Mother Tongue And Audre Lorde Analysis

There is no concrete definition to what is normal. Taking a look at society’s law to see what is considered culturally normal doesn’t necessarily give us the right idea of what is “normal.” The characteristics of being male, white, financially stable and Christian represents society’s view of being normal. This is what is accepted. Amy Tan’s short essay of “Mother Tongue” and Audre Lorde’s essay on “Age, Race, Class and Sex: Women Redefining Difference” both portray the figure of family and cultural concepts of what is “normal” and relating that to gender, class and race.

When we see something that is not part of the mythical norm, we see these differences as a simple opposition. Because our society views these people as someone being oppressed, we reject the difference. Audre Lorde states

This question can be related to the public and private domain. People tend to do what is accepted in the public. This can be related to the story “Passing” by Langston Hughes where Jack can “pass” as a white person. Jack has two sides to him, in the public he is white given white people privileges but in the private domain he is not white, for his ancestors can be traced back to being colored. In the story Jack talks about his experience in school and in the workplace where he becomes aware of his ability to “pass” as being white. He does this in order to gain power and privilege. All this can tie back to Lorde’s idea of refusing to recognize the differences. If you know you can push back your differences and be accepted into the society, then people will do that. People can deny their race, deny being related to your mother that is colored or even deny it in the future if your child shows a slight hint of being colored is an example of how Jack is trying to fit into the public domain and trying to be normal. As Lorde stated it is our refusal to recognize these differences and that is exactly what Jack