compairison of amy tans mother tongue snd orwells shooting an elephant
Even though Tan and Orwell have two different approaches to showing a struggle to fit into society, they are actually in agreement that people who come from different places struggle to fit. This common ground becomes apparent through the emotion behind each authors’ writing. In both Tan and Orwell’s writing they show a variety of feelings. These feelings consist of sadness, anger and bitterness. The first illustration of both authors’ accord is the way each of them express sadness from the way they are treated by those around them. It is especially evident that Tan is saddened by the fact that her mother is poorly treated due to her broken English. Tan states “But they seem just as bad, as if everything is limited, including people’s perceptions of the limited English speaker” (179). This demonstrates the sadness Tan feels for her mother and the difficulty her mother faces to fit into society, bearing in mind it is nearly impossible to fit in with others if their perceptions are skewed. Orwell faces a similar issue throughout his essay as well. The natives of Burma were extraordinarily boorish towards Orwell simply because he was from England. Orwell shows an example of this by opening his writing with “In Moulmein, in Lower Burma, I was hated by large numbers of people the only time in my life that I have been important enough for this to happen to me” (229). Hatred from all of Burma for no good reason causes sadness upon Orwell, especially when all he wants is to fit in and not be ridiculed. Evidently when the society one lives in is not accepting of them it becomes a struggle to fit it. Tan and Orwell also display strong feelings of anger in their writings. As Tan continues to write, a change in tone is evident. She starts off placid and calm then progresses to a more aggressive angry tone. An example of this is when Tan complains “And when the doctor finally called her daughter, me, who spoke in perfect English –lo and behold – we had assurances the