What is similar between Tan's more contemporary version of the American Dream and the novel Of Mice and Men? Already a member? Near the beginning of Mother Tongue, Tan says, I am fascinated by language in daily life. d. Her mother is the audience (reader) for The Joy Luck Club, a book about mother-and-daughter relationships. Use Tan's ideas about different kinds of English from "Mother Tongue" as a basis to consider the kinds of English you encounter every day. Analysis of "Mother Tongue" by Amy Tan: DRAFT - GraduateWay Latest answer posted October 28, 2019 at 10:43:03 PM, Latest answer posted May 19, 2020 at 7:56:33 PM, Latest answer posted November 08, 2020 at 3:49:32 AM. Why does Tan believe that envisioning a reader specifically, her mother enabled her to write more authentically? But once Tan had arrived and upon hearing her perfect English, the staff had taken the case up with more urgency. 7) The class tests at school which reduced English proficiency to an ability to recognise a correct answer are thus contrasted with Tans resounding final words of Mother Tongue, which see her seeking to capture the passion of her mother, the nature of her thoughts, and the imagery she uses: all things which her daughter has clearly inherited a respect for, and which school tests fail to capture or observe. Our summaries and analyses are written by experts, and your questions are answered by real teachers. Tan does illustrate each category she identifies 4. 2. It is not simply, as she first thought, that one type of English is correct and the other incorrect. Chapter 8 and Symbolism in The Great Gatsby, The Language of Composition: Reading, Writing, Rhetoric, Lawrence Scanlon, Renee H. Shea, Robin Dissin Aufses, Edge Reading, Writing and Language: Level C, David W. Moore, Deborah Short, Michael W. Smith. Tan says she uses simple English around her mother, and while this isnt the same form that her mother speaks, it symbolizes the bond between her and her family. Because there are quite a few different tones in this short story, they transition from one to the other. With the stockbroker, Tan was the one who would step in for her mother over the phone in order to express her mother's thoughts for her. Latest answer posted March 29, 2020 at 1:00:09 PM. Chinese custom. c. The story helps readers understand one of Tan's points: her mother's English does have intent, passion, imagery, and rhythm, and it shows the complexity of her thoughts. In "Mother Tongue," Amy Tan explains that she uses multiple "Englishes" in her daily life. All of these questions will help you pinpoint the essays effectiveness. endobj Her mother attends a lecture that Tan is delivering, and Tan realizes that her mother is hearing Tan speak a kind of English that she does not use at home. Now all you have to do is analyze them. Tan talks about a few different types of English and in what situations she uses them, but each English form symbolizes something different to her. She is just as special a person, despite what language she uses or how she uses it. I've heard other terms used, "limited English," for example. A Summary and Analysis of Amy Tan's 'Mother Tongue' It has always bothered me that I can think of no other way to describe it other than "broken," as if it were damaged and needed to be fixed, as if it lacked a certain wholeness and soundness. } !1AQa"q2#BR$3br Students' essays will probably address slang and jargon that they use, standard English that they use for most of their school experiences, and possibly formal English that they may use with relatives or in work situations. Does the story feel complete as is? The story helps readers understand one of Tan's points: her mother's English does have intent, passion, imagery, and rhythm, and it shows the complexity of her thoughts. In paragraph 6, Tan quotes part of one of her mother's conversations. I've heard other terms used, "limited English," for example. Tan grew up in California and in Switzerland and studied English and linguistics at San Jose State University (B.A., 1973; M.A., 1974) and the University of California, Berkeley. Those tests were constructed around items like fill-in-the-blank sentence completion, such as, "Even though Tom was, Mary thought he was --. The story helps the reader understand Tan's later comments about what to call her mother's English-words like limited or broken affect people's perceptions of her mother and her mother's abilities. What Tan is classifying in this essay is the different kinds of English she uses. "How Poetry Comes to Me" TPCASTT // Gary Snyd, "Common Ground" TPCASTT // Judith Ortiz Cofer, SpringBoard English Language Arts: Grade 10, myPerspectives: English Language Arts, California (Grade 9, Volume 1), Glencoe Literature Course 4: The Readers Choice. Eden Meirow is a full-time copywriter and part-time freelance writer. Start your 48-hour free trial to get access to more than 30,000 additional guides and more than 350,000 Homework Help questions answered by our experts. Explain why Tan calls herself a rebel in "Mother Tongue" and how this identity led to her becoming a writer. How do these resemble chapters? But they seem just as bad, as if everything is limited, including people's perceptions of the limited English speaker. What is your response to Amy Tan's point about the value of different languages? mother tongue amy tan chinese american writer amy tan, whose mom moved from her homeland china to america to make better