Amy Tan Essay
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Amy Tan Mother Tongue Essay
In 1990 Amy Tan released "Mother Tongue", an essay of Tan's personal view and history of her
mother's struggles as a Chinese immigrant with "limited English" (Tan 77). The culture and people
around her mother in America were not accepting of her English skills, or lack thereof. She was
viewed as unintelligent, inferior, and treated less courteously. Tan is a critically acclaimed author
following her best–selling novel The Joy Luck Club released a year earlier in 1989. Tan's perception
of her mother is entirely different than what the population around her sees. She views her mother's
English as a "language of intimacy, a different sort of English" (Tan 77). However, in order to
persuade her audience, she cannot use her background as a successful
...show more content...
She does this by displaying the use of incorrect English as suitable for the situation. Even as an
author with her level of success, Tan still uses English in ways that would be considered improper.
She consciously caught "[herself] saying this [to her husband]: 'Not waste money that way.'". This
"different sort of English...relates to family talk, the language [she] grew up with". Growing up
around this certain style of language is how it "helped shape the way [she] saw things, expressed
things, made sense of the world" (Tan 77. Context and the relationship between the individuals
engaging in conversation is much more important than proper usage of English. Tan utilized the idea
of family to further connect her audience to her argument. She introduced an element that could
create a common bond between her and the audience. As the successful author Tan is, it is
imperative she creates a common ground between herself and the audience. It would be impossible
for the audience to believe that incorrect English would be more appropriate in this situation of
being with her family. However, she also displayed the inverse of using improper English to further
solidify her different approaches to
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Amy Tan And The English Language Analysis
Education played a key role in both of these essays. Amy Tan and Malcolm X both increased their
knowledge of the English Language in two very unigue ways. With Amy Tan she ways able to learn
how the English language works when she was dealing with her mother. Amy also talks about how
by her helping her mother has giving her the ability to learn and experience how language is used as
a tool within the social and cultural aspects of society. She was able to see the differecne between
how her family communicates with each other with the broken engliash her mother speaks and how
society deals with the broken english. She was able to use her mother different English, learn from
it, and then incorperate it into her wrtitigs. Malcolm X learned in
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Amy Tan Essay
Amy Tan
Amy Tan was born in 1952, in Oakland, California to Chinese immigrants John and Daisy Tan. Her
family eventually settled in Santa Clara. When Tan was in her early teens, her father and one of her
brothers died of brain tumors within months of each other. During this period Tan learned that her
mother had been married before, to an abusive husband in China
. After divorcing him, her mother
fled China during the Communist takeover, leaving three daughters behind who she would not see
again for nearly forty years. After losing her husband and son, Daisy moved her family to
Switzerland where Tan finished high school. During these years, mother and daughter argued over
what Tan should do in college and afterwards. Tan
...show more content...
Soon after its publication in 1989, The Joy Luck Club garnered enthusiastic reviews, and it remained
on the New York Times bestseller list for more than six months. It won both the National Book
Award and the L.A. Times Book Award in 1989. Tan continues to publish popular works. She often
emphasizes that she writes primarily to create a work of art, not to portray the Chinese–American
experience, that her bicultural upbringing is the source of inspiration for her work, not the end
product.
Contemporary Literature
Amy Tan
The Joy Luck Club
The Joy Luck Club contain stories about conflicts between Chinese immigrant mothers and their
American–raised daughters. The book mainly talked About Jing–mei's trip to China to meet her
half–sisters, Chwun Yu and Chwun Hwa. Jing–mei's mother, Suyuan, was forced to leave her twin
babies on the roadside during her flee from the Japanese invasion of Kweilin. Suyuan intended to
recover her children, but she failed to find them before her death. Finally, a after her mother's life
long search her mother received a letter from the two "lost" daughters. After Suyuan's death, her
mothers' three friends in the Joy Luck Club, a weekly mahjong party that Suyuan started in China
and later revived in San Francisco, urge Jing–mei to travel to China and tell her sisters about their
mother's life. But Jing–mei wonders whether she is capable of telling her mother's story. Lindo,
Ying–ying, and
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Personal Experiences In Amy Tan's Story
As Tan continues with her story, she expresses the hardships that she and her mother went through
when she was younger as well as when she was in college herself. She explains how her mother was
often not seen the same by other people because of her language barrier. "did not take her seriously,
did not give her good services, pretended not to understand her, or even acted as if they did not hear
her" (Tan, 2006, P.3). This was Tan's personal experience of her mother being shunned and avoided
for not speaking the right kind of English. Later Tan would experience the same type of treatment
from her employer attempting to steer her away from her career in writing. She writes "I started
writing nonfiction as a freelancer the week after I was told
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Essay on Amy Tan’s A Mother’s Tongue
Amy Tan's A Mother's Tongue
The purpose of Amy Tan's essay, "Mother Tongue," is to show how challenging it can be if an
individual is raised by a parent who speaks "limited English" (36) as Tan's mother does, partially
because it can result in people being judged poorly by others. As Tan's primary care giver, her
mother was a significant part of her childhood, and she has a strong influence over Tan's writing
style
. Being raised by her mother taught her that one's perception of the world is heavily based upon
the language spoken at home. Alternately, people's perceptions of one another are based largely on
the language used.
