Rhetorical Analysis On Mother Tongue
The Joy of Language In the passage “Mother Tongue”, the author Amy Tan writes about the relationship between her, her mother and the English language. Tan uses various rhetorical strategies to convey the experiences and thoughts she has when it comes to the influence of language on her life and those around her. Through the use of these persuasive language devices, Tan shares what she has learned growing up with different Englishes in her personal and social life. This, in turn, ultimately enables her to convey her love for the English language and the power that it holds. At the start of this passage, Tan introduces the idea of growing up with various forms of English. One of the rhetorical strategies she uses to do this includes repetition. The author reminisces about a speech on The Joy Luck Club that recently made her come to realize these Englishes existed. She repeatedly refers to this speech as ‘the talk’, giving her narrative an easygoing, laid back quality. …show more content…
Reflecting on them, she expresses the meaning her mother's English holds with her and emphasizes its importance with the metaphor, “It's my mother tongue.” She expands upon it in her statement right after; the use of parallelism between her description of her mother tongue, “Her language, as I hear it, is vivid, direct, full of observation and imagery,” and its impact reinforcing, ”That was the language that helped shape the way I saw things, expressed things, made sense of the world.” Tan's inclusion of these childhood stories appeals to the reader’s sense of connection with her through the use of exemplification. This strategy focuses on Pathos by placing the reader in the author’s shoes and effectively conveying how, though difficult, growing up and living with these Englishes has molded her perspective on the power of
A Rhetorical Analysis Of Mother Tongue By Amy Tan
417 Words | 2 PagesMother Tongue by Amy Tan tells how Tan and her mother were being treated as Chinese-American who spoke with a “broken” English accent. Tan talks about the struggles of starting off her writing career as many would say her English was not perfect or her writing was not that great but the support of her mother she finds her passion for writing and English in general. Breaking out the English by Arthur Chu explains his story on how he was ridiculed by his peers because his English was too perfect, so he spent a lot of time trying to sound like a “normal” Chinese-American citizen while still trying to stay true to himself. Mocking “Foreign Accents” and the Privilege of “Sounding White” by Muslim Reverie speaks on how we (as Americans) classify
Amy Tan's Mother Language
1495 Words | 6 Pages1. Amy Tan is clever in the way that she uses the words “mother tongue.” She never outright expresses what is meant by the phrase, thus she leaves it up to her readers to decide what “mother tongue” refers to; be it the language of Tan’s mother, the language Tan feels most comfortable using, her own first language, or any combination of those things. 3. Throughout the essay, Tan recalls how she uses “different englishes” based on who she interacts with.
Summary Of If Black English Isn T A Language
806 Words | 4 PagesIn If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?, written by James Baldwin, the author speaks about the importance of common language and how it change to fit the circumstances. As a small example, the author talks about six different location who can all speak the common language of French, but cannot understand each other. This was made to show that language is more than just spoken words, it is also the way those words are spoken. Baldwin then use this idea with the English language and it’s sub-categories Standard and Black English. He suggest that black people are forced into conforming to the white standard of the English language and have their Black English meaning reformed into something completely different.
The Power Of Language In Amyy Tan's Mother Tongue By Amy Tan
943 Words | 4 PagesBy using easily understood English and short sentences, Tan is humbling herself before her audience and makes the text immediately intimate. It is a text that her mother could comprehend and read with ease. To allow the readers to connect to her story even further, Tan quotes her mother in her broken English. This shows the reader how difficult it can be to understand Tan's mother's English and how different it is from the English Tan has learned through formal
Analysis Of My Mother's Tongue
1067 Words | 5 PagesHer father was American and when her parents divorced as she was young and her mother moved away, she lost touch with her Korean culture. Throughout the essay, the author uses flashbacks to help the reader engage with her culture in the same way she does now, through memories of a time long gone. She uses the literary device of imagery within the flashbacks, helping to put the reader in her shoes. “Humid days stretch long in my memory, listening to cicadas scream, growing fat on the many culinary expressions of love prepared for me by my aunts and my grandmother.” The description of the cicadas returns
The Changeling Judith Ortiz Cofer Analysis
1011 Words | 5 PagesThe vivid imagery contrasts considerably with the speaker’s identity, highlighting the discrepancy between her imagined and true personas. The speaker undergoes a symbolic transformation into a boy, but in order to do so, she must cast away her defining features as a woman. One way she does this is by repositioning
Mother Tongue Amy
738 Words | 3 PagesLanguage allows citizens to communicate in an educated and understandable way through a conversation. In “Mother Tongue” Amy Tan indicates different types of languages. Her mother’s language consists of Chinese and when she speaks in public or over the phone, Amy translates her mother’s sentences in a more respectful way. When she speaks to her mother or her husband, her conversations are simple. While speaking about her book, she communicates through educated language until her mother entered the room.
