Chinthagumpala 1

Gagan Chinthagumpala

Prof. Marpakwar

Academic Writing

13th October 2019

Response Essay

Language plays an indispensable role in every individual's life. Language has been traditionally

identified and used as a means of communicating and expressing thoughts and emotions. The

English language is a ubiquitous language that has a broad reach. It is evident from the

contemporary scenario that it is crucial to learn proper English to communicate effectively with

the world. I was interested to know how an individual’s English had an impact on his/her image.

One of Amy Tan’s works, “Mother Tongue” helped me in this investigation. This essay is

intended to bring a subjective and thoughtful critic of Amy Tan's work, "Mother Tongue."

"Mother Tongue" mainly deals with how her mother's Chinese English or limited English

had an impact on her. It also speaks about how her mother's English affected her academic

performance, shaped her thinking, and inspired her. It generally revolves around how society

judges an individual's intelligence and knowledge based on their proficiency in a particular

language. The author conveys how English was not her strongest subject and the difficulties her

mother experienced because of the way she spoke English by revealing real-life instances and the

prejudice she faced.

Amy Tan talks about the two types of English, and each type of English symbolizes

something different to her. What she calls as standard English symbolizes both Tan's belonging

to American society and a sense of separation from her mother. "My mother was in the room"

(Tan 431), tan highlights this contrast when she writes about giving her speech, saying that the
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standard English words that she was using felt strange to say when her mother was in the room.

Tan says she uses limited or broken English around her husband and her mother, which relates to

her family talk. Tan also says that speaking this kind of English with her husband has brought a

sense of intimacy between them. So, this proves that she can relate to each type of English she

speaks. This is the part that I felt I could relate to. I realized that I was also using different types

of English to communicate with people. I used to speak a different kind of English, which

includes Tamil with my friends. But when it came to presentations or any formal meeting, I was

able to switch to the proper English automatically.

The essay is written in a reflective tone due to Tan's style of informal, emotional, and

anecdotal writing. She uses the first person in the entire essay and shares her personal

experiences to increase the soundness of her argument and to emphasize the importance of the

topic in her life. All the examples and the real-life instances that she quotes makes the essay

anecdotal. This is evident when she quotes her mother's words, "Why he not send me check,

already two weeks late. So mad he lie to me, losing me money." (Tan 433) Tan expresses her

anger and emotion in some parts of the essay, which makes the essay informal and relatable and

shows how passionate she is about the argument she is trying to put forward. This is displayed in

the story when she shares about her teachers “steering [her] away from writing and into math and

science." (Tan 435) The informal, emotional, and anecdotal tones that Tan uses imply that the

essay was written for the purpose of reflecting herself and also to convince the readers.

Amy Tan speaks about broad sociological questions and assumptions made against her,

which influenced her to rise against them. “Fortunately, I happen to be rebellious in nature and

enjoy the challenge of disapproving assumptions made about me.” This part is worthy of being

mentioned as one of the strongest parts due to its ability to inspire others. She proved the
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assumptions about her to be wrong by becoming an English major and attaining mastery over the

English language. She was able to achieve this mainly due to the influence of her mother’s

English over her. The societal judgments made over her mother’s broken English should have

motivated her to achieve mastery over the language. This part can also be related to Ngugi Wa

Thiong’o’s “Recovering the Original,” which also inspires others to rise against the challenges

they faced. In Recovering the Original's context, it would be the challenges faced by the author

to be able to write in their mother tongue Gikuyu. Both the essays portrayed a sense of bravery

and proved the assumptions made on them to be wrong.

I would disagree to a certain extent with Tan’s assumption of her mother’s English

language limiting Tan’s perception of her mother. “I was ashamed of her English.” (Tan 433)

She believed that her English reflected the quality of what she had to say. She tells that the

behavior of the society towards her mother made her form these assumptions. I feel it is society's

mistake to judge people based on their language. I feel it is incorrect to correlate the quality of an

individual’s thoughts and knowledge with their language.

This can be concluded by saying that the author managed to put her argument of

valuing an individual’s ideas and thoughts rather than their proficiency in the language

beautifully in an informal, emotional, and anecdotal tone. This should inspire many others in

breaking all the stereotypical views that society holds towards them to pursue their best interests.
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