Rhetorical Analysis Essay
Countless new people move to United States every day, whether is from Japan, Brazil, Italy, etc. There are many people from all over the world that speak very different languages that when they come to the U.S. it is necessary to learn to speak English. Everyone having a way of speaking it very different from another person. There have been many arguments about the proper way to speak English or how “proper” someone speaks English. There also could be miscommunication. However, foreigners are usually mistreated because they don’t speak “proper” English.
Amy Tan is an Asian American author with many incredible works. For example, “The Valley of Amazement”, “The Joy Luck Club”, “the Kitchen God’s Wife” and many others. Mother Tongue (1990) is one of her works that is very interesting. Mother Tongue goes over how Amy has different ways of speaking English with different people. It also goes in detail about Amy and her mother and their experiences together with the English language. It shows the many instances Amy helped her mother with many different things that all had to do with the way her mother speaks English. Tan dives into her experiences herself explaining and showing how language impacted her life whether it was in something as mundane school or her own experiences at work. Also, Tan describes her mother’s experiences with her way of speaking English that were made her struggle throughout her life in.
Mother Tongue’s author Amy Tan claims that people that struggle with the English language are often mistreated. For example, Tan in her paper states ” And I had plenty of empirical evidence to support me; the fact that 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”(2.) The evidence above shows how Tan’s mother was a witness in how many different people mistreated her mother because of her “limited” English. This is very similar of how my mother is dismissed in some stores because of the way she speaks English. Furthermore, Amy states in her work ” And the doctor finally called her daughter, me, who spoke in perfect English — lo and behold — we had assurances the CAT scan would be found, promises that a conference call on Monday would be held, and apologies for any suffering my mother had gone through for a most regrettable mistake”(2.) This shows how Tan’s mother was heavily mistreated because of her “broken” English, the staff at the hospital were so rude and very unconcerned about her genuine fears of her CAT scans being lost and not knowing if she was okay or not. Someone who spoke perfect English in that situation wouldn’t have gotten that treatment just like when Amy talked on behalf of her mother and asked something to be done, the staff immediately gave solutions to the problem. This further proves how people that struggle with speaking English are seriously mistreated in countless occasions whether is something small like sending back something at a restaurant or something a lot more serious like a doctor’s scan about someone’s health that could be deadly.
In conclusion, Amy Tan’s Mother Tongue perfectly portrays the many ways someone that does not speak “proper” English is very mistreated in so many different occasions. People are not taken seriously, they are dismissed, ignored and very rudely spoken to. It could be in very different places like a restaurant, hospital, supermarket, etc. This is a very big issue that makes many people not confident and often embarrassed of their own family or themselves. However, this is not something that should happen because not everyone speaks perfect English but everyone deserves to be listened to and acknowledge.
