Being born in China but living in America, she seems ashamed of her roots and that is why she is embarrassed when her mother speaks broken English (Tan 142-146). But, although she tries hard to be American speaking and writing good English, she realizes that she has deviated from her true self. She finally makes peace with her mother and she starts appreciating her “Mother Tongue”, which consequently affects her writing positively. This shows just how peoples’ native languages are important in their lives. Our “Mother Tongue” is what gives us identity; it defines who we are, and therefore, people should value their native languages.
Mother’s Tongue vs. Public Language Richard Rodriguez and Amy Tan, both writers, talk about their experiences with non-American backgrounds living in America. In both of their essays "Aria: Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood" by Rodriguez, and "Mother Tongue" by Tan, are very similar in that they both emphasize the importance of language and describes how it affected their lives. Both Rodriguez and Tan stress the importance of their family's language. Tan expresses two major issues; how language has impacted both her and her mother's lives and the different English's she uses towards her mother and others. Similarly, Rodriguez explains how language has affected him and his family's lives and the transition from Spanish to English.
Through their experiences there were many comparisons to suggest but some stood out more than others; such as, how each writer grew up learning do deal with their family and their English, and on that note what they are doing now to understand how their English language as a second language affects others. The first of the differences was experiences in family life. Each of the writers had very different experiences when it comes to family. Amy Tan had a term she explained as “different English” where Richard Rodriguez had a term he explained as “family quietness”. The difference in the two is that although Amy’s mother did have a hard time speaking the language clearer that the average English speaker she was able to have a language with her family that was English but they had a certain bond with it.
While in her mother’s eyes, she only supported her daughter and craved the absolute best for her child. Schwind-Pawlak presents this argument poorly due to her change of heart towards the end of the essay. She does not stick to her beginning argument which causes the opposition to lack stability. The two authors support their arguments by providing evidence. The supporting evidence of the two essay’s help reveal the hardships teenagers face while dealing with their parents.
Both of these writers were molded by their mothers. Each expresses how wonderful their mother really was, contrary to what the outside world may have thought. Tan expressed her feelings by talking about test and comparing English and math and how the language in the family could have affected how she did on test. Tan makes it understandable by letting the audience know that standard tests cannot determine a person's intelligence, she is trying to say how people have different ways of thinking and different types of intelligence, and yet these standard tests only can measure a certain type of intelligence, so it is unfair. The language barrier each had to overcome often
Society has also played an important influence on both these Authors as Tanya Barrientos explains in Se Habla Espanol. Because of her families desire to have English to be the only spoken words in the home, she tells of how she grew up around few Latino’s. And that speaking Spanish reflected your social status of being poor, and that you where limited to a meager life of housekeeping and waiting tables. That even ambitions for ones future was frowned upon because of the language that her family denied to speak. This very thought by society is reflected in (3rd paragraph 489). “Your children are always behind, and you have the nerve to bring them
The next major role in Persepolis would be Marjane’s friends. Marjane’s friends are what helped to give Marjane further insight to how the regime had affected the people that were not fortunate enough to leave the country like she had. This only becomes apparent when Marjane returns to her home country online to find that her friends still were trapped in the old mind set despite their outward appearances. Lastly are Marjane’s parents who encouraged her to think for herself. This was the final ingredient in making Marjane the headstrong person that she appeared to be in the book.
The reason Uhmma acts this way with her kids is because she wants them not to be stressed and weak.Uhmma said in the beginning of the when she was talking to Young Ju, “Look at my rough hands. Do you think I always had hands like these? Do you want to end up like this?”(18). Meaning she doesnt want her to have that kind of life style. While this book progessed so did Uhmma, i feel that she new that Apa wasnt good but until the end when he turned on his own daughter she finally new that its
Aria: Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood By Richard Rodriguez Questions for Discussion: 1. Bilingual Education and Public Language 2. Paragraph 15 reveals to the readers how bilingual people are viewed in this particular society. It is viewed that as long as a non-English speaker can get their point across, it is okay. However, not having English-speaking parents makes Rodriguez feel like he is sticking out in society (his parents couldn’t help him with English).
Rodriguez emphasizes the need for a public language in order to function well and take in the “social and political advantages” (Rodriguez 440) of acquiring a “public language” (Rodriguez 435). Rodriguez’s experiences are mirrored in Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue” in which Tan details the experiences her mother faces because of her mother’s “broken” (Tan 442) English. Because of the nature of Rodriguez’s claims concerning the disadvantaged status of those who lack a public identity, we are able to apply his assertions to Tan’s essay to further critique and analyze the experiences that Tan’s mother went through. Rodriguez asserts “Only when I was able to think of myself as an American, no longer an alien in gringo society, could I seek the rights and opportunities necessary for public identity.” He further emphasizes that, “The social and political advantages I enjoy as a man result from the day that I came to believe that my name indeed is Rich-heard Road-ree-guess” (Rodriquez 440). Rodriguez claims that public language, which in this case happens to be English, provides the foundation for the rights and opportunities available for those who speak the “public language” (Rodriguez 435).