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Essay Available:
Pages:
4 pages/≈1100 words
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Check Instructions
Style:
MLA
Subject:
Literature & Language
Type:
Essay
Language:
English (U.S.)
Document:
MS Word
Date:
Total cost:
$ 14.4
Topic:

Mother Tongue by Amy Tan Tone

Essay Instructions:

In this essay you will track your responses to a text: identify a moment that moved, surprised or confused you, and make an argument about how this moment relates to the rest of the text and its impact on you as a reader. This essay is an opportunity to become more aware of yourself as a reader and to better understand the ways that authors make specific “formal decisions” that affect your experience as a reader.
In this version of the essay, you'll be asked to identify a moment in "Teach yourself Italian" by Jhumpa Lahiri or "Mother Tongue" by Amy Tan, that you felt was particularly compelling, moving or surprising, or brought up an unexpected response from you.
Why did it move you? What formal or rhetorical strategies did the writer use to create this effect? How is this moment distinctive from the rest of the text? And how is it similar? How does this moment help you better understand the way the essay functions overall?




 




The Critical/Analytical Response Essay Length: 4-5 pages double-spaced Formatting: Please follow the formatting specified in the syllabus+ include a works cited page in MLA formatting (your MLA handbook will come in handy here) Draft 1, Essay 1 due Sunday, October 20th at Midnight - this draft should be 4-5 pages In this essay you will track your responses to a text: identify a moment that moved, surprised or confused you, and make an argument about how this moment relates to the rest of the text and its impact on you as a reader. This essay is an opportunity to become more aware of yourself as a reader and to better understand the ways that authors make specific “formal decisions” that affect your experience as a reader. In this version of the essay, you'll be asked to identify a moment in "Teach yourself Italian" by Jhumpa Lahiri or "Mother Tongue" by Amy Tan, that you felt was particularly compelling, moving or surprising, or brought up an unexpected response from you. Why did it move you? What formal or rhetorical strategies did the writer use to create this effect? How is this moment distinctive from the rest of the text? And how is it similar? How does this moment help you better understand the way the essay functions overall? • First, you must identify one key passage in the essay. This could be a particular image, the use of a particularly compelling example, of a new line of thinking, a contradiction or a surprising break or change in the author's stance or tone. • Then you will ask and begin to answer the following questions: How does this passage relate to the text overall? Why did this passage move, confuse, or surprise me? What moves does the writer make to elicit this feeling? Does she do this anywhere else in the text? How is this passage related to other ideas and strategies the author develops elsewhere in the essay? Strong essays will connect what is happening at the ‘local level’ (sentence/passage) and what is happening more globally (argument/essay as a whole) • You must also make an overall claim (or argument) that explains how and/or why the passage(s) you’ve chosen might influence your audience’s interpretation of the author’s overall impact. Use evidence from the text to support your claim. This means quoting from the text when necessary as well as summarizing or paraphrasing accurately and responsibly when appropriate. • You might also decide to use your own related experience to elucidate the text and your passage. How does your experience relate to the text and to this passage more specifically? How does your personal experience or subject position impact the way you read and understand the text? In turn, how does the reading of the text change the way you think about your own experience? (Be careful here, please only cite your experience in so far that it relates to the text — and please remember that the overall goal of the essay is to ‘engage’ with a text and understand it better.)

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Analytical response to “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan
Language is a potent tool for expressing thoughts, feelings or opinion about a particular subject. English is a widely used language currently earning admiration even in the non-English speaking countries such as China. Some people have a relatively better grasp of English grammar, but the same is not or cannot be reflected in their spoken words. They speak what can be described as 'broken' or somewhat 'limited' English (Tan, 2). There are others whose expressive command of English is a contradiction of how much they actually understand. Notably, Tan has used various writing techniques to appeal to those who are native English speakers while at the same time being careful not to lock out those who speak broken English.
That someone who is widely read and reasonably exposed cannot speak impeccable English or at least demonstrate some little mastery is unique and exciting. Nothing explains this better than the passage in the text in which the author states that:
You should know that my mother’s expressive command of English belies how much she actually understands. She reads the Forbes report, listens to Wall Street Week, converses daily with her stockbroker, reads all the Shirley MacLaine’s books with ease—all kind of things I can’t begin to understand. Yet some of my friends tell me they understand 50% of what my mother says…others 80 to 90 percent [while others] understand none of it…but to me, my mother’s English is perfectly clear, perfectly natural. That was the language that helped shape the way I saw things, expressed things, made sense of the world. (2) 
Amy Tan makes a sudden shift from a tone of sarcasm to sympathy in the above passage. She tarts off by crediting and praising mastery of English language but all of a sudden makes a conclusion that it cannot be used as a yardstick for competence. Mastery and application of English should be a big deal for someone who considers herself a lover of language like the author. Evidently, the sudden change in her tone is meant to send mixed signals to the audience who may have a diverse background. The audience in the mind of the author are people like her mother who may not find her position convincing. She therefore changes her tone to appeal to both the good English speakers and those that speak broken English. Strict scrutiny of the text portrays a picture of an author who loves English and literature but still mindful of the other audience who may not be up to task.
The formal and rhetorical strategies employed in the above passage have emotional effects on average reader. As a reader, the tonal variation affects my judgment and perception about English language as a whole and those who speak it in particular. The author keeps the reader guessing about her exact position on the subject. At the beginning of the text, the author confesses that she is not a scholar of English or literature but only offering a personal opinion on the subject. However, this position is not reflected in the entire text. These are some of the...
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