In Mother Tongue the main argument Amy Tan puts forward is that the language people speak in their private lives influence can make public life difficult. What Tan talks about regarding her mother’s English is that it is challenging for her to interact with people that have “proper English” because they found her English to be “broken” and would disrespect her for it. This point is illustrated by the passages where Tan’s mother requests Tan to talk to the stockbroker, the hospital staff, and untold others on her behalf because she found the lack of respect to be frustrating. Another passage that supports this argument is when Tan herself is in school she finds herself struggling with English because the opened ended concepts in class she learned did not match with her the concepts her home English demonstrated.
Tan’s work is a piece in the conversation Asian-American identity and stereotypes. Tan offers up the idea that many Asian-Americans are closed off from writing careers because the English that the use at home is perceived as inferior to the English that society expects. Tan believes that this stereotype of Asians only going into STEM fields comes from the fact that English isn’t accessible to them. What Tan identifies as a problem for her mother and her, i.e. lack of respect, and frustrations with language differences, are some of the main talking points for other immigrant groups. Even though the cultures differ between immigrants the friction between them and American society is similar in many ways.
Most of the evidence Tan uses to support her argument is anecdotal evidence. Although many academics look down on anecdotal evidence, I think it works to support her story with a perspective that statistical evidence couldn’t capture.
Tan’s story doesn’t offer up any possible counterarguments, but she doesn’t need them. This story of hers is all about her own perspective and any counterargument she proposes would have distracted from the anecdotal nature of the story.
Tan acknowledges the audience through presenting a transcript of her mother’s speech in order to give the audience a better understanding of how different the kind of English her family uses is. This gives the audience proper context behind the day to day interactions Tan talks about later.
I would say that Tan’s argument does persuade me. The frustrations she talks about are rather consistent with the complaints of my Asian-American friend and other immigrants’ stories I have read before. Overall, I think it’s a semi-new perspective on the immigrant issue that isn’t often considered by those in the conversation.
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