Analysis Of My Mother's English By Amy Tan

The definition of Logos can be variant dependent on the topic of logic that is being covered, but the continued consistency is the presence of proof. In Amy Tan’s article, “My Mother’s English,” Logos is prominently present later into the passage when Tan is proving that her mother can understand complex passages even though she may not be able to speak complete sentences. In Tan’s passage she defends her mother by saying, “You should know that my mother’s expressive command of English belies how much she actually understands. She reads Forbes report, listens to Wall Street Week, converses daily with her stockbroker, reads all Shirley MacLaine’s books with ease--all kinds of things I can’t begin to understand.” (3). In order to prove her logic

The examples she provides also cause an oxymoron between what she can speak and what she can understand, but the evidence substantiates Klass’ claim. Another example of Tan providing proof is when she states that whenever she speaks to her mother or husband in “fractured” English. She explains how that she typically falls into this pattern because she finds it logical to do so, she spoke to her mother like that and she speaks to her husband like that; to them their language is intimate. This is proof of Tan’s logic because during the situations she had listed she had felt like it was logical to speak in broken English. In Perri Klass’ article, “Learning the Language,” Klass provides examples of her development of learning medical terminology from indecipherable to an eloquent master of the language. Her example of her state of being incapable to comprehend what the other residents are saying is when she says, “I started out in a state of primeval innocence, in which I didn’t even know that ‘s CP, SOB, N/V” meant ‘without chest pain, shortness of breath or nausea and vomiting.’” (1). This quote shows Klass’ original logic toward the medical language; innocently