Audrey Rouse
English 250
Section RK
February 10, 2013
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Textual Rhetorical Analysis
In Amy Tan’s essay, Mother Tongue, Tan tries to convince readers of the fact
that the validity and value of a person’s ideas and intents do not change due to the
way they speak, whether they use “perfect” or “broken” English. Tan also attempts
to explain that her “mother’s expressive command of English belies how much she
actually understands.”(283) She uses many examples to take readers into her life
experiences to discover this truth.
Amy Tan writes her essay in a very informal and anecdotal tone. She uses
first person throughout the entire essay and she adds many personal experiences to
increase the validity of her argument and to show that the topic has a very
important place in her life. The examples she uses also make her tone reflective. For
example, when she tells a story of her mother having trouble with the hospital
because of her English, Tan quotes her mother’s words “Why he not send me check,
already two weeks late. So mad he lie to me, losing me money.”(284) She does this
to reflect on how the encounter played out and to show how her mother’s English
affected the situation. Tan is also emotional and somewhat angry at certain points of
her essay and that makes the essay relatable and shows her passion for her topic.
This is displayed in the story of her mother’s trouble with the doctors but also when
she shares about her teachers “steering [her] away from writing and into math and
science.”(Tan 285) The reflective, emotional, and informal tones Tan uses suggest
Audrey Rouse
English 250
Section RK
February 10, 2013
that she is writing the essay for herself, to reflect the same way as writing in a
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journal, as well as to the educated people she is trying to convince.
To start off her essay, Tan uses disclaimers such as, “ I am not a scholar of
English or literature…I am a writer.”(282) By doing this, Tan prepares readers for a
more personal essay and shares her qualifications for writing about language. She
continues the essay with many stories about how her use of English came to her
conscience. She uses these stories to validate her claims about how spoken English
varies and to explain what impacts those variations had in her life. She uses of her
mother’s “broken” English to emphasize the differences in language uses. Tan also
provides examples of her use of “perfect” English in the story about her mother and
the doctors, and her lecture near the beginning. This shows that although she sees
the value of her mother’s English and even uses it at home, she felt the importance
of being able to use “perfect” English for her work as a writer. Throughout her
essay, Tan tends to wander, touching on many different instances where she recalls
her use of language affecting her life; this makes the essay slightly resemble a
journal entry. Tan ends the essay by telling about going back to her roots and seeing
the beauty of her mother’s English; at the end she tells about trying to capture that
English in her writing and says, “I knew I had succeeded where it counted when my
mother finished reading my book and gave me her verdict: ‘so easy to read.’”(286)
Amy Tan wrote Mother Tongue to display and convince readers of the value
of a person’s ideas no matter how “perfect” their English is. Although she does not
explicitly say it, Tan is also trying to convey the importance of staying true to
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Audrey Rouse
English 250
Section RK
February 10, 2013
yourself and going back to your roots even if the world doesn’t see things the same
way or even looks down upon it. Tan concludes that it is right for her mother’s ideas
to be expressed in the way she speaks English because it is more authentic, raw, and
true to her and carries so much more meaning than if she were to speak with
“perfect” English.
MLA Citation:
Tan, Amy. "Mother Tongue." Silverman, Jonathan, and Dean Rader. The World Is a
Text: Writing, Reading and Thinking about Visual and Popular Culture. 4th ed. Upper
Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2008. 282-86. Print.
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Audrey Rouse
English 250
Section RK
February 10, 2013
Name ____________________
Excellent
Good
Fair
Needs
Work
Context
x
Position: Thoughtful and perceptive definition of
topic; scope is appropriate to analysis (not just
summary of essay)
Purpose: Analyzes the major strategies used by writer.
x
Substance
x
Development: complete, relevant, and substantial; uses
carefully chosen specific quotations from text
Sources: appropriate for topic and accurately cited
x
Organization
Focus: focuses on analysis, no personal experience
Thesis: a focused thesis that clearly states argument
Introduction and Conclusion: Overview of
organization at beginning; conclusion sums key points
Relationship: relationship of ideas clear; coherent;
transitional devices used to guide reader
Unity: all paragraphs support thesis; paragraphs
structured around controlling ideas and fully
developed; no tangents
Sequence: material presented in a logical order
x
x
x
x
x
x
Style
Style: clear and concise writing
Sentence structure: sentences varied; subordination
and coordination used effectively
Vocabulary: precise, vivid and appropriate word
choice
Conventions/Correctness
 Free from Sentence-level errors
 Free from Word-level errors
x
x
x
x
Delivery
Works Cited: typed Works Cited page attached
Formatting: 1” margins; Times or Times New Roman
12 point font; MLA header; page numbers on pages
___x__Turned in draft & worked in conference.
Comments: The best thing about this is
x
x
the enthusiasm it displays
for the subject. You’ve done good close reading & pick out a key
details from Tan’s essay. That about exhausts the good news,
however. You have serious problems of organization, damaging
both individual ¶s & the overall sequence of ideas. Your 2nd ¶,
for instance, has at least two distinct topics, & then your
following ¶ seems to be a summary of the whole essay, serving no
clear purpose as part of a larger logical argument. That’s why
you fall into inaccurate generalities at the end. Plus you lack
your required 2nd citation. C+