Cover Letter

     Mother tongue is a language that a person learns for the first time, and everyone has their own mother tongue.  Mother tongue is the carrier of national culture and the root of national survival and development.  In today’s era of multicultural competition and convergence in the world, mother tongue has received more and more general attention. We cannot do without our mother tongue for exchanging thoughts and feelings, appreciating literary works, and mastering scientific and cultural knowledge.  It can be said that we feel our mother tongue, learn our mother tongue, and use our mother tongue every day.

     As Amy describes in Mother Tongue, the English she used with her mother was “simple” and it has become the language of “our” intimacy and the language that grew up with Amy. Despite the many inconveniences and difficulties this language has caused in Amy’s and her mother’s lives, she decided to use this “simple” English to write a novel about the impact of her native language on their lives. Although this English is ridiculous and funny to others, in Amy and Tan’s mother’s eyes, this native language is kind and welcoming. At the same time, she also wants to use the article “Mother Tongue” to explain to readers that “perfect” and “imperfect” should not be used as a definition of language. Secondly, she hopes that after reading this article, readers will stop discriminating against those who cannot speak English fluently.

     After reading Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue,” I was deeply moved by the author’s description of her mother readings the Fobes report, listens to Wall Street Week, converses daily with her stockbroker, reads all of Shirley MacLaine’s books with ease. Although her mother is a little deficient in spoken English, it does not stop her from reading books, listening to the radio, etc. From this part of the article, I learned that even if a person speaks differently, it doesn’t mean that they are the same in other ways. It is like the Chinese says, “Never judge by appearance” (in this case, don’t judge someone’s intelligence based on his or her lack of fluency. In this case, don’t assume that someone’s intelligence is also “limited” based on his or her lack of fluency).

The “perfect” or “imperfect” way of speaking

     The Joy Luck Club is a book written by Amy Tan, a Chinese American author, and published in 1990. In her chapter “Mother Tongue,” Amy describes examples of her life with her mother and writes about them in prose form. She uses vivid language to describe what happened to her and her mother, digging deeper and deeper to express her feelings about society and life. In the essay, Amy points out that this structure, which is neither English nor Chinese, is her native language, and at first, she thinks that her mother’s intelligence is “limited” because of her mother’s use of this “imperfect” English. Through this text, Amy attempts to demonstrate to the reader that no specific definition should be given to any way of speaking and that one should not arbitrarily define someone’s intelligence based on the way they speak.

     At the beginning of the article, Amy introduces “I am not a scholar of English or literature. I cannot give you much more than personal opinions on the English Language and its variations in this country or other.”(paragraph 1) This section highlights her status and authority (Ethos) as she explains to the reader that she is not an expert on the English language, she is just a writer, and she can only give her personal advice to others. At the end of the essay, Amy explains that she will write the essay in her native language, and although this structure, which is neither English nor Chinese, will be criticized by many critics, Amy still chooses to use this “imperfect” English to produce the essay. It is this different approach that makes this article so special. She wanted to capture what language ability tests can never reveal: her intent, her passion, her imagery, the rhythms of her speech and the nature of her thoughts. Based on Amy’s introduction of herself at the beginning of the essay, it adds to a great extent to the reader’s credibility of the essay. Firstly, it is a description of Amy and her mother’s experience with language difficulties, which cannot be replicated by others; secondly, Amy explains that she will write this essay in her native language, which creates a difference in the essay. Based on these two points, the reader can trust this essay completely.

     Logos appeals to the audience’s reason, building up logical arguments, and this is reflected in the essay. Amy believes that her mother’s English pretty much limits Amy’s possibilities in life. When Amy was in elementary school, she did well in math (mostly A’s or better), but she did relatively poorly in English (B’s or B+’s). Being of Chinese descent, she naturally did better in math than in English, (para. 14) which set the stage for Amy’s later life as a high school student. When Amy entered college, she took an English writing class. At first, she wondered why so few Asian Americans were taking creative writing classes. It wasn’t until later that she understood why. Because Asian students can do better in math and science courses compared to English courses, her instructors advised her to change her major instead of continuing with English. Amy explains through the rhetorical analysis of logos that her mother’s English also limited the possibilities of “I” in life. She points out that she did not have a high level of success in English as a child, which led her to have her professors consider her to be writing-challenged when she went to college. All of this led Amy to believe that it was her mother’s “broken” English that limited her success in English.

     Throughout most of the article, Amy uses the rhetoric of pathos to describe the discrimination and prejudice her mother suffered because she was unable to speak English fluently. Perhaps “my” mother had realized the limitations of her English, so she stopped calling the stockbroker and asked me to take her place, because Amy’s mother knew that others would not help her because of her “broken” English, so she sought Amy’s help. With the help of Amy’s “perfect” English, the problem of the delayed delivery of the check was quickly solved. (Paragraph 9) Similar things happen in hospitals, department stores, banks, and restaurants. When Amy’s mother went to the hospital for an appointment to find out the results of a CAT scan from a month earlier, the doctor claimed they had lost the CAT scan results and told Amy’s mother that she would need to make another appointment if she wanted to consult for a diagnosis. Perhaps because Amy’s mother was not fluent in spoken English, they did not offer her any sympathy or help. It was only after the doctor called Amy and spoke with her that the hospital assured them that they would look up the results of Amy’s mother’s CAT scan and apologized for their actions (para. 13). Both the stock manager and the hospital were cold and neglectful of her mother because they could not speak fluent English. Before that, Amy’s friends had also said that they had difficulty understanding Amy’s mother’s English. But in fact, the mother’s intelligence far exceeded her spoken level because she reads the Fobes report, listens to Wall Street Week, converses daily with her stockbroker, reads all of Shirley MacLaine’s books with ease – all kinds of things I can’t begin to understand.

     Through the rhetorical analysis of Ethos, Logos and Pathos, Amy describes to the reader how language has affected her and her mother, as well as how society is prejudiced against “broken” English speakers. Through this essay, she tries to prove to the reader that no way of speaking should be defined as “perfect” or “imperfect” because everyone has a different way of speaking and they should not be treated differently for it; furthermore, Amy wants to Amy also wants to urge people not to assume that just because someone has a “lame” way of speaking that their intelligence is the same as their way of speaking.