Carlos Robles

Professor Molly

English 110

12/1.2020

   Amy Tans “Mother Tongue” Expresses ideas about racism and discrimination towards people that dont speak English the way that it is usually spoken. In society, English has known to have many different versions and In Amy Tans “Mother Tongue”, This is widely expressed through the writers mother. The writer explains that her mother doesnt speak the “correct” version of english and that it is broken. She takes back to events in her childhood where she had to assist her mother and at points it became annoying because her mother constantly needed her service. Amy Tans “Mother Tongue” Shows this through different forms of rhetorical devices. The two that i realized were most used were Pathos and Ethos. Her use of these rhetorical devices help explain the events in the story and the audience can grab a better understanding of what the events hold to Amy Tan.

   Amy Tan has a goal to persuade the audience that everyday “proper” language can be discriminating towards people that speak an alternate form of “proper” english. She does this by using different Ethos strategies. Her use of ethos is presented through her use of going back to previous events in her life to show the struggle that her and her mother went through with the language barrier that they were having. In paragraph 9, she expresses that even her mother was made aware of her english language. She was insecure and she would have her daughter speak for her because people would assume that her mother wasnt educated enough. Her use of previous events that she had with her mother supports the argument that people that speak “Alternate” versions of english feel discriminated against and frowned upon. Another piece of evidence that shows that Amy Tan was trying to persuade the audience by using past events was when she mentioned that English also limited her as well. In paragraph 14 she explains that her mothers English was affecting her possibilities because although she wasn’t bad at English, it wasn’t her strong suit because she goes on to explain that household languages are taught and they affect the peers around them. This also shows ethos because she once again went back to explain that her school grades had a slight effect on her English because of her mother. She uses this piece of evidence to persuade the audience that the use of English is different and it can affect people differently when they are told to speak differently.

   Amy turn also uses a bunch of Pathos strategies to help connect to her audience. The audience that she is trying to connect to, includes people that might have English as a second language, or people whose household has English as a second language. She wants the audience to relate to her on an emotional level and she wants to spread this information that they aren’t alone. She also uses past events to show her empathy with the audience along with explaining her struggles with her mother being a second language user.  I think her use of wording is also very interesting as she switches versions of English from her use, up to her mothers use which is very different. In paragraph 12 this is very apparent as her mother‘s English seems very different end it becomes obvious that it is her second language. I think this use is very important because it shows a personal take on what is going on. Are use of past events also shows emotion in addition to her use of ethos where it shows credibility.

   Amy Tan ‘s use of both Pathos and Ethos Is very very effective and it helps set up her story well. The use of ethos showing credibility and support for her argument the English as a second language can be discriminating in the American society is effective and she executes well. The use of pathos it’s also very effective because the onions that she already is relating to can be visually understood because of her change in tone, and scripture. English in society has been constructed to be spoken in one way and if it isn’t spoken in that specific way, people are locked down as uneducated, and not knowledgeable. Amy son uses this as a argument that people that have English as a second language arts uneducated and that it should be spoken however the person likes it to be spoken.

   In conclusion, Amy Tan‘s use of pathos and ethos were very effective and the audience was connected to and persuaded to understand what Amy Tan was talking about. The argument presented in this text was also executed in a correct manner and showed many pieces of evidence to the use of pass events and scripture changes. These were the different versions of Amy Tans explanation and why she used those rhetorical devices.