Surname 1

Student’s Name

Professor’s Name

Course

Date

PART A: The Strong, Weak and Hard Lines in ‘Mother Tongue.’

The strong lines are lines which bears the crucial information. In the article ‘Apart from

what any critic had to say about my writing, I knew I had succeeded where it counted when my

mother finished reading my book and gave me her verdict: “So easy to read”’ (Tan, pg.261).

This shows that Tan had started to appreciate the value of the mother tongue and also her mother

who was not conversant with English.

The hard lines are lines which the reader disagrees with and are usually hard to

comprehend. For example, ‘But I don’t think that the language spoken in the family, especially

in immigrant families which are more insular, plays a large role in shaping the language of the

child.’ (Tan, pg.261). This is a difficult line for the reader to understand.

The weak lines can be defined as supporting lines. The weak lines normally alienated

from the main idea of the context. In Tan’s article, ‘I was ashamed of her English. I believed that

her English reflected the quality of what she had to say.’ (Tan, pg.261). This aids Tan’s

introductory sentence on the view he had on her mother.

PART B- The outline of the essay.

(i) Introduction- where he speaks of her mother English language which is not

understandable.
 Surname 2

(ii) Body-Tan shows the several instances that her mother is exposed to situations where

she ought to talk, for example, the answering of the phone call from the Boss, the

hospital appointment where she seeks to how the husband and son had a brain tumor.

(iii) The conclusion-The survey conducted on why Americans are not much involved in

the American Literature (Tan, pg.261).

PART C: Summary of the essay

In the article “Mother Tongue” Tan shows how her mother had difficulties in speaking fluent

English. Tan describes her language as ‘broken’ or fractured English. Amy mentions that he was

ashamed of his mother and had a cynical perceptive on her as she spoke since he believed from

the abundance of the mind she speaks. Tan reports that in some of the instance, Amy used to help

in answering essential calls, for example, the call from the Boss to her mother. Most friends did

not understand partly on what her mother was saying as he writes. Tan claims her mother had a

significant impact on his performance in English since he argues that peers influence the

developing language skills. A survey conducted shows that not many Americans were connected

close to the American Literature, and Asians were better in mathematics. Some of these were

attributed by the teachers making more emphasis on math compared to writing. Tan finally starts

to write on different topics and directs them to his mother who in turn appreciates and reads all

through (Tan, pg.261).

Amy Tan thinks of her mother language as broken and which is simple. In some instance, Tan

views it as incomprehensible since the friends do not understand. Tan’s feelings are seen where

he is even ashamed of the mother. Moreover, Tan’s mother speaks the way she does because of

the influence of her Chinese background. She does not speak fluently after all those years since

she had no interest in reading until when Tan started to write to her. People arrogantly treat Tan’s
 Surname 3

mother since they perceive what she speaks is what is in her mind. People think that because she

cannot speak in ‘good’ English she has got nothing to offer to them.
 Surname 4

Cited Works

Tan, Amy. "Mother Tongue, by Amy Tan." The World Is a Text: The Writing, Reading, and

Thinking about Culture and Its Contexts (2005): 261