Effective Devices

831 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: essay analysis

Effective Devices

There is a description of the family who migrated from Vietnam to the US, and they are having a language problem inside of family in the essay, “Language Use in Family and in Society,” from the English textbook, Constructing Others, Constructing Ourselves. (Lee Thomas, Linh Cao 61 -71). The parents cannot speak English although the children are comfortable with speaking English. As a result, the parents and children cannot communicate appropriately in various situations, and the parents have lost their authority on their children. The children do not respect their parents because they cannot be proud of their parents. In fact, the majority of people who migrated to the US forget their mother tongue after coming to the US because it is no longer necessary for them. The authors, Lee Thomas and Linh Cao, inform us to take this issue as a serious thing for the future of the U.S. In this essay, they use very effective strategies to help the audience understand this issue. I will analyze this essay by using the concepts of rhetorical triangle, structure of the argument, and rhetorical appeals.

First, I use rhetorical triangle to analyze the essay. First, Lee Thomas and Linh Cao are the authors of this essay. Lee Thomas teaches linguistics courses in the English department at the University of Nevada, Reno, and Linh Cao is also an English teacher at Sparks High School in Nevada. There are professionals in the study of English. Secondly, the audience is English teacher, people who are in this situation, people who are interested in this problem, and the US government. Third, the purpose is to inform to the US government and American people about the issue that parents and children who cannot communicate with their family because of the different languages which they are familiar with individually. The issue has not well known to the majority of people in the U.S. However, the number of people in this situation will increase in the future because of immigration to the US, and it will continue to cause serious problems.

Secondly, I will analyze the essay in terms of the structure of the argument. There are five different aspects.

Show More
Related

  • Einsatzgruppen (Mobile Killing Squads)

    757 Words  | 2 Pages

    The time, 1941, the place, the then Soviet Union, the Red Army is in retreat from the German forces, following closely behind the German frontline is an unspeakable force coming over the conquered lands like a deadly plague. The Einsatzgruppen were considered as mobile death dealers by their victims. The major occupation of the Einsatzgruppen was the humiliation, extermination, and complete of annihilation of Jews, Romany or gypsies, members of the communist party, and intellectsia or major thinkers. They were organized to be the most efficient at occupying and murdering the undesirables. The leaders of these hounds of war were hand selected by Heydrich Himmler from the brightest, bravest, and most loyal of the Nazi members. The Einsatzgruppen were broken down to cover more area and to cause more chaos. Their techniques for killing were horrific, and in some cases could even tax the mind of the executioner. They were responsible for most of the murders of Jews during World War 2. Almost every huge massacre site they were at it killing undesirables.

    Read More

  • Amy Tan's Mother Tongue

    1115 Words  | 3 Pages

    The audience Tan is reaching are people who are very ignorant to the fact that others who speak broken English, regardless of race, know that they are taken advantage of and are not given the respect that a fluent English speaking person would get. The essay is also aimed toward people who can relate to the ?language of intimacy? (36), which is a different sort of English ...

    Read More

  • Connectivity And Its Discontents By Sherry Turkle

    1233 Words  | 3 Pages

    Some relatives have strong relationships. They stay together, having their own language which accompany them to grow up. Personal language expresses their life. Their language can be understood by each other but can not be understood by strangers. It can not be captured by language test; it also can not be understood easily by language research. It is like mother’s speaking, only being captured by sons and daughters, can not be understood by teachers, professors, and researchers, “I wanted to capture what language ability tests can never reveal: her intent, her passion, her imagery, the rhythms of her speech and the nature of thoughts.” (Amy Than 139) Author, never expressing her love and feeling by writing, uses personal language to show her affection to her mother, since personal language is more genial than normal communication language, and witness the growth of each

    Read More

  • Hitler's Tactics of Torture

    879 Words  | 2 Pages

    Hitler’s first and foremost goal in Germany was to eliminate all of the Jews. With this plan in mind, he consistently sought different methods to kill Jews. One of the first methods Hitler used to complete this mass murder operation was the Einsatzgruppen. According to A Teacher’s Guide to the Holocaust, the Einsatzgruppen were killing units generally composed of German SS and police personnel(...

