Amy Tan Mother Tongue Summary

In “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan she uses her relationship with her mother whom is a Chinese immigrant to showcases obstacles due to assimilation such as discrimination, language barriers, and accepting one's true identity. Tan gives readers a clear view of her life with information dating back to her childhood. She constantly stresses how her mother’s language or tongue has affected her entire life. Tan emphasized that her mother spoke “broken English”. Growing up with a Chinese immigrant mother that spoke broken English made it difficult for the Tan's family to assimilate or adapt to the American culture. According to Amy Tan’s biography, her parents were born in China but she is from the United States, specifically California. In addition,

her biography states that she obtained her B.A. with a double major in English and Linguistics and her M.A. in Linguistics. Once she started her career she obtained a position as a language development specialist for disabled children. It was not until 1985 when Tan started to be more involved in her writing career and it was not until 1990 that Tan published the essay “Mother Tongue” (citation).
Tan conveys to the reader that assimilation caused discrimination issues because of their language for both her and her mother.

According to Britannica, assimilation is the process of immigrants or minorities adapting and altering themselves to be almost an exact replica of the culture surrounding them that they have been newly placed in (citation.) Language or communication is one of the main assimilation factors. In “Mother Tongue” Tan states

"Lately, I've been giving more thought to the kind of English my mother speaks. Like others, I have described it to people as 'broken" or "fractured" English. But I wince when I say that. It has always bothered me that I can think of no way to describe it other than "broken," as if it were damaged and needed to be fixed as if it lacked a certain wholeness and soundness. I've heard other terms used, "limited English," for example. But they seem just as bad, as if everything is limited, including people's perceptions of the limited English speaker (Tan

?).
I believe the point that Tan is trying to prove is that when the immigrant can no proficiently communicate English in a certain manner they are looked at as unintelligent people. Furthermore, Tan stresses how language controlled how they were accepted as Chinese Americans. She does this by showing how her mother was treated by people such as the stockbroker. The stockbroker seemed to purposely mistreat Tan’s mother due to her limited English. The broker was a typical American discriminator who attempted to get over on Tan’s mother due to what he may have assumed was an inability to understand proper English or have common sense. Moreover, Tan goes on to describe how Chinese Americans or children of Chinese immigrants are heavily discriminated in their career field. Tan states, “Because lately I've been asked, as a writer, why there are not more Asian Americans represented in American literature. Why are there few Asian Americans enrolled in creative writing programs? Why do so many Chinese students go into engineering!(Tan?)” Here Tan shows readers that because she is Chinese she is expected to work only in a specific career field. As a Chinese, she is being stereotyped as only have the capability to perform in things such as math and science and not in any creative field. To Tan, Americans deemed her incapable of being a part of the occupations due to many things one, their language. For Tan, this was her way of breaking that stereotypical barrier, by becoming a writer.
Breaking career barriers were not the only thing Tan did by entering into the creative field of writing but in “Mother Tongue” readers are given a chance to see Tan a Chinese American break through language barriers. Tan showed readers that due to being forced to adapt to her surrounding including the ability to speaking accurately created a large language barrier for her and her mother. Language is a form of communication. Its purpose is to relay information properly from one person to another. When one struggles to do so, information is misguided. For Tan or any immigrant, not being able to speak fluent English takes away their capability to speak English fluently so that Americans may fully understand them. It decreases their chance of being able to fully express themselves. Furthermore, Tan uses her broken image to showcase the power of language and the barriers that are created. She says
"Some say they understand 80 to 90 percent. Some say they understand none of it as if she were speaking pure Chinese. But to me, my mother's English is perfectly clear, perfectly natural. It's my mother tongue. Her language, as I hear it, is vivid, direct, full of observation and imagery. That was the language that helped shape the way I saw things, expressed things, made sense of the world."
Here is where Tan conveys to the reader the importance of acceptance ones turns identity, including their “broken English”. Tan finally came to terms with her broken English. As a child, she was ashamed of her way of speaking or her mother’s broken English. Instead of fully adapting to Americans language Tan decided that she would speak family talk with her family and more complex or accurate English in public.
In the essay she says
“We were talking about the price of new and used furniture and I heard myself saying this: "Not waste money that way." My husband was with us as well, and he didn't notice any switch in my English.

And then I realized why. It's because over the twenty years we've been together I've often used that same kind of English with him, and sometimes he even uses it with me. It has become our language of intimacy, a different sort of English that relates to family talk, the language I grew up with.”

The following lines showcase that Tan and the people who were around her on a daily basis such as her husband became adapted to her way of speaking “broken English”. Due to being around Tan so long he does not attempt to correct her. It is also important to note that Tan’s husband has found a way to fully understand her broken English without questioning what she is trying to say. When Tan states “Not waste money that way” her husband more than likely understands that she is trying to say I will not waste my money in this manner.”

She was determined to no longer force herself alter her way of

speaking.

Coming to terms with “broken English” seemed to be a difficult journey for Amy Tan, but in Mother Tongue, she was able to illustrate to readers specifically immigrants that one must accept their true identity but there will be many obstacles such as language barriers and discrimination. Tan used “Mother Tongue” to showcase that she is both American and Chinese not just one of each. She stressed the importance of knocking down discriminatory walls by becoming what most Americans assumed Chinese could not. She became American writer, not a doctor, scientist, or engineer. Overall, as a reader Tan, I feel as though Tan wants readers to know one should be forced to adapt or alter themselves to fit into their dominant environment.