Mother Tongue by Amy Tan Literary Analysis Essay

Mother Tongue is a story written by Chinese American storyteller Amy Tan consisting of a series of personal anecdotes that outline her Chinese mother’s experiences, more specifically hardships, in America. These hardships derived from constant misinterpretation(s) of her lacking the competence to assimilate to American customs and the English language. Not only was she denied respect, sympathy, and good service at restaurants, banks, department stores, and hospitals, but it was also difficult for her to effectively deliver her thoughts to others who all understood varying percentages of what she was trying to say. Tan, who had adopted both Standard English and “Chinglish,” possessed an advantage over her mother, who could only speak, “limited,” English. Therefore, Amy Tan’s mother, a Chinese immigrant, had a negative experience in America because she was significantly disrespected; she had to endure a burdensome language barrier when translating; she belied others with her imperfect English and how much she truly comprehended, thus encouraging others to perceive her differently.

My first statement of reasoning for why Amy Tan’s mother had a negative experience in America as a Chinese Immigrant was because she was significantly disrespected. On one intensely solemn occasion, a doctor had denied her mother access to her lost Brain Tumor CAT scan and showed no sympathy whatsoever; however, when Tan spoke to the doctor herself in Standard English, they, “had assurances the CAT scan would be found, promises that a conference call on Monday would be held, and apologies for any suffering my [her] mother had gone through for a most regrettable mistake” [Paragraph 13 of digital copy]. This quote is significant because it depicts how wrongfully mistreated immigrants like Tan’s mother are in the healthcare system. The difference in Englishes used in this situation received different reactions from the doctor, who unfortunately did not give her mother the respect that she deserved, nor the emotional support that is expected of a facility that is supposed to assess everyone's needs, whether they be physical or psychological regardless of sex, age, ethnicity, etc. In addition to this mistreatment at the Hospital, Tan’s mother struggled to get her point across over the phone as well.

My second line of reasoning for why Tan’s mother had a negative experience as a Chinese Immigrant in America since she had to endure a burdensome language barrier when translating. When Amy Tan was fifteen, her mother used to have her, “call people on the phone to pretend,” she was her due to the language barrier. For example, there was the time when she had to pose as her mother and translate, or more specifically properly articulate, complaints/questions to the Stockbroker in Standard English on her mother’s behalf [Page 9-12]. This piece of evidence supports my claim because it was exceedingly difficult for Tan’s mother to express herself in a comprehensive manner to others. Although she did possess the basic English skills needed to hold a conversation and read numerous books/newspapers/articles in English, people only heard the “broken,” “fractured,” or, “imperfect,” version of what she was trying to say since much of, “her intent, her passion, her imagery, the rhythms of her speech and the nature of her thoughts,” was lost in translation.

My final piece of reasoning for why her mother’s experience in America was negative as a Chinese Immigrant was because she belied others with her imperfect English and how much she truly comprehended, thus encouraging others to perceive her differently. On a regular basis, “...people in department stores, at banks, and at restaurants did not take her seriously, did not give her good service, pretended not to understand her, or even acted as if they did not hear her” [Paragraph 8 of digital copy]. By businesses demonstrating their inability, or unwillingness, to comprehend and respect non-fluent English speakers, they are indirectly saying that they think immigrants are intellectually inferior and that they do not deserve respect out of adhesion to prejudice principles, thus supporting my claim that immigrants like Tan’s mother tend to have more negative than positive experiences when immigrating to America.

Overall, Amy Tan’s late mother had a negative experience as a Chinese Immigrant in America and the bad unfortunately outweighed the good for most of her life. She was significantly disrespected (constantly), the language barrier distorted her translated thoughts, and many perceived her to be incompetent/unintelligent and unworthy of respect. Although Amy Tan had benefited from her two Englishes, her mother didn’t possess the same linguistic luxury as her daughter, which was the key factor for why she received such immoral treatment from Americans.