Aanya Singhal
Ms. Bevilacqua
AP Language and Composition 4
10 January 2025
SPACE-CAT for the Tan’s Essay
Speaker:
In the essay “Mother Tongue,” the speaker is Amy Tan, who portrays herself as a rational and
compassionate individual who is deeply aware of the experiences of immigrants and the
complexities of the language they face. As the daughter of a non-native English speaker, she
explores how her mother’s very “limited” English shaped her views towards her language,
identity, and writing career.
Purpose:
The purpose of Tan’s essay is to reveal the struggles immigrants face in language communication
while also making the audience realize the significance of language in shaping a person’s
identity. She also explains the impact of societal attitudes toward non-native English speakers.
Audience:
The audience of Tan’s essay includes English speakers in the United States, who hold biases and
have different views of immigrants. Her audience also includes people whose first language isn't
English and who are experiencing communication issues regarding the difference in languages.
People interested in studying different languages and cultures will benefit from reading her
essay.
Context-
Tan wrote her essay at a time when immigrant families were facing challenges with different
languages that were not widely known or discussed by anyone. Her essay took place when there
were growing challenges for immigrant families in assimilating to other languages and cultural
backgrounds and how these new environments shaped their identity.
Exigence:
The exigence behind Tan’s essay is the societal impact on these non-native English speakers by
their society and the challenges they face because of the difference in the languages.
Additionally, Tan was prompted to look at the impact of these limitations on one’s identity when
communicating with different languages.
ChoicesAmy Tan’s effective use of personal anecdotes highlights how language shapes a persons’
personal identity. She brings up a time when her mother’s “broken” English gave her mother
problems in communicating. For instance, she writes, “My mother has long realized the
limitations of her English as well. When I was fifteen, she used to have me call people on the
phone to pretend I was she” (pg 557). This specific personal anecdote shows the limitations her
mother faced when she appeared in public spaces, which then forced Tan to communicate
correctly by using her own voice. Similarly, Tan brings upon a time when she and her mother
were at the hospital. She supports her point that language affects personal identity by saying
“And when 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 a conference call on
Monday would be held, and apologies for any suffering my mother had gone through for a most
regrettable mistake”(pg 558). Her use of personal anecdotes shows how society views people
who know how to speak as intelligent, and those other people who cannot speak correctly as
being nonrational. Furthermore, Tan's use of personal anecdotes shows how non - native
speakers face struggles in communication in their daily lives. It also puts an emphasis on how
these communication barriers changed her identity as a writer and a daughter. Ultimately, Tan’s
use of personal anecdotes reinforces the idea that language is just not only made for
communication but rather it has a major impact on a person’s personal identity for them and their
society.
AppealsAmy Tan creates credibility in her essay by establishing herself as being both a writer and a
daughter of a non-native mother. She includes herself with her audience when she states “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”(pg 556). By openly stating her
weaknesses in communicating through a different language Tan makes herself a reliable person
for her audience to believe her. Furthermore, she further builds her credibility when she explains
how her mother’s “broken” English has also affected her identity and her writing career. As a
daughter to a non-native mother, she makes herself a reliable person to discuss language
complexities that nonspeakers of that language face. This makes her audience connect to her
words more as they can see how Tan herself has experienced being a native and having been
impacted by language barriers.
Tone:
The tone of Amy Tan’s essay is empathetic.
Thesis:
In Amy Tan’s empathetic essay, she expresses personal anecdotes and juxtaposition to show how
language has a big impact on one’s personal identity.