Mother Tongue Compare And Contrast Essay

840 Words 4 Pages
The United States has rapidly conformed into a multiracial society. Bilingual individuals come to America in hopes to find equal rights and freedom and face discrimination by Americans. American values are forced upon these people and according to Tan and Anzaldua, a certain way of life is expected of them. The struggle of “fitting in” and accepting the cultural background is a major point in both essays, Mother Tongue by Amy Tan and How to Tame a Wild Tongue by Gloria Anzaldua. Their experiences with the discrimination in the United States have given them they reason to stand against social inequality. They refuse to feel like they are any less than an American. Although people tried to “tame” their tongues, their identifies remained untouched. …show more content…
Both Tan and Anzaldua go into depth about about their ethnic backgrounds while incorporating their language. Anzaldua and Tan, facing language difficulties, learned that in order to overcome these challenges, they needed to incorporate their families. The changes they would make not only affected themselves, but also their families. When living with a family who speaks “fractured English”, they faced hardships and challenges on a daily basis. Anzaldua’s Mother would tell her that in order for her to get a good job she would “..need to speak English well”. Tan uses personal stories of her relationship with her mother, and how her mother’s “limited and broken” English has made an impact on her life. Tan tries to show that even though her mother’s English may be described as broken, it can be understood and does not determine her intelligence. This is evident through her quote, “ 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 her thoughts” (par 21-22). Although people frowned upon her mother’s accent, she was fond of her and refused to believe that her mother’s intelligence was

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