Tan was born to a pair of Chinese immigrants
. Her mother understood English extremely well,
but
...show more content...
This was because her mother's version of English and its modified rules caused Tan to be confused
on some of the questions.
Tan employs cause and effect when she is talking about her experiences with IQ tests and the SATs.
The fact that her mother spoke English the way she did made it very difficult for Tan to envision
what the test was asking, as with the questions where she could not identify one singular correct
answer. In her experience with language, maybe she had heard her mother would say something a
certain way, even though, technically, it was not grammatically correct. Her perceptions of things,
specifically the rules of language, were different because of the language used at her home.
She also incorporates problem and solution when she is describing how she had to talk for her
mother. Her belief is that people will not take you seriously if you do not speak proper English, and
to prove this, she shows how her mother encountered that kind of attitude often. Tan describes how
she had to call the stockbroker because her mother was concerned about not getting a check, and
how the hospital would not look for a lost CAT scan until Tan was called to mediate. Even though
the mother speaks English, Tan still needs to act as a translator.
Compare and contrast comes in to play at the very beginning of the essay when Tan is describing her
mother listening to her giving a lecture.
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Analyzing Amy Tan's 'Is That So?'
"Is That So?" Thesis: During the time when the Japanese girl–mother's family would have been
thriving because of profit from their food store, she, her parents, and their neighbors, unlike Zen
Master Hankuin who was selfless by taking care of the baby, did not show an enlightened way of
thinking. Supportive Statement 1 Zen Master Hankuin put the needs of the baby before his own
needs and did not care about his self–image. ––Supportive quote (doc) In the story, it says that "he
had lost his reputation, which did not trouble him" (Reps 1). Supportive Statement 2 The Japanese
girl–mother did not have an enlightened way of thinking because she needed guidance from others.
––Supportive quote (doc) The girl had to receive help from her
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Two Kinds by Amy Tan Essay
In the short story, "Two Kinds" by Amy Tan, a Chinese mother and daughter are at odds with each
other. The mother pushes her daughter to become a prodigy, while the daughter (like most children
with immigrant parents) seeks to find herself in a world that demands her Americanization. This is
the theme of the story, conflicting values. In a society that values individuality, the daughter sought
to be an individual, while her mother demanded she do what was suggested. This is a conflict within
itself. The daughter must deal with an internal and external conflict. Internally, she struggles to find
herself. Externally, she struggles with the burden of failing to meet her mother's expectations. Being
a first–generation Asian American,
...show more content...
At first, the daughter was to become a Chinese version of Shirley Temple. When that didn't work,
her mother told her that she would be attending piano lessons.
The daughter did not like the idea of playing the piano. "Why don't you like me the way I am? . . . I
am not a genius! I can't play the piano. And even if I could, I wouldn't go on TV if you paid me a
million dollars!" (492–493). Here, Tan is conveying the fact that parents and children have
disagreements on what the child should do, and who the child is to become. For example, parents
may have an idea where they want their child to attend their college education. The child, on the
other hand, may want to go to a different college as suggested. Ultimately, it is the decision of the
child. We cannot live how others want us to live. It is the path of our own making that truly makes
us happy.
Some may see the mother trying to live her life through her daughter. She invests time trying to
make her daughter a prodigy because she was her last hope. The mother lost two children in China
and moves to a new country. Coming to America, she felt that immigrants have to prove that they
are as talented as or more talented than Americans. This belief is supposed to be the basis for the
determination, that the mother has, for Jing–mei to become a prodigy.
