I selected "Mother Tounge" by Amy Tan for my long-term critical analysis. This article hits home because growing up as an immigrant in the United States of America, I went through a similar journey as the author did. The subtitle" Don't Judge a book by its cover . .. or someone's intelligence by her English" are words that resonated with me because of my mother, who, just like Amy's mother, struggled with the English language and created a "Mother Tounge" for my family and me.
Based on my literal reading of "Mother Tounge" by Amy Tan, I have come to the conclusion that the goal of the author was to entertain and share insights on her experience and her mother's experience with the English language as an immigrant. There are portions of the story where she notes this, for example, she stated that during a talk about her book and life, she was made "Keenly aware of the different English" she used. She shows how on different occasions, she has come to realize that she defaults to a "Mother Tounge" or the type of English her mother used and that she grew up with. For example, when she is at the store with her mother and husband and says, " Not waste money that way," she notes that this is her and her family's intimate tongue due to the fact that no one notes the change in her colloquialism.
I also notice that even though she mentions at the start of the story that this is her "personal opinions on the English language, " she never actually created an argument to persuade the reader to come to her conclusion that we should not judge a book by its cover or how part of her subtitle states " Or someone's intelligence by her English". Her goal was to share insight into her journey of becoming aware of her view and biases of the English langue and how she and her family use it. This is clearly shown at the end of her story where after much reflection she begins to think who her audience should be and uses her mother as the standard for the said audience. We see this again by how she finishedher article, " Apart from what any critic had to say about my writing, I knew I had succeeded where it counted when my mother finished reading my book and gave me her verdict: "So easy to read" ".
The three possible key points that I found support the author's purpose. For starters, the tone of the article and the lack of argumentation found in it. Although...