life for her daughter, struggles with 3-2 Writing Plan 5-3 Feedback and Be sure to consider the anecdotes regarding Tan giving a speech, the stockbroker, the CAT scan, and Tan's experience with the SATs. After youve written your literary analysis, and you dont feel very confident in it, pass it along to one of the Kibin editors. I spend a great deal of my time thinking about the power of languagethe way it can evoke an emotion, a visual image, a complex idea, or a simple truth.. Indeed, Tan conjectures that many Asian American children are probably encouraged to pursue careers in jobs requiring maths and science rather than English for this reason. When Amy Tan recalls growing up, her mother would have Amy speak on the phone, pretending to be her mother, so that people would take her more seriously. The Qin bureaucracy had civil and military divisions and a justekst\underline{\phantom{\text{justekst}}}justekst. But many people who hear her mother speak can only partially understand what she is saying, and some even say they can understand nothing of what she says, as if she were speaking pure Chinese to them. $4%&'()*56789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz ? %PDF-1.4 New York: McGraw-Hill, 2008. -talking to her mom "My mother was in the room", Tan quotes a "terrible line" she once wrote "That was my mental quandary in its nascent state." Apart from what any critic had to say about my writing, I knew I had succeeded where it counted when my mother finished reading my book and gave me her verdict: "So easy to read.". As a writer, she used the rigid, grammatical acrolect she had learned at school; as a daughter, she used the more forceful, vivid English spoken by her mother, for which she cannot even find a name, since she dislikes calling it "broken.". Learn. Give at least three details from the essay to support your opinion. /Title ( M o t h e r t o n g u e q u i z l e t a n s w e r s) spirituals. b. eruption Describe how others (those who do not know her intimately) see Tan's mother versus how Tan describes her in "Mother Tongue." Do you agree or disagree with Amy Tan's conclusions about standardized tests? Tan believed that her mother's English reflected the quality of what she had to say-that the imperfections in her speech meant that her ideas were just as imperfect. [/Pattern /DeviceRGB] In a country where English is the dominant language, all of the school lessons are taught in it. I selected the article Mother Tongue by Amy Tan. taylor_garrett36. She makes this argument in various ways. d. infraction, Identify the following term or individuals and explain their significance. Though Mother Tongue is a very short narrative, its rich in content. Discuss how Tan broadens the essay's relevance by going beyond just her personal experience and raising issues that would be germane to her audience. When writing about becoming an English major in college, Tan said that she had always been rebellious. Some visitors on a search for new healing substances (looks, look) at medicinal plants. 22 terms. Write a journal entry from the perspective of Richard the Lion-Hearted during the Crusades. eNotes.com will help you with any book or any question. But now you have to do a literary analysis on itand suddenly its short length seems like more of a burden than a blessing. When she began to write fiction, she made a conscious decision to write to a specific audience: she decided to write to her mother; as she was writing about relationships between mothers and daughters in her stories. What motivates her to make such an argument? check out these example essays on Mother Tongue.. What is so terrible about that line, -she wrote sentences that she thought to be wittily crafted sentences, sentences that would finally prove that she had mastery over the English language As for accents, it's usually a stereotype of some sort. Accept any answers that address the concern of the question and are elaborated by examples or details from the literature or from life. In literature, tone is the feeling an author conveys to the audience. Tan explains, "This was understandable. She says this because it could have impacted her in developing the English skills that were expected in school. However, in Amy Tan's story, I believe she is making a statement about her mother's form of English: her mother's tongue. How do you think Kemal Ataturk would have responded to later Islamic modernists such as Sheikh Kabir and perhaps Saira Khan? /BitsPerComponent 8 Amy Tan's essay "Mother Tongue" discusses the way that language changes, and the ways it stays the same, inside contexts of immigration and generational time. Here is the text: http://www.umsl.edu/~alexanderjm/Mother%20Tongue%20by%20. Other Quizlet sets. You may also wish to discuss some of the emotions that a king in battle might be feeling. Educators go through a rigorous application process, and every answer they submit is reviewed by our in-house editorial team. 3) Tan describes in this essay? "9 [5 2)? -breaking the paragraphs (spaces) Why or why not? Paraphrasing her mother's words would take away from the audience's understanding of the exact type of language boundaries they were dealing with. "And the correct answer always seemed to be the most bland combinations of thoughts, for example, "Even though Tom was shy, Mary thought he was charming:' with the grammatical structure "even though" limiting the correct answer to some sort of semantic opposites, so