Premium Essay

The Languages We Speak In Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club

Submitted By
Words 301
Pages 2
The Languages We Speak Most people speak one to two languages, knowing the first as their primary, and learning the second either as a tradition if you have a multilingual family, or learning a secondary language at school. People have many different stages of talking/speaking, and it varies depending on who they are around. Amy Tan, author of The Joy Luck Club, explains the many ways that people will convey their inner emotion through the tones and attitudes with different groups of people in their lives. Such as siblings being snarky and childish with one another, but inverting to the opposite when speaking to their parents.

For most families, when they they converse with each other, they have relaxed tones, as many families do, and have

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Don't Judge a Book by Its Cover

...July 17, 2016 In the article "Mother Tongue" by Amy Tan she writes about both hers and her mother's experience with language. Tan admits she is "not a scholar or English or literature" (Tan 2006) but expresses her thoughts and supplies empirical evidence about how both she and others judged her mother's intelligence by how she spoke English. Tan introduces us to the concept of "Englishes", i.e. the English used in her household; the English she was taught in school; the English she writes in. Tan writes about the possibility that students, particularly Asian Americans, may be steered away from careers in Literature or creative writing because of the "broken or limited"(Tan, 2006) English used in their homes. I continue to feel that Tan's main goal of the article is to get us to think about the ways we view people who speak "limited or broken" English. As a continuation of the author's goal she writes about how really listening to her own talk as she spoke to various groups about her writing life and her book "The Joy Luck Club” caused her to realize the "whole talk sounded wrong." What she was hearing and learning, perhaps for the first time, was that she was not using one of the "Englishes" that she "did not use at home with my mother." I did identify some new key points and these are how Tan writes about how she thinks "about the power of language--the way it can evoke an emotion, a visual image, a complex idea, or a simple truth." One way the reading supports this...

Words: 1752 - Pages: 8

Free Essay

Joy Luck Club

...[pic] Chinese Traditional Woman Image --- the Chinese Mother in Joy Luck Club by 陆婉霖 A thesis presented to the School of English Studies of Xi’an International Studies University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts May 18, 2011 Class: 2007-19 Advisor: 常莉 西安外国语大学 毕 业 论 文 开 题 报 告 |姓名 |陆婉霖 |性别 |女 |班级 |2007-19 |学号 |0701011921 | |论文题目: | |Chinese Traditional Woman Image --- the Chinese Mother in Joy Luck Club | |《喜福会》中中国式母亲体现出的中国传统女性形象 | |任务起止日期: 2010 年9 月1 日 至 2011 年 5 月27日 | |论文主要内容及参考文献: | |本文从跨文化交际和文学的角度对谭恩美的小说《喜福会》进行了分析。通过认知解读传统文化中的女性角色以及书中主人公的遭遇,使读者理解| |书中上一代母亲们的自我认知历程以及在此过程中所形成的价值观。文中展现了四个母亲和四个女儿的成长背景及人物性格,概述了每个人物所| |经历的不同境遇,分析了单独事件的文化原因及影响,从而呈现出典型的中国传统女性形象。文章从不同角度举出例子概括这一普遍的社会现象| |并且分析了母女冲突的原因并且从积极的角度对其结果给予了分析与展望。 | |参考文献: ...

Words: 6293 - Pages: 26

Premium Essay

Breaking the Language Barrier

...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...

Words: 810 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

A Rhetorical Analysis Of Mother Tongue By Amy Tan

...countries. However, others will treat im-migrants differently because they speak with the broken English. For example, if they go to companies find a job, boss can’t understand what immigrants talk about with the broken Eng-lish and will not hire them, which is unfair for the immigrant. The author Amy Tan reflects this phenomenon by writing an article called “Mother Tongue”. The author Tan effectively builds the credibility between herself and the audience by tel-ling her own personal experience. For instance, she can switch the English between her hus-band and her mother, she speaks the more informal English language to her mother because ensure that her mother can easily understand with...

Words: 1713 - Pages: 7

Free Essay

An Ecological Reading of Hundred Secret Senses

...American Literature Course Supervised by Professor Pan Zhiming June 2014 Animalization and Return to Nature A Ecological Reading of The Hundred Secret Senses I Introduction Amy Tan, born in 1952, is acclaimed for her lyrically written tales of sensibility and conflicts in Chinese-American mother-daughter relationship, in which generational and cultural divergence is highlighted. Themes of loss and reconciliation, hope and failure, friendship and familial conflict, added with mystic oriental flavor and healing power, have made Tan’s writing emblematic and well-received. Following the publication of The Joy Luck Club (1989), The Kitchen God's Wife (1991), Amy Tan’s third novel The Hundred Secret Senses (1995) again enjoys a high popularity and evokes strong responses from both readers and critics. Despite the fact that The Hundred Secret Senses still exhibits Tan’s trademarks of “a strong sense of place, a many-layered narrative, family secrets, generational conflict, Chinese lore and history”, unlike the previous two that are generally praised, this novel gets mixed opinions. Most reviewers receive the characterization of Kwan as “the most original and best one” among Tan’s works (Huntley 113). Some other critics, Michiko Katukani et al, criticize Kwan’s over-imaginary, sensational and superstitious beliefs in ghosts, reincarnation and fantasies (qtd. in Chen 120). Frank Chin asserts that Tan has made both Kwan...

