Mother Tongue Summary-R. Rodriguez

Summary - A. Tan: In Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue,” she explains the different Englishes she uses throughout her day. Using anecdotal examples, Tan confronts the disrespect most Americans have for “broken” English speakers and their disregard for language barriers. She questions the education system, through her perspective an immigrant’s child, that pushes Asian-Americans towards STEM. Throughout her work, Tan weaves in her journey as an Asian-American writer.
Summary - R. Rodriguez: In Ricardo Rodriguez’s “Aria: Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood,” he talks about the use of public and private language in his life. Rodriguez laments about the bilingual enthusiasts that affected the education system to integrate bilingualism. Based off of his experiences,

Rodriguez notes his transition from the intimate Spanish to his newfound English identity. Rodriguez puts focus on his nuanced family relations as he becomes more “American.”
Analysis - A. Tan: In the work, “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan, she carefully addresses the language barriers that can cause unequal treatment that inhibit immigrants in America. She describes it in the usage of the terms, “broken” or “limited.” In Tan’s anecdote about her mother, she speaks to how her mother’s “simple” English degraded both Tan’s and others perception of an immigrant mother. This shows the audience that Americans, even Tan herself, tend to view improper English as a sign of a lesser person. Furthermore, Tan depicts the the dismissal of her mother by professionals. The staff at the hospital denied to help Tan’s mother, however once Tan came to the hospital with her perfect English, “...behold—we had assurances the CAT scan would be found.” This proves that many Americans, even those who serve the ill and distressed, treat immigrants with “broken” English like worthless second class citizens. However, Tan’s personal style of storytelling also reflects her biases. She speaks only from her and her mother’s perspectives. This does not necessarily weaken Tan’s arguments because her stories effectively elicits empathy from the audience, but nonetheless Tan slightly antagonizes Americans. Overall, Tan use of personal stories allows the audience to better understand the immigrant language barriers and the contempt fostered for Americans who dismiss immigrants.
Analysis - R.

Rodriguez: In the work, “Aria: Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood” by Ricardo Rodriguez, he makes a clear claim that the duality of languages is difficult to sustain because the cost of gaining a public identity in America is losing the private intimacy within your home. Rodriguez explains as he and his siblings learned more English, the less they’d converse with their parents due to the parent’s lack of English expertise. This shows the audience that as he mastered the English language, it was harder to use Spanish. This lost of the language Spanish intersects with his lost of intimacy. As Rodriguez documents, “as I grew fluent in English, I no longer could speak Spanish with confidence,” and thus his uncle and other family members would criticize his English responses. Rodriguez could not maintain two languages. As he was encouraged to speak more English to be publicly accepted, he lost the pride of his Spanish proficient family. Although Rodriguez speaks using personal experience, he does well to admit his narrow viewpoints and uses it to strengthen his argument. During his discussion against bilingual education, he concedes that if Spanish was integrated into school, it would’ve made him feel welcomed. However, he rebuttals by claiming it would've only built a false reality and stave off the inevitable assimilation. In the end, Rodriguez use of personal argumentation let him elaborate the flaws of bilingualism in detail and recognize the flaws of his own argument, however, Rodriguez was able to deconstruct those

flaws.
Synthesis: Although Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue” focuses on the Asian-American struggles in American institutions due to their “broken” English, while Ricardo Rodriguez’s “Aria: Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood” focuses on the Mexican-American lost of familial intimacy as they assimilate into America, both Tan and Rodriguez brought up how language barriers can cause a child to be embarrassed by their parents. Because of this, the term language barriers used to describe societal barriers should also be looked at as a parental barrier. Tan recounts from her childhood of how she used to be “ashamed of [her mother’s] English,” that because workers at various stores treated her mother poorly, Tan thought lesser of her mother. Rodriguez had a similar story where his father stumbled upon speaking to an attendant, and his father’s stutters struck him as a weakness, thus making Rodriguez lose trust in his father's strength. In both examples, the child’s relationship with their parents lost some respect because of perceived weakness in their parents‘ English. It is detrimental for many children to see their parents as their protector, so when their parents sound weak and submissive, it tears apart the image of their all- knowing heroes. I have also experienced this with my father, I was always embarrassed at him in public, for though he tried his best, it wasn’t enough. I had lost respect for him with each broken phrase. At one point even I was afraid to speak out loud for fear I’d sound like my father. It is because the image of a parent is so vital to a child that sometimes when their parents have a language barrier, that child begins to build a barrier between them and their parents. Embarrassment and fear plague the child, and will surely hurt their relationships with their parents as they grow older. This is why it is important to begin considering language barriers as a wall to good relationships with parental guardians because ignoring the consequences can lead to long-lasting tension within family units.