What it Means to Have a Mother’s Tongue

The author of the text, “Mother Tongue”, is Amy Tan, a Chinese American writer and novelist that has written numerous nonfiction and fiction books, such as “The Joy Luck Club”, “Kitchen God’s Wife”, “The Hundred Secret Senses”, etc. The publication for this essay is The Threepenny Review, an American literary magazine founded in 1980, which keeps the genre to a personal essay. By making this her genre, it helps her convey her message on a more personal level, as this essay is about her getting her story out there for others to relate to. Tan’s investment in the text is tremendous since this text is about her showing how people, like her mother, are not “dumb” just because of the way they speak. Therefore the author’s intended audience is people who can relate to the similar experiences she faced; those who were discriminated against because of the way they spoke. She believes that people shouldn’t be judged based on their way of communication, many people are intellectually smart, but they just have difficulties saying the right words. Thus her purpose is to get her message across to her readers. Tan wants to educate her readers to know how people from different backgrounds should not be treated differently just because their English is not deemed “proper”, and she does this by applying the rhetorical appeals of ethos, pathos, and logos to explain the unjust situations her mother faced, showing us how it affected her and her mother.

Tan talks about how people didn’t take her mother seriously, ignoring her, just because of the way she speaks. She mentions in the text how there were even times where she would talk in her stead because of this. As quoted from the text, “When I was fifteen, she used to have me call people on the phone to pretend I was she.” Furthermore, Tan talks of how people took advantage of her mother, thinking of her as less because of her race/background. Tan supports this argument by talking about how many immigrants, such as her mother, end up struggling to speak English throughout their life. And as a result, people who have a “limited” English are assumed by others “…as if everything is limited, including people’s perceptions of the limited English speaker.” However, she refutes these outrageous claims by showing how her mother understood what others were saying. For example, when she was persistent in getting her CAT scan results, and when she realized she was getting scammed by her stockbroker. Her mother knew what was happening in these situations, and her lack of English did not stop her from dealing with the situation by what she thought was best. So by showing us examples with her mother, Tan showed that people like her mother were the same as everyone else. Her stance is that these so-called “broken” English speakers are just as capable as these “proper” English speakers. Thereby, this would be an example of appealing to Pathos, an emotional type of appeal that tends to persuade an audience. This is because Tan at first describes herself as embarrassed by her mother due to her lack of English. And as stated by her, “My mother has long realized the limitations of her English as well.” However, after years of understanding her mother, and her feelings, Tan came to terms with the fact that it doesn’t matter what others thought of how her mother speaks. To her, it is clear, direct, and articulate. Tan does a very good job of making the reader feel for her mother and her English, with her stories. In the end, Tan births a new connection with her mother and a new respect for her language. 

The author strategically makes her writing relatable to many readers. She does this by making it simple and understandable that even people with “broken” English could understand. People such as her mother, who even said it was “So easy to read.” She also calls out “proper” English in her text of how stupid it was. How there were multiple ways to say the same things, even though one way is sufficient enough for one to understand. Tan went from talking about her mother’s problems to hers. How everything her mother faced, she faced the effect of them as well. Her mother shaped who she was, and that led her to write stories like this. Helping her mother helped her in the end. Therefore, this relationship between them would be an example of appealing to Ethos, as she does this for an ethical appeal. She appeals to ethos to convince the audience of the author’s credibility by using appropriate language, grammar, and to introduce oneself as interesting to the readers. Furthermore, she is fit to talk about this topic because it has directly affected her life. Since she is an Asian-American, she has first-hand experience, along with her mother, with this subject matter. By reading her heartfelt true stories and peaking into her life experiences, she wanted readers to know how we all unconsciously speak different languages and are grouped/judged by the way we speak. This allows her to appeal to the audience and thereby proving her credibility.  In addition to appealing to Ethos, this would also be an example of appealing to Logos, a logical appeal that convinces the audience by simply using logic and reasoning. This is because, in her essay, Tan also reflects on her own schooling experience with standardized testing in classes such as Math and English. She uses statistically general knowledge explaining how her being Asian Americans, a race that typically excels in maths rather than in English, affected this. As stated by her, “… perhaps they also have teachers who are steering them away from writing and into math and science, which is what happened to me.”. Tan uses this as reasoning to explain why these Asian students may lack in the writing department. Therefore, Tan is shown as a very intelligent person as portrayed through her writing, of which she often uses these portrayals to elaborate on her mother’s lack of English speaking ability.

In conclusion, Tan wants to teach her readers that people from different backgrounds should not be treated differently if their English is not “proper”. That which she elaborates on by applying the rhetorical appeals of ethos, pathos, and logos to talk about the unjust situations her mother faced and how it affected her and her mother in the end. Tan wants us to remember that there are people out there going through the same situation as others. She wants them to know that they are not alone in dealing with these specific issues and that no one should be judged based on their background because you don’t know their story. This is the reason that motivated her to write this text; to show that those who say otherwise are wrong.