Part 1:
Victoria Diaz
Freshman Composition
Anna Alexis
12th October 2022
The Story “Mother’s Tongue” by Amy Tan was told beautifully. A rhetorical strategy I have noticed in this story is that she included a lot of evidence. This is important because the evidence allows her readers to understand more of what she is trying to say, and they know that it supports her claim. The two devices that I found in “Mother’s Tongue” were Evidence and Imagery. Both are similar in a way because Imagery is a form of evidence. However, I thought it was interesting that Amy Tan used both because sometimes writers use one or the other. I really feel both strategies are important because they both help readers understand the claim that the author is trying to make. Imagery helps the reader visualize what is going on in the story, it allows them to constantly make images in their head about the events they are reading about. Amy Tan provided enough evidence for the readers so they could understand her claim and her argument that she is making. In the story Amy Tan made many arguments, one of the arguments she is making is that the language a child hears after birth becomes part of who they are. Amy Tan provides an amazing example of both evidence and imagery to show what her argument is. In the story she states “It’s my mother tongue. Her language, as I hear it, is vivid, direct, full of observation and imagery. That was the language that helped shape the way I saw things, expressed things, made sense of the world.” I feel that this quote perfectly supports Amy Tan’s argument because she clearly states that she is used to the way her mother speaks because it’s what she grew up with. That language allowed her to shape things from her point of view. This example also shows her using evidence from her personal life and it allows readers to have some sort of background information because they can understand why she’s used to her mother’s English.
Another strategy that was used in this story is when stating the claim, Amy Tan sort of made sure that the claim was mentioned throughout the story. This rhetorical strategy is called “Strategically placing the main claim in the beginning, middle, and end of an argument”. The author most likely states the claim more than once but at the end of the argument. This really helps readers to constantly remember
what the claim is, and I feel that it can help them see different points that are being made and see different evidence that can help them understand how they support the claim. In general, when writing any story, it’s important to make sure that your claim is being stated. Amy Tan was very good at constantly saying what her argument was and what her claim was. As mentioned previously, Amy Tan has multiple arguments that she is trying to get through to the readers. Another argument is that a person who hardly knows any English, doesn’t define who they are as people. Throughout the entire story Amy Tan makes it known that those who struggle with English are not different from others and in this story, she is trying to persuade readers to respect those who disrespect those who are struggling with speaking English. Amy Tan also provided an example to support her claim and it states “I was ashamed of her English. I believed that her English reflected the quality of what she had to say. That is, because she expressed them imperfectly, her thoughts were imperfect.” I feel that this quote supports her claim or argument because children who grow up with their parents getting made fun of it makes them feel a way about their parents. This is why Amy Tan is doing her best to make readers understand that they shouldn’t make others feel a way about the way they speak english.
Lastly, the rhetorical device that I noticed was being used in this story is the tone that the author is using. Amy Tan uses some sort of strong tone to make her claim, or her argument known. I feel like the tone she is using is just her expressing herself, it is strong, but it could be more out of anger from past experiences. Tone allows readers to understand how the author is speaking and it really allows them to hear how they feel about what they are speaking about. Tone is interesting to me because you get to picture what the author sounds like, which helps readers really understand the mood of the whole story. I also noticed that the tone Amy is using is a trustworthy tone. She is letting the readers trust her by sharing her experience and how it affected her, so this lets readers get comfortable with how she is feeling, and they understand her.
The purpose of “Mother’s Tongue” was to persuade readers to be respectful to those who struggle with English. The author wanted readers to understand that it isn’t their fault that they struggle, and the intended audience would be anyone who was raised by an immigrant family who has struggled with different languages. The text or genre influenced the author’s choices because she is writing from experience which is always so powerful to readers because they can understand how the author truly feels. The author intended to appeal to the audience by talking on her experience which can allow people to relate to her and share their stories and their experiences.
