Mother Tongue

“Mother Tongue” switches between addressing Tan’s mother’s issues with English and Tan’s own difficulties with the language. Is Tan implying that she is more like or unlike her mother? Provide evidence to support your analysis.

An important aspect of Tan’s position in the essay, which she repeats several times, is that she is a writer. How does Tan’s identity as a writer impact her relationship with English? Develop several supporting arguments to discuss.

In “Mother Tongue” Tan uses the first-person singular “I” and the first-person plural “we.” Identify one or more moments when Tan switches between the two perspectives and explore how this impacts the narrative. In particular, investigate what effect point of view has on the essay’s tone.

One of the underlying thematic elements of “Mother Tongue” is a critique of the way that people assume English can be “broken” (7). What is Tan’s primary argument about different Englishes? Explain using specific evidence from the text.

Tan alternates between formal and informal sentence structures in “Mother Tongue.” Using her arguments about the formality of language, analyze some of Tan’s specific syntactic choices in the essay.