    Read More

  • Einsatzgruppen Essay

    806 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...m, the Holocaust may not have been as destructive. Although the Einsatzgruppen (and members) were reflected upon the massive amount of deaths, many members, if not all, thought that they were protecting Germany. The massacres of innocent people weren’t the crimes of crazy people. The executioners were “normal” men who respected, and followed the orders of their officers. These men knew what they were doing, no doubt, but they thought they were helping Germany by doing this. Propaganda had taught many members of the Einsatzgruppen to view the victims as enemies of Germany. The Einsatzgruppen was formed in Germany, which was economically crippled by World War I reparations, and many other problems that they blamed the Jews for. Therefore, the Einsatzgruppen (and the Holocaust) started mostly for Germany’s struggles in the economy.

    Read More

  • Amy Tan's Summary

    255 Words  | 1 Pages

    The author demonstrates a personal example of how communication became a barrier because of the way Tan had to assist when her mother would speak. Tan would often have to relay the meaning of her mother’s message, because her mother’s “broken English” was difficult for others to comprehend. When Amy was younger, she remembers having to act as her mother on the phone, so that people on the other end would treat her mother with the respect she deserved. On one occasion, when her mother went to the doctor to get her CAT scan results on a benign brain tumor, her mother claimed that “the hospital did not apologize when they said they had lost the CAT scan and she had come for nothing” (Tan, 544 ). It was not until Tan had talked to the doctor that the medical staff seemed to care about any of her mother’s complications. Tan seems to come to the conclusion that a language barrier affects both sides. Not only does it affect Tan, but it also appears to affect the people around her. For instance, this happens when Tan changes her major from the stereotypical “Asian’s become doctors” to an English teacher. She eventually learns to write fiction and other writings that she was constantly told she would never be successful at.

    Read More

  • The Agony of the Jews Under Hitler

    808 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...lled Einsatzgrupper also discriminated and killed Jews. There is information about them in the article on the Jewish Virtual Library website. Einsatzgrupper were a mobile killing group that rounded up Jew town by town made them strip and go into a pit that was dug earlier and then shot them (Berman). By the end of 1942, the Einsatzgrupper killed more than 1.3 million Jews.

    Read More

  • Bilingualism Should Not Be Continued

    980 Words  | 2 Pages

    Bilingualism, a very controversial topic to debate in today’s United States. People generally define bilingualism as the ability of using two languages that individuals have. However, this is not the reason why that bilingualism becomes such a debatable issue. In this case, bilingualism is defined as the government’s use of languages other than English for public services in order to support the immigrants’ lives in the United States. People who support bilingualism want the government to continue having this kind policies. They think that bilingualism helps immigrants to assimilate into the American culture and moreover, it will unify everyone who are on this land. Although bilingualism provides some kind of benefits toward immigrants, they cannot solve the problems in the deep root. Bilingualism should not be continued in the U.S. Why? It reduces the immigrants’ incentive to learn English, threatens national unity, and costs so much.

    Read More

  • “Richard Rodriguez: A Bilingual Childhood”

    1376 Words  | 3 Pages

    For more than 300 years, immigrants from every corner of the globe have settled in America, creating the most diverse and heterogeneous nation on Earth. Though immigrants have given much to the country, their process of changing from their homeland to the new land has never been easy. To immigrate does not only mean to come and live in a country after leaving your own country, but it also means to deal with many new and unfamiliar situations, social backgrounds, cultures, and mainly with the acquisition and master of a new language. This often causes mixed emotions, frustration, awkward feelings, and other conflicts. In Richard Rodriguez’s essay “Aria: Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood”, the author describes the social, cultural and linguistic difficulties encountered in America as he attempts to assimilate to the American culture. Richard Rodriguez by committing himself to speaking English, he lost his cultural ties, family background and ethnic heritage.