How To Tame A Wild Tongue Rhetorical Analysis
1356 Words | 6 PagesMy Rhetorical Analysis Language is a part one’s identity and culture, which allows one to communicate with those of the same group, although when spoken to someone of another group, it can cause a language barrier or miscommunication in many different ways. In Gloria Anzaldua’s article, “How to Tame a Wild Tongue”, which was taken from her book Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza, she is trying to inform her readers that her language is what defines her. She began to mention how she was being criticized by both English and Spanish Speakers, although they both make up who she is as a person. Then, she gave convincing personal experiences about how it was to be a Chicana and their different types of languages. Moreover, despite the fact that her language was considered illegitimate, Anzaldua made it clear that she cannot get rid of it until the day she dies, or as she states (on page 26) “Wild tongues can’t be, they can only be cut out.”
Similarities Between Mother Tongue And How To Tame A Wild Tongue
504 Words | 3 PagesThe power of language We all have some form of language limitations, no matter where we come from and what our background is. “Mother tongue” by Amy Tan and “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” by Gloria Anzaldua both share similar themes in their stories that demonstrate how they both deal with how different forms of the same language are portrayed in society. In both stories they speak about what society declares the right way of speech and having to face prejudgment, the two authors share their personal experiences of how they’ve dealt with it.
Figurative Language In 'Treasure Of Lemon Brown And Two Kinds'
534 Words | 3 PagesThe author Amy Tan used different types of figurative language to develop character. In “The Treasure of Lemon Brown” by Walter Dean Myers and in “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan figurative language plays a huge role in character and scene development. The previous text isn’t even half of the figurative language elements used in the two short stories. The use of this narrative element was executed masterfully .
Rhetorical Analysis Of Mother Tongue
458 Words | 2 PagesRhetorical Precis #4: “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan Amy Tan’s purpose in her article “Mother Tongue” is to show the influence of her mother’s style of english. She also relates this to a more broad topic of the idea that there are many different types of english that people speak that are tailored to whoever they are speaking to. She begins this piece by stating plainly that she is not an english scholar. Instead of decreasing her credibility it actually increases it and paints this piece as a more personal set of observations rather than a bland overview of the entire language.
I Lost My Talk By Rita Joe Analysis
835 Words | 4 PagesThe symbolism and imagery show throughout the poem that with each stanza being written in a visual manner. The audience can easily picture a theme and feel the author’s remarkable use of emotions in her piece written with an advanced sense of sensibility. Rita Joe’s point of view is narrated by the summary of her experiences put into her piece of writing that established and showcased her empowering and strong personality. It is a reflective piece of writing that was delivered using symbolism, imagery, and visual mental images used to illustrate the theme of “ I Lost My Talk”. Joe’s horrific history was filled with many hardships and obstacles in her life.
Similarities Between Amy Tan And Me And Mother Tongue
651 Words | 3 PagesIn “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan and “superman and me” by Sherman Alexie, both authors focus on the importance of teaching oneself. While Amy Tan conveys this subject using personal experience, Sherman Alexie expresses it by using imagery. Ultimately, both authors portray the theme as having a passion to learn and being educated can benefit a person in life. Amy Tan's essay is a personal story that tells the reader about how her mother's english was perceived as “broken” or “fractured” by everyone.
How Does Anne Bradstreet Use Simile In The Author To Her Book
484 Words | 2 Pagesrior to “The Author to Her Book”, Anne Bradstreet exploits the fact that she is determined that her work needs polishing as she receives tremendous of atrocious comments from her family and other close friends. The purpose of the poem was to show the author’s bitter emotions during that time. By using similes to portray the comparison between a child and her poems, Bradstreet successfully reveals that she dislikes her work because of all the hate she gets. Throughout the poem, Bradstreet used simile by comparing her writing to a child because it is amature. She identified her work as an “ill-formed offspring” because it involves an abundance of flaws (Bradstreet 1).
Mother Tongue Summary
714 Words | 3 PagesAfter reading Mother Tongue by Amy Tan, my perspective changed about the struggles for people who are not as good at English. All throughout this article Tan uses personal experience from her mom to show the readers the struggle while also using primary sources to back up her claim. All the evidence backs up her initial claim and as the reader your perspective changes after reading about how she personally was effected. The author 's main claim of Mother Tongue is to persuade people so respect people who struggle with English because she has serval personal connections, she has fact based proof, and she is an experienced writer on this topic and in general. All throughout the reading she uses many personal stories and personal experiences on how difficult it was for her mother to go through her everyday life.
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