Rhetorical Analysis Of Mother Tongue

Well-known novelist, Amy Tan, describes in her essay, Mother Tongue, how her language changes when talking with different people, as well as her mother’s “broken” English; therefore, Tan delivers her message about her language and identity. Tan’s purpose is to convey the idea that “the language spoken in the family, especially in immigrant families which are more insular, plays a large role in shaping the language of the child” (Zapico, 32). The language spoken in the family is always important to the child since those words are the first things the child heard in his or her entire life. Keeping that flow in the audience’s mind, Tan adopts a sentimental tone in order to appeal to similar feelings and experiences in her adult readers, especially …show more content…
She uses each mode in her writing in order to appeal to the readers, persuade their mindsets, and interest them in what she is discussing. By using the ethos strategy, which is credibility appeals, Tan has built the trust in her audiences. She makes personal references and descriptions of her own accomplishments throughout the article. Tan begins her story by acknowledging the audience that she is not “a scholar of English or literature” (Zapico, 29), she can only give her “personal opinions on the English language and its variations in this country or others” (Zapico, 29) and by confessing that she is a writer who loves language and uses it as a tool in daily life. People can feel themselves in Tan’s confession since they express themselves, share their emotions, and write their stories by using words. Written by a non-native English speaker, Tan, and providing real life stories about her mother and herself struggling in America and in English language makes this novel a wonderful attention getter. As an Asian American, Tan has great experience with the subject matter, and this allows her to appeal to the readers by proving her credibility. Tan also builds her own trust in the audiences’ mind by using appropriate language, grammar, and excellent writing skills as well as telling stories …show more content…
A good variety of sentence fluency, logical tone, and superior word choice was used to express Tan’s idea that language spoken in family, especially immigrant families, has the most influence on the child language development; on the other hand, language is not a tool for people to judge others, instead, everyone should be treated the same, no matter native speakers or immigrants. This story is also a wake-up call for people when judging others, especially those who do not speak proper English, rather than bring them down, we should together help them

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A Rhetorical Analysis Of Mother Tongue By Amy Tan

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