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Rhetorical Analysis of Amy Tan’s Mother Tongue

Posted by Animesh Ray (he/him) on

Animesh Ray

One excellent strategy Tan uses when she talks starts off her narrative with a tone that appeals to the audience and tells her she is unbiased and honest. She said that she is not exceptional in “English or literature” which shows how she was straightforward with how she speaks which is not the best for the readers. She fully acknowledges this. She then proceeds to talk about how she loves languages being a writer and everything for it. The language she displays is a very strong tool and how much you can interpret it. This gives more content to the readers about how she is invoking passion for the topic of languages and Englishes. This also appeals to the audience to gain their trust for her concrete passion of the work she does with her writing. Tan also uses the rhetorical strategy of employing commentary to present her data. She gave out her lengthy speech in which she would describe “grammatical errors” that have occurred within it purposefully and how far she has come. The readers are grasping the scenario she is in and willing to demonstrate the problems with her English. With all this in mind, Amy Tan as you can see wants the audience to take her perspective and point seriously with the argument she is trying to employ to the audience. She simply wants the audience to relate to her and her problems with the language barrier. Even though she was a proficient writer to where she is now, she wants to talk about her real experience and her real problems. She could have started out the essays on what she has accomplished but didn’t to her advantage to have the audience be attached to her argument.

In this narrative, Amy Tan has used pathos to appeal to the audience. With how she is starting off the essay mentioned in the earlier paragraph, you can see how she is going with her narrative. She uses the words like “broken” and “fractured” to indulge us in to how she is annoyed by her mother’s English as she said it would others would perceive her and her family as inferior. A lot of the audience that is a part of second-generation Americans can relate to what Tan mentioned here. People would simply be bothered by how their first-generation parents have trouble with their ability to speak English and others that are proficient in it would look down on them. And with all this Tan had to help out her mother with her English skills as a sort of like a translator almost to the people out in public. She pointed out that she received phone calls in which she would pretend to be her mother to speak to them. Another instance would be the big Cat Scan incident where Amy Tan’s mother was simply dismissed by the Hospital. The pathos in this part of her narrative stands out a lot and provides a contrary claim to how she had a family of improper English and she has an audience of readers who are proficient in it. This is to let out her argument even more and make it more compelling.

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Free Response on Tan

Posted by Animesh Ray (he/him) on

Animesh Ray

Amy Tan wrote an article titled Mother Tongue. Under Western Eyes was its original title, and it appeared in The Threepenny Review in 1990. The article examines the language difficulties faced by first and second-generation Chinese immigrants in the US. Cultural and linguistic problems are inspired by Tan’s personal experiences. She spoke standard English in public but slurred English at home. As a result of this, she has basically been set into multiple identities in which she finds one superior to one. This changes her perception as she experiences the obstacles.   
 
In “Mother Tongue,” Amy Tan walks us through linguistic principles and contrasts them with those of English. She also stops to question what is acceptable and what is considered decent English and language. She does not see good grammar and perfect English as indicators of competence. She cited sections of her mother’s writing that contained numerous grammatical errors. Others found it difficult to understand her because of the grammatical errors and “improper language”. The narrative does not make it evident that her mother has a solid grasp of the English language, but she argues that she does. The whole article was Tan’s appraisal of her mother’s language and how it shouldn’t be treated improperly from other’s viewpoints (critics). 
 
Tan’s writing with her own experience can be relatable in multiple aspects. Examples of discrimination occur everywhere with the correct terminology of English speech. African speech is a perfect example of this form of discrimination Tan is arguing about. In its own country, it is perfectly normal but in other countries, people would simply make it comedy for no reason other than to look down upon you. Why should one have to judge others for how they speak, English may not be their first language but they are learning and that shouldn’t percept someone treat as unfair. Even though there are numerous grammatical errors contained in one’s speech, they have all the right to say it. This is what Tan is arguing about and is evident in her experiences and especially her mother’s. Articles on realism can show appreciation for something that is defined as normal in another continent. It isn’t up to others to judge you for not speaking broken English. This would connect to me as well. 
 
Some experience I’ve had is once when I hear my dad is on the phone call with a hirer and the person would tell him about requiring good English. It was a job in security management and my dad would have a Bengali accent chopped English. My dad was enraged by this comment. This is what I would resonate with Tan’s mother’s experience as first-generation immigrants have it rougher. It shows how society is unfair and can come at you anytime about a simple English speech.  