Words: 3928 - Pages: 16

Premium Essay

Narrative

...Narrative A narrative is a sequence of events that a narrator tells in story form. A narrator is a storyteller of any kind, whether the authorial voice in a novel or a friend telling you about last night’s party. Point of View The point of view is the perspective that a narrative takes toward the events it describes. First-person narration: A narrative in which the narrator tells the story from his/her own point of view and refers to him/herself as “I.” The narrator may be an active participant in the story or just an observer. When the point of view represented is specifically the author’s, and not a fictional narrator’s, the story is autobiographical and may be nonfictional (see Common Literary Forms and Genres below). Third-person narration: The narrator remains outside the story and describes the characters in the story using proper names and the third-person pronouns “he,” “she,” “it,” and “they.” • Omniscient narration: The narrator knows all of the actions, feelings, and motivations of all of the characters. For example, the narrator of Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina seems to know everything about all the characters and events in the story. • Limited omniscient narration: The narrator knows the actions, feelings, and motivations of only one or a handful of characters. For example, the narrator of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland has full knowledge of only Alice. • Free indirect discourse: The narrator conveys a character’s inner thoughts...

Words: 12257 - Pages: 50

Premium Essay

Will Do Next Time

... but may not be reproduced in  any other form or for any other purpose without the prior written consent of The McGraw­Hill Companies, Inc., including, but not limited to, in any  network or other electronic storage or transmission, or broadcast for distance learning. PREFACE Rationale We agreed to produce the instructor’s manual for the sixth edition of A First Look at Communication Theory because it’s a first-rate book and because we enjoy talking and writing about pedagogy. Yet when we recall the discussions we’ve had with colleagues about instructor’s manuals over the years, two unnerving comments stick with us: “I don’t find them much help”; and (even worse) “I never look at them.” And, if the truth be told, we were often the people making such points! With these statements in mind, we have done some serious soul-searching about the texts that so many teachers—ourselves included—frequently malign or ignore. As we have considered our quandary, we have come face-to-face with the central paradox that characterizes the genre: Teaching manuals tend to be distant, mechanical, impersonal, and lifeless, when in fact good teaching is immediate, flexible, personal, and lively. In this manual, therefore, we have attempted to communicate to fellow teachers...

Words: 159106 - Pages: 637

Premium Essay

Chinese History

...www.GetPedia.com History of China: Table of Contents q q Historical Setting The Ancient Dynasties r r r Dawn of History Zhou Period Hundred Schools of Thought q The Imperial Era r r r r r r First Imperial Period Era of Disunity Restoration of Empire Mongolian Interlude Chinese Regain Power Rise of the Manchus q Emergence Of Modern China r r r r r r Western Powers Arrive First Modern Period Opium War, 1839-42 Era of Disunity Taiping Rebellion, 1851-64 Self-Strengthening Movement Hundred Days' Reform and Aftermath Republican Revolution of 1911 q Republican China r r r Nationalism and Communism s Opposing the Warlords s Consolidation under the Guomindang s Rise of the Communists Anti-Japanese War Return to Civil War q People's Republic Of China r r Transition to Socialism, 1953-57 Great Leap Forward, 1958-60 r r r r r Readjustment and Recovery, 1961-65 Cultural Revolution Decade, 1966-76 s Militant Phase, 1966-68 s Ninth National Party Congress to the Demise of Lin Biao, 1969-71 s End of the Era of Mao Zedong, 1972-76 Post-Mao Period, 1976-78 China and the Four Modernizations, 1979-82 Reforms, 1980-88 q References for History of China [ History of China ] [ Timeline ] Historical Setting The History Of China, as documented in ancient writings, dates back some 3,300 years. Modern archaeological studies provide evidence of still more ancient origins in a culture that flourished between 2500 and 2000 B.C....

Words: 41805 - Pages: 168

Premium Essay

California an Interpretive History - Rawls, James

...CALIFORNIA CALIFORNIA An Interpretive History TENTH EDITION James J. Rawls Instructor of History Diablo Valley College Walton Bean Late Professor of History University of California, Berkeley TM TM CALIFORNIA: AN INTERPRETIVE HISTORY, TENTH EDITION Published by McGraw-Hill, a business unit of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 1221 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020. Copyright © 2012 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Previous editions © 2008, 2003, and 1998. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written consent of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., including, but not limited to, in any network or other electronic storage or transmission, or broadcast for distance learning. Some ancillaries, including electronic and print components, may not be available to customers outside the United States. This book is printed on acid-free paper. 1234567890 QFR/QFR 10987654321 ISBN: 978-0-07-340696-1 MHID: 0-07-340696-1 Vice President & Editor-in-Chief: Michael Ryan Vice President EDP/Central Publishing Services: Kimberly Meriwether David Publisher: Christopher Freitag Sponsoring Editor: Matthew Busbridge Executive Marketing Manager: Pamela S. Cooper Editorial Coordinator: Nikki Weissman Project Manager: Erin Melloy Design Coordinator: Margarite Reynolds Cover Designer: Carole Lawson Cover Image: Albert Bierstadt, American (born...

Words: 248535 - Pages: 995