Mother Tongue

Amy Tan’s essay “Mother Tongue” is both an intimate investigation of her complex relationship with her mother and an indictment and analysis of the ways that English (and different forms of English) are perceived in US society. These two strands are woven together over the course of the essay, as Tan describes her complicated emotions regarding her mother as well as feelings of disillusionment with US schooling and standardized testing. All of Tan’s arguments fall against the backdrop of one of her repeated claims, that she is “a writer” (7). Since being a writer is central to Tan’s identity, “Mother Tongue” can be read as Tan’s attempt to process the underlying issues with how she relates to English and how she relates to her mother, a Chinese American immigrant who speaks what many would call “broken” English. Because of her upbringing, Tan had difficulty navigating the analytical modalities of US education; eventually, as Tan found success as a writer, she describes moving away from formal, widely recognized methodologies to write “using all the Englishes [she] grew up with” (8). This shift, which she describes in the essay’s concluding paragraphs, hints at the essay’s title: Tan finds true success and validation as a writer when she learns to effectively write in her mother’s tongue.