Critical Analysis Essay: Exploring Themes in Amy Tan's 'Mother Tongue'

This critical analysis essay examines Amy Tan's 'Mother Tongue,' focusing on the significance of language, particularly the Chinese language, in shaping cultural identity and social status. The essay delves into the author's perspective on the dynamics of language, contrasting her mother's experience with English as a second language and the cultural pride associated with speaking Mandarin. It explores themes of cultural distinctiveness, the sense of belonging, and the impact of language on social perception, particularly within the context of Chinese immigrants in America. The analysis highlights how Amy Tan challenges the notion of English fluency as a measure of social standing and emphasizes the value of indigenous languages. The essay underscores the importance of embracing and celebrating the unique qualities of the Chinese language within the Chinese American community.

Running head: CRITICAL ANALYSIS ESSAY
Critical Analysis Essay
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1CRITICAL ANALYSIS ESSAY
The novel, “Mother Tongue” by Amy Chan is a beautiful piece of literary work that
addresses what may be termed as the substance of language, especially the manner by which
language is used as a tool of communication especially a sociological tool that is used for the
measurement of individual worth. This essay engages in a critical analysis of the essay, talking
about the various nuances and themes that have been explored by Amy Tan, in her exploration
and evaluation of the Chinese language, the native language of the author.
In the view of Amy Tan, there appears to be something unusual that goes on with the
dynamics of language, that this, the Chinese language that she grew up hearing and being spoken
by everyone her by the members of her family, such as her mother. According to Mitrea (2015),
Tan states in the novel that for her mother, English was but a second language, a language that
was used only for communication with the outside world, whereas in the confines of the home it
was the Chinese language of Mandarin which dominated communication. What intrigues Amy
Tan about Mandarin is how distinctive it is in terms of sound and use compared to the English
and how the speaking of Chinese language would really set her and her family members apart
from the foreign community that they were residing amidst. Sobana (2018) argues that it is
important to remember in this context that Tan was a Chinese immigrant in America, and that
while she is American by nationality, she is of Chinese ethnicity, making her and her family
culturally and ethnically different from the host population, and one key characteristic that could
distinguish her from white Americans was the fact that she not only looked Chinese but spoke
Chinese too. In the view of Lehman (2015), for Amy Tan, the cultural distinctiveness of Chinese,
the fact that speaking and writing in Chinese sets every Chinese immigrant apart from other
Americans is something that is to be cherished deeply and it is something that all Chinese people

2CRITICAL ANALYSIS ESSAY
need to be proud of. To be able to speak and read in Chinese or to at the very least be able to
communicate verbally in the language is something that makes a Chinese American very
different from a regular American. It makes him stand out in the crowd and provides him with a
personality trait that is unique and remarkable. Chinese people living in America should take
pride in the fact that they are able to read and write in a language that the native population is not
familiar with at all, since it makes them come across as a distinctive cultural and social entity.
Lehman (2015), further argues that the uniqueness of the Chinese language is something that
Amy Tan harps on throughout the course of the essay. She repeatedly alludes to how unique the
language sounds when it is spoken and the script of course is entirely different from any Western
language script altogether, making Chinese a language that is to be taken pride in and cherished
by every Chinese individual living in the country of America.
According to Walker (2017), the sense of belonging associated with speaking and reading
in Chinese and also writing Chinese from time to time, is a concept that has been well explored
by Amy Tan in the course of this novel. According to Tan, coming home and speaking Chinese
with her mother and with the rest of her family members made the author feel at home,
comfortable and secure in a place that she could relate to and identify with, and which was
different from the foreign community in which she was residing. Social status and the use of the
Chinese language is another important theme that has been touched upon in the novel Mother
Tongue by Amy Tan. According to Wang (2019), when talking about this, Amy Tan alludes to
the fractured or broken English that used to be spoken by her mother because of the fact that she
had arrived in the country of America from China and had little or very limited knowledge of
English at the time of her arrival. This inability on the part of her mother to speak fluently in
English is something that made her looked down upon in American society, unlike Tan who

3CRITICAL ANALYSIS ESSAY
grew up in the country and who learnt English alongside the native Americans, and who was
consequently able to read and write in English far better than what her mother ever could. The
ability to speak good English as a sign of social status is something that the author has pointed to
in various sections of the novel. Mitrea (2015), states that Tan was elevated in American society
for her fluency in written and spoken English but her mother at the same given time was looked
down upon because of her inability to do so. Wang (2019) states that Amy Tan calls this out, as
something that is entirely wrong and unjustified and that the ability to speak in English should
not be viewed as the measurement of a person’s social status. In the process she calls upon her
native Chinese fellow human beings to take pride in the fact that they are able to speak in a
language that is as unique as the Mandarin language and that this is a language that makes them
truly stand out in the community in which they live. Sobana (2019), further states that for Amy
Tan, the Chinese language should be cherished by them and spoken by them fearlessly and with
pride instead of with a feeling of shame and condescension.
Thus, the novel Mother Tongue by Amy Tan does a successful job of stressing upon the
importance of foreign language. It talks about how the use of English should not be viewed as a
measurement of social status, how indigenous language always has its value and place in the life
of a person and how the Chinese language in particular should be used and spoken with pride by
Chinese Americans since it is their ability to speak and even write in this language that sets them
apart from other Americans.

4CRITICAL ANALYSIS ESSAY
References
Lehman, I. M. (2015). Dual voicing of Asian American writers: the case of Amy Tan. Scripta
Neophilologica Posnaniensia, (15), 121-135.
Mitrea, A. (2015). Story-telling and Story-tellers in Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club. East-West
Cultural Passage, (2), 24-35.
Sobana, S. (2019). Mothers’ And Daughters’ Struggle for Identity in Amy Tan’s Novel: The Joy
Luck Club: A Theoretical Approach. IJELLH (International Journal of English
Language, Literature in Humanities), 7(1), 9-9.
Walker, C. J. (2017). Blog Love: Blogging (And Microblogging) Communities as Writing
Classroom Companions. In Engaging 21st Century Writers with Social Media (pp. 14-
31). IGI Global.
Wang, G. (2019). Translator Translated: Concentric Routes (Roots) of Cultural Identities of
Diasporic Chinese Writers. In Translation in Diasporic Literatures (pp. 1-21). Palgrave
Pivot, Singapore.