When these traits did not surface, Jing-Mei began to realize she did not have these traits and started to feel internally inferior. She slowly started to resent her mother’s continual control over her decisions and went in a different direction than her mother wanted her too. In Amy Tan’s short story, “Two Kinds”, the dialogue Tan includes within Jing-Mei’s flashback demonstrates that conflict and resentment can occur when not allowing your child to take his/her own path. In the beginning of the flashback, Jing-Mei’s mother is shown to be trying to control and dominate her daughter’s life. When she moved away from China, Jing-Mei’s mother had a vision that in America, you could be anything that you wanted to be.
In the essay, “Mother Tongue,” by Amy Tan emphasizes the idea that we all speak different languages unconsciously and also we are categorized by the way we speck. In the essay Tan observes experiences that made her realized the different types of “Englishes” she uses. The first time she became aware was when giving a talk about her book, “The Joy Club,” she saw her mother in the audience and she realized that she had been using academic language learned from books, a language she had never used with her mother. The second time she noticed one of her “Englishes” was when talking with her mother and husband, she said “not waste money that way” which for her is an intimate language used only by her family. Tan emphasizes that fact that her mother recognizes her opportunities and interaction in life are limited by her English.
Amy Tan Final Exam In “My Mother’s English” by writer Amy Tan, we learned that her perception on her mother’s English had evolved over-time. As a writer Amy Tan feels that language is her way or tool of getting a point across, she even uses “All the English she grew up with”, meaning the fractured English her mother taught her. Tan says, “It is the sort of English that is our language of Intimacy, the English that relates to family talk, and the English that I grew up with”. Tan’s main point is that even though her mother speaks what some would call broken English, to her it’s beautiful to other “English speakers” it is abnormal. I think that her mother has been labeled or stereotyped.
She finds the letter her moms writes her and calls the number she left on it. After calling her mom "Sweetie" , she finds herself going to her biological moms house; Only to expect the unexpected ... I can relate to when the little sister of Mary Potts comes first meets her older sister. The rude and disrespectful things she said to her was totally unexceptable.
For example, "It has become our language of intimacy, a different sort of English that relates to family talk, the language I grew up with" (397). Tan is so used to hearing her mother talk in a "Broken" (398) English, which she does not seem to notice much of a difference between broken English and clear English. She grew up listening to her mother talk this way and has gotten used to it. This way when Tan and her mother talk it is how their family talks, their own special way they communicate to one another. Rodriguez shares this same family quality like Tan and her mother’s language.
She backs up this statement with an example, “My mother has long realized the limitations of her English as well. When I was fifteen, she used to have me call people on the phone to pretend I was she. In this guise, I was forced to ask for information or even to complain and yell at people who had been rude to her.” (180). This was followed by an example Tan mentioned about how she had to call her mother’s stock broker to tell him that he must send her, her money back that day or else they would travel to
When she was asked that that question it caught her off guard. The woman corrected her and said, “Oh Fxuang,” with a little bit of laughter the lady told her, “You don’t know how to speak your name.” (13). Later on that day when Hwang arrived at home she asked her parents why they never bothered to correct her. Her mother said, “Big deal, you are American.” (13). She felt that her sense of identity was already collapsing and it left her unhappy knowing her cultural character is barely precise.
We never speak English to each other. Since our first language is mandarin, plus my mother is not really an English speaker, we will only speak mandarin to each other. She will go to adult school for ESL class and learn English skills. However, she will always put single terms into one sentence with non-grammatical way. In the article, I like how Tan said, “I was forced to ask for information.” Even though I don’t have to pretend I am my mother, but I get the feeling that who ever speak better English had the responsibilities to help out the situation.
I was flooded with language. I was curious about it as well. I looked at the world around me and would just point at things and look at my mom waiting for her to say something about it. Whatever she said it was I believed her and made a connection in my head with the sound made and the object. I believe most of my literacy was all dependent on my Mom’s ability to help me make these connections, especially with reading.
I cannot give you much more than personal opinions…I am a writer…I am someone who has always loved language. I am fascinated by language in daily life…” (Pg.402) Tan frequently used anaphora throughout and many times, “I”, the first person point of view was used. Her sentence fluency varied, with many short and choppy sentences and numerous long and fluent ones. I could relate to “Mother Tongue,” because depending on the situation, the author used different types of “Englishes”. Tan spoke “broken” English with her mother, and a more sophisticated one with other people.