The mother in the story tries everything in her power to make Jing–mei famous in some way. Yet
Jing–mei was content to being herself.
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Amy Tan Character Analysis Essay
Amy Tan grew up to become a socially powerful young lady. However, Amy experienced several
hardships throughout life that shaped Amy's present personality. Previously, living in the United
States, Amy had a troublesome time fitting into the American Society. In fact, in an interview with
Elaine Woo, Amy admittedly told, "I felt ashamed of being different and ashamed for feeling that
way." Ashamed for partaking of the family
's Chinese heritage, Amy as a young girl was determined
to appear as American as possible. In addition, Amy's parents had elevated standards for Amy's
prosperity. Amy's guardians concluded that Amy should be a full–time neurosurgeon and a part–time
concert pianist. In the past, Amy Tan was once a person that took the advantage
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Amy Tan Research Paper
Amy Tan was born on February 19, 1952 in Oakland, California. As a child, her family frequently
moved around, eventually settling in Santa Clara, California. Her father, John Tan, was a Baptist
Minister and an electrical engineering who came to America to escape the Chinese Civil War. Tan's
mother, Daisy, fled to America to leave behind an abusive marriage in China. The traumatic early
life of abuse of her mother would later inspire Amy Tan to write The Kitchen God's Wife. Growing
up, her parents had dreams of her becoming a concert pianist or a doctor, but to their dismay was
constantly reading and dreamed of being an artist. When Tan was 15 years old, her older brother,
Peter, and father died due to brain tumors. These devastating events lead Daisy Tan to relocate the
remaining family
, Amy and her younger brother and only remaining sibling, John, to
Switzerland.
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Later, she earned her doctorate in linguistics at UC Santa Cruz and then UC Berkeley. In 1974, she
married Louis DeMattei, a tax law attorney. Eventually the couple settled in San Francisco. Right as
Tan was beginning to pursue a career as a writer, her mother fell gravely ill. Tan promised to herself
to take her mother to China to see her other daughter if she recovered. As promised, in 1987 Tan and
her mother returned to China to visit the family she left behind. This trip gave Amy Tan a new
perspective on their mother–daughter relationship and inspired Tan to create a book of stories.
Joy Luck Club, her first book, was published in 1989 at age 34 and was a collection of Tan's short
stories. Tan's first book quickly became a New York Times bestseller and remained there for 8
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Amy Tan Classification And Division
Amy Tan used classification and division to organize her essay when she specified she used
different Englishes. When she would speak to a large group of people, her english would be
carefully wrought grammatical phases. For instance, Amy Tan stated: "There intersection of
memory upon imagination (Tan par 3)." Whereas, when she would speak to her mother, her
english would be the opposite. For example, Amy Tan stated: "Not waste money that way (Tan
par 4)." The two main categories she divides the languages she employs is standard English
and intimacy
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An Analysis Of Amy Tan's Influences On Writing
Joseph T Nguyen
Period 5
29 February 2016
Bandy
Influences on Writing
Amy Tan, as a child, was born into a very rough life. Her brother and father died of brain tumors at a
young age which led her to move from her "diseased home" to Montreux, Switzerland, where she
completed high school
. ( Facts on FIle ) It was a huge impact on her life and reflected a turning
point into a whole new world.
Upon returning to California, Tan attended San Jose University as a scholarship student receiving a
bachelor's degree in 1973. A year later she got married to Lou DeMattei and completed a master's
degree in linguistics at San Jose State. ( Facts On FIle ) As life went on, Tan continued writing and
needed something to put an impact on her.
In 1987,
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Amy Tan Identity Essay
Cultural Clash of Female Identity
Immigrating to the United States is not achieved without great effort. There are obvious difficulties
such as leaving your home and traveling to a new country to start your life over. Also, the issue of
trying to retain your identity while fitting in with an entirely new world. In 1848, the first Chinese
immigrants settled in San Francisco, California. Their immigration to America sparked the
beginning of Chinatown. Amy Tan was born in 1952 to a mother and father who emigrated from
China
. Like other Chinese immigrants, Tan's parents lived in Oakland, California, which was part of
Chinatown. Throughout much of Tan's childhood, she struggled with the conflict between her
parents' strong ties to their Chinese
...show more content...