    Read More

  • Summary Of The Story 'This Is How You Lose Her'

    1023 Words  | 3 Pages

    Language is group of written words which has the power to interact, meaning and exchange information with others. In psychology psychologist believed that people attain language by their environment and through observation. There are times in anyone’s life when we undergo a sense of loneliness or isolation. It’s related to problems with your family or just being away from a place you once called home. In the short story “This Is How You Lose Her” by Junot Diaz Papi plays a dominant role in aims to separate his family from the supposedly “unknown lifestyle of an American”. Unlike other families, Papi tries to place his family trapped inside, making sure they were apprehensive around their environment. Yet isolating his family in an unfamiliar location, the mother is the individual that is disconnected with her family, due to the fact she is unable to develop English swiftly as her sons Junior and Rafa. Papi brought his family to a contemporary community where he believes its best; however

    Read More

  • Mother Tongue, by Amy Tan

    829 Words  | 2 Pages

    Tan’s essay does more than just illuminate the trouble with language variations; her essay features a story of perseverance, a story of making a “problem” harmonize into a “normal” life. Almost like a how-to, Tan’s essay describes an obstacle and what it takes to go above and beyond. Mirroring Tan, I have been able to assimilate “the [world] that helped shape the way I saw things” and the world that I had to conform to (Tan 129). Life is a struggle, but what makes it worth it is the climb, not what is on the other side.

    Read More

  • Mother Tongue Analysis

    1098 Words  | 3 Pages

    Life is tough when one doesn’t speak the native language or is new to a country. “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan is a personal essay written in the first person point of view that tells the audience a story of a non-English speaker. Tan shares her story of how difficult it is for her mother to communicate with others. The presumption that people treat one another differently and with disrespect when one does not speak English is categorical truth. Tan’s purpose is to share her story and give the audiences the message of how tough life can be for non-English speakers because they have to work hard to achieve success; therefore, non-English speaker deserves the same respect as other people. Tan’s experiences along with my experiences are similar because

    Read More

  • Spicy Tongues: Mother Tongue by Amy Tan

    935 Words  | 2 Pages

    Her use of personal diction expresses the tone uniquely through her opinions and feelings. Amy Tan shows that this article is personal to her due to the anecdotes throughout her paper. One story Tan shared was “when I was fifteen, she used to have me call people on the phone and pretend I was she.” At the age of fifteen she “was forced to ask for information or even complain and yell at people…” She felt “red-faced and quiet.” Amy Tan expressed her feelings to show that the topic she was writing about is personal; she showed her embarrassment and let the reader into a vulnerable part of her past. The stories Tan shared, adds to the tone of the article being personal, where readers could connect and get a feel for her situation. She states that, “I think my mother’s English almost had an effect on limiting my possibilities in life … language spoken in family, especially in immigrant families which are more insular, plays a large role in shaping the language of the child” and that is the reason she tells her stories. Along with telling her personal stories she adds in her own opinion on the topic, making the paper about what she thought could have happened or what she originally thought. Tan never knows how to explain her mother’s sp...

    Read More

  • I am Vietnamese

    906 Words  | 2 Pages

    I sit in solemn silence, wondering if I should even bother with this essay. I am not the ideal Vietnamese child; I am nothing special.Since I was born, English has been my primary language. It is the language I think in, the only language I can express my true emotions. I am an American-born Vietnamese child, proud of my heritage, yet forever attempting to grasp it. I merely know this: my morals and values, instilled in me by Vietnamese tradition make me who I am today. That is why I write, not to win, but to express my pride in my Vietnamese roots. I am Vietnamese. Sometimes, it is hard for me to believe. My grasp of the language is childish at best, and at times, I feel inadequate.

    Read More

  • How to Write a Synthesis Essay

    510 Words  | 2 Pages

    Argument. If you have a clearly defined opinion about the subject, support that opinion by incorporating the valid viewpoints of the writers of the essays you have selected, and show the weaknesses of those ideas which you feel are not valid.

    Read More

More about Effective Devices

Open Document