"Mother Tongue"

 In Amy Tan's narrative essay, "Mother Tongue"(1990), Tan informs her readers that English is not just a language. English is a plethora of languages under within the English confinements of language. In the passage she's reaching out to Asian Americans, declaring you can do whatever you put your mind to do rather than excel in the stereotypical "math and science." In order to make her point she uses real experiences to paint a vivd picture.

Considering that English is my native language I would have to agree with Amy Tan. I feel she vividly gave her readers insight on what she had experienced with the language. Although it is very ironic that she was an Asian American that decided to practice in the field of language she opened my eyes to the different types of English there is. Before reading this passage I never thought that many people could speak the same language but make it sound so differently.  

 The message that was received through this text was that there is not only one type of English, and that the people in our society should not try to fit in to the stereotypical frame of what certain people from certain cultures should be. For example in this essay Amy Tan stated " And perhaps they (other Asian American's) also have teachers who are steering them away form writing and into math and science, which is what happened to me." "Fortunately, happen to be rebellious in nature and enjoy the challenge of disproving assumption made about me. I became an English major my first year in college, after being enrolled as pre-med." These quotes from the text show that instead of taking the typical Asian American road into a career that is math or science related, she decided to break the stereotype and become a Successful English writer and Author.