In the novel, June's parents worked hard so that she did not need to work. They always made sure
she had food on the table. Naturally, they wanted her to do something tremendous with her life and
fulfill the American dream. The Woo's lived in Chinatown and like many of the other parents in their
neighborhood, June's parents had high expectations for her. Tan's readers could infer that the Woo's
beliefs were based on Chinese values. The book, "Women's Issues in Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club"
touches on the reasoning behind Suyuan and many other immigrants' devotion toward their Chinese
culture
, "Others argued that those 'Chinese values' were actually the mother's personal values that
she had gained from her own unfortunate experience in Chinese culture over the years and that she
had really meant to help her daughter to substantiate her American Dream, which she herself would
never be able to achieve because of her language and cultural barriers" (Wiener, Gary, 122). The
book provides an explanation as to why Suyuan and other parents living in Chinatown desperately
wanted their children to thrive. Families wanted their children to strive for success so that they
would vicariously live through them; it was so common it was basically normal for Chinese society.
However, this places a massive amount of stress on the child. For instance, June Woo, her mother
put so much pressure on her that she accidently pushed her toward resentment. Readers can clearly
comprehend how the cultural and societal norms affect the pressures of a character like
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Amy Tan Influence
Amy Tan's past and biography have a great influence on her story "The Rules of the Game," because
she models the tense relationship between Waverly and her mother after Tan's own relationship with
her mother. Tan and Waverly were both playing a "game" against their mother. Tan gives Waverly
many of the same personality traits and difficulties that Tan experienced herself in her youth and this
leads to a parallel of their conflicts.
Amy Tan's mother would always push Amy when she was young, just as Waverly's mother would
push Waverly, because both mothers took pride in their daughters' success. Yet, both Amy Tan's
mother and Waverly's mother had different ideas of success compared to their daughters. Amy Tan's
mother "...wanted Tan to become a
...show more content...
A key part of the Chinese culture is bringing honor to oneself and one's family. A part of being
honorable is having a sense of independence, this is why Tan's mother refused to take
antidepressants. Tan said, "...what a different childhood I might have had had my mother taken
antidepressants" (Dunick 3). Tan's mother refused to take medication, because it would bring shame
to herself and her family. She would be admitting defeat to depression and illness and this would be
unacceptable to the Chinese culture. Tan's mother decided to practice "invisible strength." This
shows how Tan's mother was strong–willed and believed that she did not need help, because it
would bring shame. Tan incorporated the same personality traits of her own mother into Waverly's
mother, who strived to be a strong and independent person. An example of this is when Waverly's
mother told Vincent to dispose of the chess set. She said, "'She not want it. We not want it.' she said,
tossing her head stiffly to the side with a tight, proud smile" (Tan 3). Her mother could not accept
charity, because it would show weakness and dependence and bring
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Amy Tan Thesis
"My mother's English is perfectly clear, perfectly natural. It's my mother's tongue," stated Amy Tan,
while expressing her thoughts on how other people view her mother's speaking habits (Tan 53). The
author emphasizes that she was oblivious towards the unusual manner in which her mother spoke
English. However, once she recognized the "watered down" edition of English her mother spoke,
Tan sought out to write pieces based on what her mother could understand (Tan 56). Her thesis
states, "I later decided I should envision a reader for the stories I would write. And the reader I
decided upon was my mother, because these were stories about mothers" (Tan 56). Tan employs the
developmental strategies of exemplification, cause and effect, and narration throughout her essay by
providing insight as to why her mother became the main audience for her writing.
...show more
content...
The author incorporates stories that she has experienced with her mother, which includes the exotic
way her mother speaks. "When I was fifteen, she used to have me call people on the phone to
pretend I was she," expressed Tan (Tan 54). The author continues to explain the story of having to
call a stockbroker in New York and demand them to cash out her mother's account. Tan also narrates
a scenario from a time she had to go to a hospital where her mother had a CAT scan performed. "She
said she had spoken very good English, her best English, no mistakes," included Tan (Tan 54).
Unfortunately, Tan's mother's way of speaking did not satisfy the medical staff because they claimed
that they had "lost the CAT scan and she had come for nothing" (Tan 54). The author goes on to
conclude that once she spoke grammatically correct English to the medical staff about her mother's
CAT scan, the staff apologized for the inconvenience and reassured they would find the
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Identity In Mother Tongue, By Amy Tan
Everyone is born with a unique identity. The way we understand our self is influenced by our
identity. Our identity goes beyond daily and can be influenced by many things, such as the
environment we live in, dreams or culture. In Amy tan's essay mother tongue, she discusses about
society views on Asian stereotypes. Amy rejects the identity of a foreigner because she does not
want to be labeled as what society views Asian Americans as. Amy also uses what the English
language symbolizes for her.