you wouldn't get answers like, "Even though Tom was foolish, Mary thought he was ridiculous:' Well, according to my mother, there were very few limitations as to what Tom could have been and what Mary might have thought of him. Because dogs are legally required to be on a leash, letting your dog run free in the park is a(n) _______. She reads the Forbes report, listens to Wall Street Week, converses daily with her stockbroker, reads all of Shirley MacLaine's books with ease--all kinds of things I can't begin to understand. What argument is Tan making here about language and its connection to our identity in "Mother Tongue"? When she's not working, she's constantly trying to expand her creativity through music, writing, art, and animation. Amy's mother refused to leave the office until someone called her daughter. Tan uses an example of her mother going to New York to yell at her stockbroker, after not receiving her check from cashing out her portfolio, to show us that even though her language skills were sub par, she could still very effectively communicate her feelings and ideas. 4 0 obj At one point, Tan writes about being embarrassed about her mother. Answers will vary but should include points similar to the following: a. Tan includes the story to give readers an example of just how her mother's English sounds and how expressive it is. More recent to this story, her mother had been diagnosed with a benign brain tumor, but when she went to the doctor's office, the CAT scan was lost and no one was remotely concerned with her need to understand her prognosishaving lost a husband and son, both to brain tumors. It explores these ideas through how Amy and her mother use the English language, and how Amy uses the English language differently around her mother than she does in professionalized contexts. What is the author's purpose, style, and tone in the story? 17) that Tan claims accounts for her high performance on math tests but not on English tests specifically, analogies? To what extent do you think that speaking a non- standardized English (through grammatical differences or an accent) "limits . According to Tan, why are so many Asian Americans encouraged to study math and science in college? nNSm`NO8 SL6x 9 tG%rzo=>ca3`!VW19>:HmoM!>? _E nYKyrO [%eLm ii+;t9xt;md/C?dSh[`N:)$9HAJI%i2. 291 terms. What would be the impact of omitting one of them? possibilities" for people in the United States today? What incident in "Mother Tongue" makes Tan aware of the different Englishes that she speaks? Educators go through a rigorous application process, and every answer they submit is reviewed by our in-house editorial team. /Filter /DCTDecode think my mother's English almost had an effect on limiting my possibilities in life as well. My mother had gone to the hospital for an appointment, to find out about a benign brain tumor a CAT scan had revealed a month ago. A good literary analysis might explain these transitions, and how they affect the structure of the piece. What strategies does she use to make this argument? Mother Tongue questions & answers for quizzes and worksheets - Quizizz English Mother Tongue Deleted User 87 plays 15 questions Copy & Edit Live Session Show Answers See Preview 1. her mother How does the author describe her mother's English early in the essay limited 2. She reads the Forbes report, listens to Wall Street Week, converses daily with her stockbroker, reads all of Shirley MacLaine's books with easeall kinds of things I can't begin to understand. This progression is typical of many stories, both long and short, but in this case you can apply it to tone as well. In Amy Tan's short story "Mother Tongue," explain the essence of what "mother tongue" signifies in the story. She says it provides imagery and emotions that standard, grammatically-correct English cannot. Tan." "The S, The Language of Composition: Reading, Writing, Rhetoric, Lawrence Scanlon, Renee H. Shea, Robin Dissin Aufses. eNotes.com will help you with any book or any question. PDF Mother tongue quizlet answers What does the title "Mother Tongue" suggest? Yet some of my friends tell me they understand 50 percent of what my mother says. Mother Tongue Summary - eNotes.com You can read Mother Tongue here before proceeding to our summary and analysis of Amy Tans essay below. Tans autobiographical revelations in Mother Tongue show us that her own mother struggled to be taken seriously among Americans, and Tan diagnoses this struggle as a result of her mothers different way of speaking. Mother Tongue Quiz Flashcards | Quizlet Like off the street kind. Many of the terms, such as broken or limited, are too negative and imply her English is imperfect. c. Her mother relies on and trusts Tan to talk to the doctors about the CAT scan. 3 0 obj When Amy first decided she wanted to be a writer, she was not encouraged to do so: English was her second language, and the peculiarities of the language (which confuse native English speakers, such as analogies) often confused her. A scholar would push to discover and learn about their particular subject, while the writer is to take their findings and put them into practice. Because she was in a family where their home language wasn't English, her scores in English weren't as good as the ones she received in math. The different forms of English that mother and daughter speak are also a product of their backgrounds: whilst Tans mother is a Chinese immigrant to America, Tan was born in the