Lunsford (2007)

Mother Tongue -

This story pulled me in for some reason and I loved the story itself so it would be an honor to talk about it. Sounded like a cliche there right? Anyways, I felt that Amy Tan (the author of the story) truly expressed the problems and showed her arguments smoothly. She felt that languages don't make a person who s/he is. Amy used her mother as an example to indicate that even though she wasn't fluent in English; she still had some 'vivid observations' that possessed the talents of a brilliant human being. For instance, she reads all of Shirley Maclaine's books which are utterly unbelievable to begin with along with the Forbes report. The way Amy Tan writes the story of Mother Tongue is very soothing and it makes the story more interesting. If she had written the story in a more stern and advanced language, I would have lost motivation and stopped reading. But what she did was write it in such a language that made me feel as if I'm the author myself and telling a story to people. The Lunsford discussion of arguments related a lot to this story. For instance, the author knew how to argue efficiently using some emotional appeals which hooked me into the story and sided with Amy and wanted her to succeed. The emotional appeal in this story is very effective and there are different sides of this story that people can relate to in certain ways. For example, I immediately related to Amy when she was used as an interpreter to talk with her mother's stockbroker... I have many friends who are continually asked to interpret in public places ranging from restaurants to hearing friends. Even though I'm not the one that is asked to interpret, I can still feel their pain because it can get quite tiresome having to speak for someone all the time. Also, Amy used her mother's character to argue her point efficiently. She stated that her mother was very gifted and showed that by giving examples of what she did everyday from the Forbes to vivid observations. With her mother's strong character, Amy convinced me that even though her mother wasn't fluent in English, she still was smarter than I could even dream to be. Basically, Amy Tan succeeded what she set out to do and that is to convince us that language can influence what your identity becomes.