Amy rejects the identity of a foreigner because she doesn't want to b what everyone assumes. She
feels that she isn't that person because she has her own personality. Her whole life she has been a
translator for her mom and she had to grow up learning
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Analysis Of My Tongue By Amy Tan
Before the group discussion, I believed that the statement "And I use them all–all the Englishes I
grew up with" (Tan, 1), was significant because it shows the reader how important the dialect of
Amy Tan's mother is to her. Additionally, this statement brings to light her diverse background in a
variety of English dialects; making her opinion seem more valid. It also shows the reader how the
dialects we listen to everyday change the way we think and speak in the future. This belief is proven
by Tan when she says, "But I do think that the language spoken in the family, especially in
immigrant families which are more insular, plays a role in shaping the language of the child (P4).
On top of that, my personal experiences prove Tan's point; in
...show more content...
But they seem just as bad, as if everything is limited, including the people's perceptions of the
limited English speaker" (Tan, 3), is significant because it shows that people who speak in 'broken'
English should not be perceived as less intelligent or capable of understanding, furthermore, the
statement demonstrates one of Amy Tan's key messages in this personal narrative essay. The
statement demonstrates the message that those who speak in simple or 'broken' English often
understand just as well as those who are able to fully articulate themselves. In addition to that, the
statement also clearly demonstrates the separation between understanding a language and
articulating your thoughts in that language in Amy Tan's mind. During the group discussion, An
individual said that Tan uses the idea of limited English forms a paradox because where
misinformation leads to judgement, on both limited and superior English (Group discussion, Oct 3).
However, this is both not a paradox and something I do not agree with. I do not agree with this
because people with superior language skills are seen as intelligent and those with inferior language
skills are seen as unintelligent. Another individual believes that Tan's mother is very direct but it can
be hard to understand, which can lead to a negative perception and that Language isn't a measure of
intellectual capability (Group discussion, Oct 3). Another Individual said that because Tan left out a
complex line in the book The Joy Luck Club the book did very well (Group discussion, Oct 3),
however, there is no proof that it either did well or that removing that line had any effect on the
success of the book. Finally, a peer said that in the text it says that her mother's English ability hides
what she understands (Group discussion, Oct 3). That peer also said that Tan is no less intelligent as
a result of her language, but
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Amy Tan Mother Language Analysis
Childhood offers many difficult challenges, especially growing up in a family that counts English as
a second language. Amy Tan grew up in such a family; including her mother, who spoke
substandard English. Tan recalls this in Mother Tongue, where she writes the realization that she
possessed multiple types of "Englishes," she had, professional English full of correct grammar and
pronunciation, and her "
family talk" informal speech which she shares with her mother and husband.
Tan then goes on to explain that people tend to view her mother as less intelligent because of her
"broken" English. She recounts many stories in which her mother received inadequate service
because she did not speak as clearly as others did. Tan states that she has even received limitations
on her learning because of the diluted clarity of her "Mother Tongue." Tan states that authors possess
limitations, but, for a communicator, clarity requires severe attention. Some authors have a limited
vocabulary due to upbringing; this alters how people view the message intended. When speaking
about her mother, Tan states, "Some of my friend tell me they understand 50 percent of what my
mother says." (Tan, 1990, Para. 7) There are moments in communication where meaning can falter
because of a lack of words to utilize. Tan also makes this point when transcribing words
...show more
content...
Tan explicitly states, "I think my mother's English almost had an effect on limiting my possibilities
in life as well." (Tan, 1990, Para. 15) Parents greatly affect the language of their children and if one
has flaws, the next certainly will in beginning. Tan later states that her childhood understanding of
English harmed her test taking abilities, "So I never did well on tests like that." (Tan, 1990, Para. 16)
Tan speaks about semantic tests, and they proved difficult due to her understanding of words. Their
meaning needed clarification so that she could understand
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Amy Tan Two Kinds Literary Analysis
Literary Analysis: Two Kinds
All of my life, I've been pushed to succeed. It didn't matter what it was, I just had to do well in
whatever I did. The main source of this effort was my mother. Born and raised in Thailand, a
country in southeast Asia, she took what she knew with her to America, and part of that was the tiger
mom. Now, my mom has never been extremely strict, but sometimes that culture really comes
through. When I look around and see other families with an Asian influence, I consider myself
lucky. The tiger moms I saw were much harder on their kids. I even eventually saw it in literature.
