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Mother Tongue, by Amy Tan 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 others. I am a writer. And by that definition, I am someone who has always loved language. I am fascinated by language in daily life.
‘Mother Tongue’ is an essay by Amy Tan, an American author who was born to Chinese immigrants in 1952. Tan wrote ‘Mother Tongue’ in 1990, a year after her novel The Joy Luck Club was a runaway success. In the essay, Tan discusses her relationship with language, and how her mother’s influence has shaped her use of English, as well as ...
While Tan cannot “begin to understand” the media her mother engages with, her spoken English is “perfectly clear” to Tan and profoundly influences Tan’s life. Tan’s presentation of her mother emphasizes the complexity of her experience and the external—societal—influence on her identity.
Summary. Welcome to the LitCharts study guide on Amy Tan's Mother Tongue. Created by the original team behind SparkNotes, LitCharts are the world's best literature guides. Mother Tongue: Introduction. A concise biography of Amy Tan plus historical and literary context for Mother Tongue. Mother Tongue: Plot Summary.
Mother Tongue Summary. “Mother Tongue” is an autobiographical essay in which Amy Tan identifies the varied nature of language in her everyday life. As a result of her mother ’s presence at a talk for her book, The Joy Luck Club, Tan becomes acutely aware of the many different “ Englishes ” she speaks. Tan realizes that this is the ...
Amy Tan was born in Oakland, Calif., in 1952. Her parents moved to the United States from China a few years before her arrival. Tan has observed the culture clash between the two countries of her heritage for most of her life, and her writing often reflects it. Tan's first novel. The Joy Luck Club, explores relationships between Chinese mothers ...
Summary: “Mother Tongue”. “Mother Tongue” explores Amy Tan’s relationship with the English language, her mother, and writing. This nonfiction narrative essay was originally given as a talk during the 1989 State of the Language Symposium; it was later published by The Threepenny Review in 1990.
