Michael Centeno
Professor Schulte
English 10100
Rhetorical Analysis 1
Amy Tan’s Mother Tounge talks about how she grew up as a first-generation American citizen with a Chinese mother, and how that both positively and negatively shaped her English and her experience as a first-generation American. Tan questions why some people, particularly Asian-Americans, are so hesitant to go into fields and majors that pertain to English literature and the English language, and would much rather go into fields that pertain to Math or Science. Interestingly, Tan writes about how she talks about the different types of English she talks with different people. With her mother and her husband, she talks “broken” or casual English. With other people, she talks more formal English. This is a story that represents the unique identity of immigrants, particularly Asian-American immigrants who are finding a place in a new nation.
Example #1
Tan talks about how she has different varieties of English she uses with different people in her life. As previously stated, with close relatives, such as Tan’s husband or her mother, she uses a “broken” form of English. In her essay Mother Tounge, Tan writes, “I was walking down the street with my mother, and I again found myself conscious of the English I was using, the English I do use with her. We were talking about the price of new and used furniture and I heard myself saying this: “Not waste money that way.” My husband was with us as well, and he didn’t notice any switch in my English. And then I realized why. It’s because over the twenty years we’ve been together I’ve often used that same kind of English with him, and sometimes he even uses it with me. It has become our language of intimacy, a different sort of English that relates to family talk, the language I grew up with.” Tan probably does this because this was the English that she had learned and was familiar hearing in a comfortable, home-based setting. She also probably does this because maybe she doesn’t want to confuse her mother with the type of English she isn’t familiar with, the more formal type of English. Tan states in her essay that her mother’s English is “limited.”
Example #2
Tan talks about how she discovered her love for English later in her academic career, while in college. She switched majors from pre-med to English, stating her “rebellious nature.” In Mother Tongue, Tan writes, “Fortunately, I happen to be rebellious and enjoy the challenge of disproving assumptions made about me. I became an English major my first year in college, after being enrolled as pre-med.” She states that she is rebellious for switching majors because Asian-Americans don’t normally go into majors such as English or Creative Writing, but are keener on joining STEM majors such as Engineering or Pre-Med. Tan writes, “Because lately I’ve been asked, as a writer, why there are not more Asian Americans represented in American literature. Why are there few Asian Americans enrolled in creative writing programs? Why do so many Chinese students go into engineering! Well, these are broad sociological questions I can’t begin to answer. But I have noticed in surveys — in fact, just last week — that Asian students, as a whole, always do significantly better on math achievement tests than in English.”
In conclusion, Tan writes about how she is an anomaly in her ethnic group and family by speaking “proper” English instead of her family’s “broken” English. Because Amy and her family are Chinese immigrants, speaking “normal” English in her family will be inevitable as the generations go on.
Works Cited
Tan, Amy. Mother Tongue. 1990.

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