Mother Tongue Questions and Answers
Mother Tongue
Who is the intended audience for "Mother Tongue"?
Amy Tan's essay “Mother Tongue” can appeal to a broad audience, but it is also geared toward a particular subset of that audience. Broadly speaking, Tan writes her essay for anyone interested in...
Mother Tongue
In Amy Tan's short story "Mother Tongue," explain the essence of what "mother tongue" signifies in the story.
Amy Tan's essay "Mother Tongue" discusses the way that language changes, and the ways it stays the same, inside contexts of immigration and generational time. It explores these ideas through how...
Mother Tongue
I am doing an assignment about the essay "Mother Tongue," but I am having a hard time understanding the claim of the...
In her essay “Mother Tongue,” Amy Tan indeed argues that a speaker’s command of a language belies their knowledge, thoughts, and worth. She demonstrates this claim by illustrating that her mother’s...
Mother Tongue
What organizational pattern does Tan use in "Mother Tongue," and how does she control her tone?
The principal method of organization Amy Tan uses in “Mother Tongue” is that of comparison and contrast. The essay contrasts two types of English, the formal variety “filled with carefully wrought...
Mother Tongue
What argument is Tan making here about language and its connection to our identity in "Mother Tongue"? What...
Amy Tan, like many children of immigrants, has more than one identity, and these identities are primarily defined by language. Tan says that her identity as a writer was originally separate from...
Mother Tongue
In "Mother Tongue," Amy Tan explains that she uses multiple "Englishes" in her daily life. What is your response to...
This question is asking you to make a very personal response or connection to the text, so your answer will be shaped by your own experiences and opinions. A number of answers are acceptable as...
Mother Tongue
What is the context of “Mother Tongue”? What is the author's purpose, style, and tone in the story?
The term “context” can apply to any elements that are relevant to a text that are not thoroughly developed within the text. Knowing the context often provides clues to interpretation of important...
Mother Tongue
Explain the meaning of Tan’s title and how it relates to her own identity as both a Chinese American, a daughter, and...
The term "mother tongue" means "native language." Tan's title is a play on words which makes the point that her own mother tongue is not the same as that of her mother, a native speaker of Chinese....
Mother Tongue
What does “different Englishes” mean?
In "Mother Tongue" by Amy Tan, "different Englishes" are the various forms of English languages and the different circumstances in which the author utilizes them. Every form of English represents...
Mother Tongue
What is Amy Tan’s primary identity according to what she says in paragraphs 1-3 of "Mother Tongue"?
The second paragraph of Amy Tan's "Mother Tongue" explicitly establishes her primary identity. She begins the second paragraph with the topic sentence "I am a writer." By that, she goes on to...
Mother Tongue
How did Tan’s teachers identify her when she was in high school? On what were these descriptions and perceptions...
At one point in "Mother Tongue," Amy Tan wonders why it is that there aren't more Asian Americans represented in American literature and why there aren't more Asian Americans enrolled in creative...
Mother Tongue
Explain the title for "Mother Tongue."
The title of Amy Tan's essay "Mother Tongue" is meant to have a few different meanings. One's mother tongue is the language that one grows up speaking; for Tan's mother, it was the Mandarin dialect...
Mother Tongue
Describe how others (those who do not know her intimately) see Tan's mother versus how Tan describes her in "Mother...
Amy Tan tells us that, despite her broken English, her mother understands a lot more than one would think. For instance, Mrs. Tan is able to read Forbes reports, converse with her stockbroker, and...
Mother Tongue
Explain why Tan calls herself a rebel in "Mother Tongue" and how this identity led to her becoming a writer.
In describing herself as “rebellious by nature,” Amy Tan also calls herself “fortunate.” She is talking about the lack of coherence between her scores in the language area of the SAT and similar...
Mother Tongue
At one point, Tan writes about being embarrassed about her mother. Discuss how and why parents’ identities and...
In the early teen years, sons and daughters begin the inevitable process of detaching from their parents. From the parents's perspective, it can feel abrupt and wrenching. From the teens's...
Mother Tongue
This question is about the essay "Mother Tongue" by Amy Tan. Even though the focus of the essay is the author's...
Tan's version of the American Dream is similar to that of Lennie and George in Of Mice and Men because she wants to express herself and live out dreams that speak specifically to her. When she...
Mother Tongue
How could I go about writing four pages about the essay "Mother Tongue" by Amy Tan, citing two or more different...
Since you did not say what claims your essay needs to make and support, I will assume that is up to you. An interesting approach to "Mother Tongue" by Amy Tan would be to compare it to essays from...
Mother Tongue
Although Amy Tan was born in the United States, her writing is shaped to a great degree by the immigrant experience....
The original question had to be edited. I would suggest that Amy Tan straddles the immigrant world as well as the native- born hyphenated American world in her discussion of language, writing, and...
Mother Tongue
In "Mother Tongue," Amy Tan uses people's inclination to assume as a way of exploring the subject of identity. Find...
In her essay "Mother Tongue," Amy Tan reveals incidents in which her mother experienced disrespect because of the way she speaks English. Let's look at some of these and think about the assumptions...