Part 2:
Victoria Diaz
Anna Alexis
Freshman Composition
12th October 2022
Dear Local Community,
As many of you know there are serious issues going on with Immigration services. Many people are already struggling with trying to fit in in a new country and people are making it harder for them due to the languages they speak. Many people don’t realize that those who struggle with trying to speak a language they are not familiar with then it is not their fault. Immigration families usually grow up in different environments which allows them to be comfortable with the environment they grew up in. Therefore, this allows the children to also feel comfortable with their environment and get used to the language they are speaking. In the story “Mother’s Tongue” Amy Tan talks more about this topic, she mentions how she struggled because her mother would receive disrespect all the time. Her mother was getting disrespected everywhere she went, she wouldn’t understand certain things people would say to her so of course she would feel a way. In her story she states “Lately, I’ve been giving more thought to the kind of English my mother speaks. Like others, I have described it to people as “broken” or “fractured” English. But I wince when I say that. It has always bothered me that I can think of no way to describe it other than “broken,” as if it were damaged and needed to be fixed, as if it lacked a certain wholeness and soundness.” Many people from many different countries are always going to struggle with the language English because it isn’t what they grew up with. People are comfortable with the environment they grew up in, which is what others seem to fail to understand. The whole purpose of Amy Tan’s story is to persuade people not to be disrespectful to those who struggle with trying to speak English because it really isn’t their fault. So as a community, I am asking you to be kind to those who struggle with the language English because it is not their fault. Immigration services are already putting these families through a lot, and it is a serious issue, judging someone by the way they speak isn’t the way to make them feel welcomed in a new community.
Sincerely, Victoria Diaz
Part 3:
Victoria Diaz
Freshman Composition
Anna Alexis
24th October 2022
Throughout this phase I learned a lot about genres and rhetorical devices being used in many of the stories we have previously read. My intended audience for this part was immigrant families who have struggled with trying to fit in an unfamiliar environment. The most meaningful insights I have gained within this phase is I learned a lot about how immigrant families do go through a lot, and this part allowed me to explore with many genres and many rhetorical devices. There have been many concepts/ terms that have impacted my writing are genre and just figuring out my audience because the audience is most important when writing. These are most important because I feel like it allows your story to fit in a certain category and it allows readers to understand your topic. This phase allowed me to develop many strategies for drafting and revising my work because I truly never took it that seriously, but I have realized that it does help you out a lot because it allows you to improve your work and you can see where you need improvement in your work. This phase allowed me to really acknowledge what it is that I want to discuss and what issue I want to address. I feel like it also sets me up for the future and any other writing assignments that require me to have an intended audience. It is important to have a certain audience because then that audience can relate to whatever it is you are addressing. The writing concepts also impacted me a lot because they allowed me to explore with my writing and see what parts I can work on, it also allowed me to open with new ideas and writing techniques that I have never used before. This phase really impacted me a lot and allowed me to try new things with my writing which I always enjoy because it really helps me with my writing and that is always good.
In my Rhetorical Text the argument that I made was that immigrant families are struggling to fit in many places and that the language that they speak shouldn’t be made fun of because we all come from different environments. The genre that I chose to do it in was in a letter form, I chose to do it this way because I feel like it was easier to get the argument out to the intended audience and people could have a clear understanding on the argument. One Rhetorical strategy that I used purposely was evidence. I made sure that readers could understand what I was trying to argue, and I used the evidence that Amy Tan incorporated so it could be clearer. Another Rhetorical strategy that I used was to incorporate a lot of what Amy Tan felt and what she was trying to say when it came to immigrant families. The issue that I was trying to speak about is like Amy Tan’s issue. Many immigrant families experience this type of hatred because people feel that they are trying to take things away from them and because of this people tend to make fun of the way they speak. We all grow up in different environments and we all adapt to different languages that we are surrounded by which is why some of us are stuck on one language or why some of us have an accent. I’m glad that Amy Tan made a story on this because this issue isn’t talked enough about. This issue goes over a lot of people’s heads, and it isn’t fair to those who genuinely struggle with English because others try to label it as “Broken English”. This does not necessarily make sense to me because why would someone who does not know much English be called “broken” or “fractured” not everyone has to know English it’s not mandatory, but it would be helpful to know it. Something that is like this issue is Culture Change. Culture Change is the change in someone’s behavior but not only in someone’s behavior, society changes. I believe that these are similar because as a society we influence change on one another and whenever we notice someone doing something then we start following that person, it’s almost like trends in social media.
My purpose in this assignment was to acknowledge the issue that Amy Tan spoke about and share how it can affect those who do come from immigrant families. I attempted to appeal to my intended audience because I decided to speak about an issue they can relate to or connect with others through that issue. My selection with choosing the genre wasn’t as hard, I knew right away that I wanted to do a letter because I feel that in a letter you can make it clear what the argument is, and you can easily back it up and readers will understand. As for the Rhetorical strategies, it was challenging because you can use so many different strategies and it was just a little difficult to choose which one, I had wanted to use. Overall, I just feel that this assignment allowed me to speak on the issue a lot more and I was able to make my argument and allow readers to understand or relate to the issue that I am speaking on. I feel that the argument I made really does add on to the argument Amy Tan made because I am trying to make people understand why it’s wrong to disrespect those who can’t speak English that well and I feel that we shouldn’t treat them any different.
