Romell Clarke
Prof. Gibbs
English 112 Section: 046
Question #2
Have you ever been given a set of instructions and don’t want to carry it out because you disagree with whoever gave them out? Or, have you been in a situation where you were so determined to prove someone wrong that you stop at nothing to ensure your successful? Well this was the case with Amy Tan in the composition Mother Tongue. Resistance is defined as the ability to oppose a dominant force and we will be examining how this term applies to this composition. Resistance may be necessary in some cases while in others it may not, this is all dependent on how the individual/s decides to go about doing so.
Tan is living in the United States with her mother, both who are not native of there. The difference between Tan and her mother though, is the fact that she speaks English fluently as she is a writer while her mother speaks what is known to the American natives as a broken English. She makes it know to the reader in the beginning that she is not a scholar of English or literature. Tan also expresses a special love for the language and its variety but resented the way how those who were fluent looked at others who don’t speak it very well. As for Tan, she always understood clearly what her mother was saying and was puzzled as to how others were unable to, this sometimes caused her to become ashamed of her mother. This is where her resistance to the English language became a major factor in her life.
The stereotypes of Asians being unable to speak or even excel in English is present now as it was during Tan’s time. “And perhaps they also have teachers who are steering them away from writing and into math and science, which is what happened to me” was one of Tan’s thoughts on the situation one of the many wh...
