Amy Tan Mother Tongue Analysis
Li Chen
Prof. Kantor
English 116
15th Oct 2014 Comparison of “Mother Tongue” and “How to Tame a wild Tongue” I have read through two articles and I have my own thought about them. The two articles author, Amy Tan (Mother Tongue) and Gloria Anzaldua (How to Tame…) both discussed the topic about the language and life. They have many common points such as they all born in a bilingual family, and it brought a great change in their lives. The difference is two articles have different focus. “Mother Tongue” Focus more on the change what the bilingual family culture has brought to her, in other words, how this change her life. Amy Tan uses a neutral tongue in the article simply just to how the change take place. “How to Tame a Wild …show more content…
As described on the text, “That was the language that helped shape the way I saw things, expressed things, made sense of the world.” (Tan 419). That’s Amy’s comment for her mother’s English while others think her mother’s English is fragments and not understandable. The reason why she think her mother’s tongue is perfect, there are two, one is she loves her mother, she grew up in such environment and she got used to it. Also as author mentioned, “I am a writer. And by definition, I am someone who has always loved language.” We know here, Amy is expressing her love for her …show more content…
She remember that “caught speaking Spanish at recess- that was good for three licks on the knuckles with a sharp ruler” “go back to your Mexico where you belong”(Anzaldua 34). She got punished a lot just like this during her period of growing up. I believe she was suffered in this miserable in a long time, but when she grew up she realized she should value her own tongue and respect to it. She blamed the culture, the culture, which scolds the minority tongue. She described this kind of behavior as “Linguistic Terrorism”. She finally can trust herself, “Chicano Spanish is not incorrect, it is a living language.” (Anzaldua 35). She thinks every object existing in the world has their own magnificence; we should show our respect to all. Two articles discussed about the language, discussed what their bilingual family affect on them. But their tongue/ attitude is different, Tan’s essay also mentioned about her bad English may bring some trouble to her life (just the B English grade), Tan express more love to her culture, and appreciation. Anzaldua’s essay is like contradiction, to the people who is judging by the
Prof. Kantor
English 116
15th Oct 2014 Comparison of “Mother Tongue” and “How to Tame a wild Tongue” I have read through two articles and I have my own thought about them. The two articles author, Amy Tan (Mother Tongue) and Gloria Anzaldua (How to Tame…) both discussed the topic about the language and life. They have many common points such as they all born in a bilingual family, and it brought a great change in their lives. The difference is two articles have different focus. “Mother Tongue” Focus more on the change what the bilingual family culture has brought to her, in other words, how this change her life. Amy Tan uses a neutral tongue in the article simply just to how the change take place. “How to Tame a Wild …show more content…
As described on the text, “That was the language that helped shape the way I saw things, expressed things, made sense of the world.” (Tan 419). That’s Amy’s comment for her mother’s English while others think her mother’s English is fragments and not understandable. The reason why she think her mother’s tongue is perfect, there are two, one is she loves her mother, she grew up in such environment and she got used to it. Also as author mentioned, “I am a writer. And by definition, I am someone who has always loved language.” We know here, Amy is expressing her love for her …show more content…
She remember that “caught speaking Spanish at recess- that was good for three licks on the knuckles with a sharp ruler” “go back to your Mexico where you belong”(Anzaldua 34). She got punished a lot just like this during her period of growing up. I believe she was suffered in this miserable in a long time, but when she grew up she realized she should value her own tongue and respect to it. She blamed the culture, the culture, which scolds the minority tongue. She described this kind of behavior as “Linguistic Terrorism”. She finally can trust herself, “Chicano Spanish is not incorrect, it is a living language.” (Anzaldua 35). She thinks every object existing in the world has their own magnificence; we should show our respect to all. Two articles discussed about the language, discussed what their bilingual family affect on them. But their tongue/ attitude is different, Tan’s essay also mentioned about her bad English may bring some trouble to her life (just the B English grade), Tan express more love to her culture, and appreciation. Anzaldua’s essay is like contradiction, to the people who is judging by the