United States and has grown up, and been educated, in an English-speaking culture. How does this story help you better understand the point Tan is making in her essay? https://www.etsy.com/shop/TolentinoTeaching?ref=seller-platform-mcnavSubscribe to Tolentino Teaching for online teaching resources: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxVnC3TU90xGfwGGJj--dHA?view_as=subscriberHere is the software I use to make my videos: https://www.awin1.com/cread.php?awinmid=18708\u0026awinaffid=844903\u0026p=Where I get my background music: https://www.epidemicsound.com/referral/pg826v/Microphone I use: https://amzn.to/3kYpflxMy favorite books on writing:The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person's Guide to Writing in the 21st Century by Steven Pinker: https://amzn.to/38m0FWmHow to Argue with a Cat by Jay Hendrichs: https://amzn.to/2MWQXCsThe Elements of Style Fourth Edition: https://amzn.to/2MZeentOn Writing Well by William Zinsser: https://amzn.to/30ouPnJMy Social Media LinksInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/tolentinoteaching/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tolentinoteaching/?eid=ARCDTu1yPrWNU95MIiqiab32h2xup6OJBVFlENV03XB6HHUOFxeS0gGlYvdIx-bKlzwzEW7N8uwtCagPTwitter: https://twitter.com/TolentinoTeach**Disclaimer: Tolentino Teaching is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program and AWIN, affiliate advertising programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to www.amazon.com and http://paidforadvertising.com/ This was understandable. This text is a great starting point for discussions on culture, language and more. Tan wrote 'Mother Tongue' in 1990, a year after her novel The Joy Luck Club was a runaway success. He is Du like Du Zong -- but not Tsung-ming Island people. At several points in her essay, Tan related anecdotes. What strategies does she use to make this How did Tans teachers identify her when she was in high school? Remember this quote as you read through and relate the rest of the content to this idea. 3. Explain the meaning of Tans title and how it relates to her own identity as both a Chinese American, a daughter, and a writer. Tan is making the argument in "Mother Tongue" that she became a better writer when she began to use both the types of English she spoke to write books her mother could understand. In one or two paragraphs, describe the personal experience that the writer had in "Mother Tongue", and the understanding she gained through her reflection about the experience. The local people call putong, the river east side, he belong to that side local people. -mother's language; how author feels Tan, by contrast, used standard English what used to be referred to, in loaded phrases, as correct or proper English and was thus able to succeed in getting herself, and by extension her mother, taken seriously by others. When this occurred, everyone was much more cordial with Amy than with her mother: promises were made and apologies graciously extended. Amy Tan "Mother Tongue" How do you want to study today? He come to my wedding. a. fragment a) her mother was speaking that way on purpose just to embarrass Tan b) Her mother had an undiagnosed mental illness c) her mother's spoken language was imperfect, so her ideas must be imperfect d) her mother wasn't intelligent /Type /ExtGState It is the simple difference between theory and practice. 6 0 obj 8 . I believe that there is a play on words with the title, "Mother Tongue." Finally, Tan highlights the absurdity of writing a book about the relationships between mothers and daughters which her own mother could not understand. Her mother, too, was clearly aware of how her use of the language affected how seriously people took her, for she used to get her daughter to phone people and pretend to be Mrs Tan. She said they did not seem to have any sympathy when she told them she was anxious to know the exact diagnosis, since her husband and son had both died of brain tumors. Our summaries and analyses are written by experts, and your questions are answered by real teachers. Chinese way, came only to show respect, don't stay for dinner. Why does she divide the essay into three parts? So mad he lie to me, losing me money. The "different Englishes" talked about in the essay range from perfect to broken english. Amy Tan's Messages in "Mother Tongue" Short Summary - GraduateWay Her first novel, The Joy Luck Club, is a collection of related stories told by four mothers and four daughters and was later turned into a film. Get started for free! Tan grew up speaking the formal acrolect of English she learned at school and the more vivid, less correct variety her mother used. The difference between them not only lies in how they sound when spoken, but which one you speak can impact how others treat and perceive you. Chinese social life that way. She began writing fiction in 1985, and after several false starts trying to find her own style and idiom, she began to write with her mother in mind as the ideal reader for her stories. This is not to say that people of other countries do not learn English as well, but generally there is a language specific to the place where they were born: this is their mother tongue. Chinese age I was nineteen. Accessed 2 May 2023. Who are the experts?Our certified Educators are real professors, teachers, and scholars who use their academic expertise to tackle your toughest questions. endobj How is Amy Tan's use of the phrase "mother tongue" ambiguous? "Like others, I have described it to people as "broken" or "fractured" English. The title of Amy Tans essay is a pun on the expression mother tongue, referring to ones first language. while growing up, what assumption did Amy Tan make about her mother because of her mother's language skills? If raised in Italy, it is Italian; in France, it is French. Tan says that her identity as a writer was originally separate from her identity as her mother's daughter. Recently, I was made keenly aware of the different Englishes I do use. Even though language is not an object you can hold, Amy Tan still uses language to symbolize different, more ambiguous concepts. Tan calls this a language of intimacy. Where "mother tongue" usually refers euphemistically to someone's first language, here it refers. Writer discussed: Amy Tan's "Mother Tongue" (Link to story) Amy Tan is speaking of writing her book "Joy Luck Club" (there's a scene below), so in that sense it works as a good example of a literacy narrative in that Tan writes about writing something. stream Describe how others (those who do not know her intimately) see Tan's mother versus how Tan describes her in "Mother Tongue." Consider the story "Mother Tongue." Du Zong father wasn't look down on him, but didn't take seriously, until that man big like become a mafia. I've been giving more thought to the kind of English my mother speaks. But because she is rebellious and likes to challenge peoples assumptions about her, Tan bucked this trend. Economics Semester 2 SG 40-60. When Amy gave this talk to an audience that included her mother, it caused her to reflect on the distance between the language that she uses in the world of her career and the language that she grew up with at home and still uses with her husband in the present day. She recalls a recent talk she gave, when, upon realising her mother was in the audience, she was confronted with the fact that the formal standard English she was using in the public talk was at odds with the way she spoke at home with her mother. However, Tans mothers English also symbolizes the limitations of immigrants in America and the challenges they have to face to be accepted. I cannot give you much more than personal opinions on the English language and its variations in this country or others. Many of the mothers in The Joy Luck Club, such as Betty St. Clair in The Voice from the Wall, feel isolated from those around them, never at home in America, and hyper-aware of their outsider status, despite becoming legal permanent citizens in the country. Amy sets up this comparison by describing a talk that she gave about a book and had given so many times before that it was entirely familiar to her. Her mother attends her lectures. "Mother tongue," as it is used in the title of this piece, is a pun on the traditional idea. One time Amy did this with her mother's stockbroker. Identify the message of Tan's essay, "Mother Tongue." Why? %&'()*456789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz Mother tongue is usually referred to the first language a person is taught, however I think Tans use of the word mother tongue is much more intimate in a sense that she feels that ere English or her mother tongue is unique to her, and that the variation of English she speaks to her mother is her mother tongue. And when the doctor finally called her daughter, me, who spoke in perfect English -- lo and behold -- we had assurances the CAT scan would be found, promises that a conference call on Monday would be held, and apologies for any suffering my mother had gone through for a most regrettable mistake. In grade school I did moderately well, getting perhaps B's, sometimes B-pluses, in English and scoring perhaps in the sixtieth or seventieth percentile onachievement tests. 7. Hopefully this list leaves you feeling like youre no longer short on ideas for your analysis of this short story. Amy Tan's "Mother Tongue" questions & answers for quizzes and Symbolism is when an author uses an object, person, or place to represent a deeper concept. Students in agreement might cite Tan's interpretation of analogy questions and Cisneros's poor school performance but obvious intellect that was nurtured by her family. I had to get on the phone and say in an adolescent voice that was not very convincing, "This is Mrs. Mother Tongue | Reading Quiz - Quizizz The only way I would have gotten that answer right would have been to imagine an associative situation, for example, my being disobedient and staying out past sunset, catching a chill at night, which turns into feverish pneumonia as punishment, which indeed did happen to me. Tan uses it with this definition, but also utilizes it to refer to the language her mom spoke (Chinese). Tan, Amy. Like others, I have described it to people as 'broken" or "fractured" English. A Summary and Analysis of Amy Tan's 'Mother Tongue' By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) 'Mother Tongue' is an essay by Amy Tan, an American author who was born to Chinese immigrants in 1952. 2. In this respect, if the parable Feathers from a Thousand Li Away acts as preface to the novel, Mother Tongue, in effect, acts as a kind of postscript. Do you think her idea is valid? Symbolism, structure, and tone are only a few literary devices you can use for your analysis, but they are the ones thatll help you get the most out of your analysis.

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