Two Kinds by Amy Tan really captured what it's like to be a kid in the Asian culture, and how
sometimes, the expectations can be overbearing.
...show more content...
The expectation of excelling in our tasks wore us down and made us think we couldn't be whatever
we wanted, we could just be ourselves. The stress and pressure got to be too much, and in turn, hurt
our relationship with one of the most important people in our lives. The relationship became coarse,
and we both helped cause it to be that way.
At the end of Two Kinds, Jing–mei's mom offers her the piano for her thirtieth birthday. She refuses,
but when her mother passes away, she goes through her mother's belongings and finds the piano and
the old piece she had played at that recital called "Pleading Child" (519). She picks it up and
attempts to play. It's hard at first, but the notes come back to her, and she then tries the next piece,
"Perfectly Contented" (519). It's longer and a lighter tune while "Pleading Child" is shorter and
slower, but Jing–mei realizes that they're the same song.
I believe that Jing–mei didn't realize until then how much her mother cared about her like I hadn't
until I also had picked up an old piano piece and started playing about a year later after the incident.
Then did I realize that my mom didn't want me to have the childhood she had, coming from a poor
family of twelve. Both of our mothers wanted us to be successful and be able to build wonderful
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Culture In Amy Tan's The Christmas Dinner
During the Christmas dinner, Amy finds herself ashamed of how different she is, though her parents
view their culture as normal and think it makes their daughter unique. Despite the way her parents
embrace their culture, Amy is unable to overlook how far she is from her standards of a normal
American girl. With the news that her parents had invited over the minister's family for Christmas
eve dinner, Amy discovers a newfound embarrassment in her culture, brought on by her fear of how
Robert, the minister's son and the boy she loves, will see her culture. Amy begins to see things how
she assumes Robert will view her culture, and becomes judgmental and uncomfortable with her
relatives' behavior. What once were her favorite foods suddenly seemed so gross that Amy couldn't
imagine why anyone would willingly eat them. Tan's contrast of the different perspectives on the
Christmas dinner reveals Amy's feeling of shame and her indifference to the rest of her family's
pride in their culture.
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Throughout the meal, Amy's nervousness about Robert clouds her judgement of the food, causing
her to be disgusted, and view the tofu as "stacked wedges of rubbery white sponges." This
comparison of food to something so inedible reveals her disapproval of not just food, but her
culture, of which the food is traditional. When her father offers her her favorite food, which at the
moment is completely repulsive to her, Amy gets even more embarrassed and "[wants] to
disappear." Amy's use of hyperbole and her repeated expression of embarrassment displays her
inability to accept and take pride in her culture, and rather her want to conform with the American
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amy tan Essay
Amy Tan's "Two Kinds" is an autobiographical look into her childhood that shows the conflict
between Tan and her mother, the difference between old and new cultures, the past and the present,
and parents' expectations vs. reality. Couples of opposing elements comprise the basis of the entire
story; to another extent even the title itself, "Two Kinds
," shows the friction that Tan creates. The
strongest argument that Tan suggest is that this may not only be a look into her own life
, rather it
may be the struggles that every child and parent goes through as they come into age. As the story
advances, Tan's journey of struggle through the relationship with her overbearing mother is
unraveled. A sense of emotional growth and mutual respect can
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Such a sad, ugly girl! I made high – pitched noises like a crazed animal, trying to scratch out the
face in the mirror." Tan expresses these emotions, as she is upset with not being as good as her
mother is expecting. Her mother makes her feel as if she is not as good as she should be, though this
strong attack maybe as simple as a failed attempt of Tan's mother trying to make her realize that she
is not fulfilling her own potential.
The most important parts of the story come in regards to the piano lessons that Tan is "forced" into
taking. During the course of the piano lessons Tan and her mother unleash their vented emotions in a
strong exchange
"Why don't you like me the way I am?" I cried. "I'm not a genius! I can't play the
piano. Mother slapped me.
"Who ask you to be genius?" she shouted. "Only ask you be your best. For you
sake. You think I want you to be genius? Hnnh! What for! Who ask you! So ungrateful,"
This strong exchange is large basis for argument of the misinterpreted attempts of each character.
Tan herself is only trying to be do her best as her mother wants, even though her mother thinks that
she is not trying as much as she really can.
The next large
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