Mother Tongue Analysis

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The essays, "Mother Tongue" by Amy Tan and "Private Language, Public Language" by Richard Rodriguez are recollections of both authors’ personal encounters and difficulties with the gap that was created between their family and public languages. These two writers grew up in immigrant families, in which English was not their primary language. Consequently, they had a hard time accepting and understanding the difference between the two languages they had to speak at home and in the society. Both authors grew up speaking their native, private language at home with their parents and siblings. These private languages were familiar to them and provided them with a feeling of closeness and belonging with their family. Unfortunately, the gap between …show more content…
American values are often forced upon students and a certain way of life is expected of them. The struggle of fitting in and accepting the cultural background is a major point in both essays. Tan and Rodriguez both experienced difficulty with English when they attended school Tan believes, to some extent, her public English is constrained by her mother’s limited English. Amy Tan believes that "mother’s English almost had an effect on limiting my possibilities in life" (260). That’s why Tan comes to the idea that the language spoken in the family, especially in immigrant families, plays a large role in developing person’s language skills. Rodriguez had an even more difficult time in school. English made him so uncomfortable that he did not speak it at all, until his parents forced him to learn the language by speaking only allowing English to be spoken at home. While this did help him to improve his skills and learn English, it also caused his Spanish skills to deteriorate, which consequently altered the closeness and connection that he felt with his family. Rodriguez illustrated the discontent he felt when he said “…I noted the incongruity – the clash of the two worlds, the faces and voices of school intruding upon the familiar setting of home” …show more content…
For example, Amy tan believes that the mother tongue "has become our language of intimacy, a different sort of English that relates to family talk, the language I grew up with" (507). That is, despite the personal struggle with their family languages that both authors went through in their childhood, their private language has been a large part of their lives and has helped shape their view of the
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