Rhetorical Analysis Essay
Based on Mother Tongue
Often, people underestimate the abilities of others who don’t fit the norm or ideal type in society, we tend to overlook them. Therefore, we must expand our view to recognize a diverse set of individuals. In the Personal Essay, Mother Tongue (1990), author Amy Tan, UC Santa Cruz and UC Berkeley alumni, asserts that the English language has a larger variety than we believe and suggests that broken English, as we know it, has its own history of struggles behind it. She backs up this claim by doing the following: first, she discusses her recent realization of the different forms of English used; next, she compares how her mother has been treated to her own experiences; last, she draws focus onto the American education system and how it had not been in her favor. Tan appears to write in hopes of educating the audience in order to introduce a new idea and change in society. Because of the author’s hopeful tone, it seems as if she writes for anyone related to immigrants and professionals in general. Tan’s use of ethos and pathos helped her writing to develop and allowed readers to stay hooked on.
Personal history plays a significant factor in the perspective of her writing. Readers trust Tan from the very beginning due to her honesty of not being a professional on the topic despite having a double major in English and Linguistics. Instead she speaks as a writer who is simply talking from her view. She says, “I spend a great deal of my time thinking about the power of language…And I use them all – all the Englishes I grew up with.” She sets an informal, friendly tone with the audience, as if she is conversing with us. She does not feel like an authoritative figure who makes the readers feel nervous, or someone who cannot be wrong. Tan gives off a vibe that says, she’s human, she shows her mistakes and her growth. For example, younger Tan was embarrassed of her mother’s English, but she saw the work her mother put in and wanted to make writing that is easier to read for her. Living in our own bubble hinders us from looking at others deeper than the surface, Tan made readers appreciate and take initiative.
Ethos comes into play as she is initially connecting with the readers on trust and credibility with a laidback tone. On the other hand, if she were to dive straight into the mistreatments and struggles, she faces, the audience would focus on the immigrant perspective without emphasizing the writer perspective as well. Furthermore, once again she states, “Sociologists and linguists probably will tell you that a person’s developing language skills are more influenced by peers.” After introducing the opposing argument, Tan does not disqualify it, but adds further details stating her take on the development of language growing up.
Mother Tongue is well suited to its audience and purpose because it is relatable and a universal immigrant/immigrant children experience. However, they are stories that our minds ignored because it was normalized, we were told to go along with whatever society enforces. Tan brings light and calls out a general audience. The essay starts off on a lighthearted tone but takes a turn in the opposite direction. Doctors had lost Tan’s mother’s CAT scan regarding a brain tumor that placed her in an anxious state as her son and husband had past away from brain tumors. When talking to the mother, doctors showed little to no empathy. Thankfully, she stood her ground and demanded them to speak to Tan, who spoke perfect English. Pathos, the appeal to emotion, struck me particularly.
As the daughter of immigrants as well, I noticed similar patterns when my father was in and out of hospitals for brain tumors. My mother wasn’t able to communicate well so instead of working with her, doctors often avoided her or did not answer her properly. This caused us to have miscommunications and travel a long way to hospitals and come back with little to no new information. To add on, Tan raises questions such as, “Why are there few Asian Americans represented in American literature?” Readers can hear the disappointment and curiosity behind this question. Personally, I grew up being told that some things are tradition, they are supposed to happen a certain way. Tan’s essay helped me conclude my own realization, you don’t have to follow what is expected of you, break the odds. Finally, in the end she writes, “Apart from what any critic had to say about my writing, I knew I had succeeded where it counted…” This sweet and simple sentence held power, and left the reader in an awe moment.
Amy Tan used a variety of rhetorical devices, specially the appeal to trust and emotion, ethos and pathos respectively, to express her ideas in the personal essay. Throughout her essay, Tan introduces the stigma and negative assumptions behind “broken English” speakers, including those that imply the person speaking it has limit knowledge. In support of the claim, the author uses her personal experiences where people were being racist and treating her mother differently. The text was catered to a variety of audiences, but immigrants or people that have faced language barriers or seen others experience these firsthand will connect to the text on a deeper, understanding level. Character development is shown as Amy Tan, a Chinese American, puts a spotlight on her thoughts where she misunderstood her mother.
