind and deaf at an early age. Due to this unpleasant event Keller became very agitated with her surroundings. The world around her was a giant puzzle with no meaning. Keller’s biggest challenge was that she had no understandings of her surroundings. In addition, Tan grew up with her family which spoke in a “limited” English. While growing up Tan was embarrassed of the way her mother spoke. She wrote this in her story Mother Tongue, “I know this for a fact, because when I was growing up, my mother's "limited" English limited my perception of her. I was ashamed of her English.” (pg. 258). This was Tan’s biggest challenge. Next, Angelou was inspired to overcome her mute lifestyle with the help of Mrs. Flowers. The day Angelou helped Mrs. Flowers carry the groceries to Mrs. Flowers’s house was the day that changed her life. She wrote in her story, "Your grandmother says you read a lot. Every chance you get. That's good, but not good enough. Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with the shades of deeper meaning," (par. 12). This is the line Mrs. Flowers said to her that helped changed her life. Mrs. Flowers also read from a book
Acosta 3 called A Tale of Two Cities, which influenced Angelou to read out loud because of how enchanting Mrs. Flower’s read it. This helped build Angelou’s confidence to communicate with the world again. Similarly, Keller had help communicate with her peers by learning that everything is a word and that the words have a meaning. It took Keller some time to understand that, but when she overcame her challenge she felt so pleased. As for Tan, it was her mother that helped inspire her to gain pride of her back round. She made her writing styles easier to read for people who do not understand English well. Angelou’s challenge was due to the fact that she was raped. It was her challenge to overcome her quite lifestyle. The reason she overcame her challenge was because of Mrs. Flowers. Mrs. Flowers is a local black woman who Angelou highly looks up to. However, Keller’s challenges were caused by an illness at an early age of her life. She had no understanding of the English language and no meaning for words. This was until she spent time with her teacher Miss Sullivan. It took her quite some to overcome her challenge. She had to feel the objects while learning what it meant making it very different situation compared to Angelou and Tan. On the other hand, Tan took a long time also to get over her challenge, but she had to accept the pride in her mother’s “limited” English. Acosta 4 Angelou overcame her challenge by reading out loud the books that Mrs. Flowers gave to her. Mrs. Flower’s was a big influence in her life, for Angelou highly looked up to her, and enjoyed her presence. Mrs. Flowers also had her recite poetry that eventually helped build her confidence to communicate with the world again. As for Keller she was able to communicate with people after she had learned that objects have words, and how words have meanings. This new language helped her express her self and communicate with confidence amongst her peers. In contrast to, Tan accomplished her challenges by overcoming her insecurities of her mother’s “limited” English. Angelou, Keller, and Tan faced similar challenges that were difficult to overcome, yet they stayed strong and didn’t give up. They also had great influences in their lives. Mrs. Flowers, Ms. Sullivan, and Tan’s mother never gave up on them and stayed by their side, helping them become strong individuals.