Analysis of Mother Tongue by Amy Tan

Amy Tan is a noted American author, most famously known for her novel “The Joy Luck Club.” Analogous to this novel, her essay titled “Mother Tongue” explores the relationship between a Chinese woman and her Chinese-American daughter and the ups and downs that come with having an immigrant as a mother. Throughout the essay Amy Tan makes multiple references to certain situations and experiences in her life that have stuck out the most to her as being distinct and discourteous. She speaks upon how these events have shaped her into the author she is now and the difficult moments she had to go through to get there. In comparison to others in Tans life, growing up in a household of an immigrant family entails certain obstacles with a level of difficulty that others may not ever have to experience. The biggest obstacle of all is society itself.

To start off her essay, Tan first speaks on her joyous love for the English language and how she was never truly made aware of the different English she tends to use. She mentions that while giving a talk to a large audience about her fulfilling career in writing, she noticed that there was something that made that talk different from all the rest she had given. Her mother happened to be in the audience that day. It was at this moment that Tan realized that she was speaking in a more formal tone of English that she had never once communicated to her mother in. She was stating things such as, “The intersection of memory upon imagination” and “There is an aspect of my fiction that relates to thus-and-thus” (Page 1). While speaking about this experience, she recalled a conversation she had with her mother that previous week, where she was again conscious of the form of English she was speaking in. In contrast to the forms of sentences she was speaking during her lecture, she now caught herself forming sentences such as “Not waste money that way” (Page 1). While baffled with the switch of her English, she also happened to notice that her husband had not noticed anything different with the way she was speaking. She then understood the reasoning behind that being that she too uses that same form of English when communicating with him. She labels this form of English as her language of intimacy, the language she not only grew up with but the English that she uses when with her family. 

Although Tan can speak in perfect, fluent English her mother happens to speak in broken English. However, her mothers command of the English language does not happen to define just how much she can understand. According to Tan, “She reads the Forbes report, listens to Wall Street Week, converses daily with her stockbroker, and reads all of Shirley MacLaine books with ease” (page 1). While some may describe her English as not at all understandable, Tan happens to believe that it sounds perfect because it’s the language that she grew up with and has opened her eyes to the way that she not only perceives society but how society perceives her mother.

When speaking to someone with “Limited” English skills people's perception tends to also limit the person speaking. According to Tan she has witnessed this frequent occurrence in “department stores, banks, and at restaurants'' (Page 2). She has witnessed people go as far as to pretend not to understand her or simply ignore her presence all together. Growing up she always knew of her mothers limitations and would constantly be forced to help translate for her mother. Tan specifically recalls a moment when she was just fifteen years old and was forced to pretend to be her mother on a call with her stockbroker. While this moment did happen to lead to a quite humorous reaction, a similar situation she had to experience five days ago was not considered as pleasant. Tan happened to receive a call from a doctor at a local hospital stating that her mother was currently there and refusing to leave the premises. Once arriving there her mother explained to her that she was in fact there for an appointment to receive important results from a CAT scan that had recently revealed a benign brain tumor. While having apparently spoken in her best form of English, her mother stated that the hospital staff was not at all sympathetic when they revealed that they had lost her CAT scan. She stated that although she expressed her anxiousness for the situation, the staff was not compliant to give her any further information. However, once Tan spoke to the doctors in her perfect English they were quick to express their apologies and confirm a conference call to later discuss the results. 

While her mother was experiencing many societal challenges, Tan was at the same time struggling to break from society's standards as an Asian-American. She goes on to explain that while a person's linguistic skills are highly influenced by their peers, the language spoken in immigrant family households happens to play a larger role in shaping the language of a child. She believes that it is this exact reason that growing up she never could receive high results on achievement tests for her English skills as she did on her math skills. While she is now a very credible author she has often gotten questions from admirers as to why there are not more Asian American representation in literature as there is in engineering. This was a question she constantly found difficult to answer, seeing as how she constantly “rebelled” against the status quo for an Asian American student. Growing up she had decided to constantly take on the challenge of disproving the assumptions made about her. Even going as far as to freelance as a nonfiction writer after having been told by a former boss of hers that her writing happened to be her worst skill. It wasn’t until 1985 in the beginning of her transition to fiction writing that she was extremely focused on proving everyone who had ever doubted her skills in the past wrong. Fortunately however, she later decided to write as though her mother was the reader she was sharing her stories with. She began to write using all the English she grew up with, no matter how difficult or different it may be for society to understand. She was no longer worried about society's perception of who she was or who her mother was seen as, she was instead only focused on capturing “her passion, her imagery, the rhythms of her speech, and the nature of her thoughts” (Page 4). 

When reexamining certain aspects of Amy Tan's essay, one can understand the societal constructs that have been put in place for Asian Americans and the societal perception that affects them. Once having talked about her many uses for the different types of English she has acquired while growing up, she goes on to speak about the limitations her mother has when speaking the language and how that has affected how she is treated by others. When speaking about the many outlets her mother listens to and reads on a daily basis, many people would see that as a reason to identify her as an exemplary woman with a strong love for education. However, due to the fact that she speaks English differently from how others may, this gives society a reason to discriminate against her. Tan even goes on to mention how she has witnessed her mother being constantly looked down upon and ignored when in the presence of service workers. Service workers, whose job description is to meet the needs of the customer are instead placing themselves on a higher pedestal, and in turn losing a customer. An even more shocking example of how her mother is treated is when she is denied service at a hospital who is at fault for losing important documents. Not only was this situation completely inappropriate but if the results were to have been harmful to the patient this could have been classified as malpractice. 

Another aspect of Tan's essay that shows how societal constructs affect Asian Americans is the way that she was expected to follow a career in math or science rather than English. Not only does growing up in an immigrant household already give someone a disadvantage with the English language, but the way she was discouraged by a former employer says a lot about the expectations we set for Asian Americans. Many Asian Americans are already faced with the stereotypes that come with their race, without the need of having to disclaim it to them. If society were to treat every race with the same stereotypes that face many minorities, including Asian Americans, there would be an uproar of disapproval. However, because these issues are being faced by mainly minorities, they tend to go ignored along with the rest of society's issues. 

In conclusion, Amy Tan's essay not only shows a glimpse into her life but an inside perspective of the average Asian American struggles. Throughout the essay, societal based issues occur constantly that many others couldn’t possibly relate to. How someone speaks, acts, or what they are skilled at all affects how society and those around perceive them. While many of these instances may be considered rude rather than harmful, all it takes is one person to take it too far that it can become dangerous. Many people see the world around them as a beautiful place filled with peace and harmony, however it’s those that are struggling that gain the true perception of the world.