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Why I keep speaking up, even when people mock my accent – Saleem

Posted by Animesh Ray (he/him) on

Rhetorical Situation Worksheet

Your name:

Animesh Ray 

Completing this worksheet may take more time than you think. It’s worth the time. The information you gather will help you later when writing up assignments. But more importantly, the process of addressing each of the questions below will slowly work to change how you read texts. Keep in mind that some answers will not be obvious or even observable in the text, and so you may have to do some critical thinking and, at times, even some online research. Use full sentences. Take as much space as you need.

Context & Exigence: What topic/conversation is this text responding to? What year is the text published? What is the exigence–that is, what motivating occasion/issue/concern prompted the writing? The motivating occasion could be a current or historical event, a crisis, pending legislation, a recently published alternative view, or another ongoing problem.

The topic of the video is responding to the accents that people mock Saleem about which Saleem recognizes. This was uploaded in 2016 and the motivating issue was his stuttering of sentences and hatred of introducing himself. He used his voice less and did more in his editing.

Author: Who is the author of this text?  What are the author’s credentials and what is their investment in the issue?

The person telling the text is Safwat Saleem and his investment is using his speech or communication via his work of editing.    

Text: What can you find out about the publication?  What is the genre of the text (e.g., poem, personal essay, essay, news/academic article, blog, textbook chapter, etc.)? How do the conventions of that genre help determine the depth, complexity, and even appearance of the argument? What information about the publication or source (magazine, newspaper, advocacy Web site) helps explain the writer’s perspective or the structure and style of the argument?

Can’t find anything on the publication except that Saleem posted the story. The genre of the video is a personal essay on Saleem’s upcoming from hating his accent and voice as he would stutter. This helps determine the narration of Saleem’s work. He would further show how he overcame it via the work he does with making character voices and editing it and such.    

Audience: Who is the author’s intended audience? What can you infer about the audience (think about beliefs and political association but also age, class, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, profession, education, geographic location, religion, etc.)? Look for clues from the text (especially the original publication) to support your inference.

The author’s intended audience is those who mock Saleem and his voice when he was younger. To students of accents. And people around the world are mocked with accents. He is from Pakistan so this has an audience of South Asians as well.  

Purpose: What is the author trying to accomplish? To persuade, entertain, inform, educate, call to action, shock? How do you know?

Saleem is trying to expand his work with his change in speech as now he’s putting his own mouth while working. He is educating those doubting themselves because of what they go through. He had been put down because of his accent and that was a huge obstacle for Saleem.

Argument: What do you believe is the main claim/idea/argument that the author is trying to communicate? What stance does s/he take?

The author is trying to communicate that you shouldn’t give up on what others say about you. Saleem is now focusing on himself using his own voice in his work instead of manipulating tones in his work of characters.  

Evidence: How is the argument supported? Types of support include reasons and logical explanations as well as evidence. Types of evidence include anecdotes, examples, hypothetical situations, (expert) testimony, quotes, citing sources, statistics, charts/graphs, research the author or another source conducts, scientific or other facts, general knowledge, historical references, metaphors/analogies, etc.

The argument is supported by Saleem telling his backstory and what he went through. When he was a kid, he was mocked by others for his accent, and he mentioned that everything out of normal is considered wrong which motivated Saleem to what he said in the video.    

Rhetorical Strategies: What aspects of this text stand out for you as a rhetorical reader? In other words, what do you observe about what the author strategically does (consciously or not) in hopes of appealing to their audience? List here as many observations as you can make about what the text does.

The speaker stands out by comparing his childhood inner demons and not accepting his voice to his work and how he became better at using it. He would hide in the bathroom not being accustomed to the mocking and would doubt his voice from it. But he brings it in his TED presentation about how he has moved on and started making better use of it through his work.                                       

Citation: Add the correct MLA or APA bibliographic entry for this text. Use easybib.com if you prefer.

Saleem. “Why I Keep Speaking up, Even When People Mock My Accent.” TED Talks, 7 July 2016, www.ted.com/talks/safwat_saleem_why_i_keep_speaking_up_even_when_people_mock_my_accent. 

Notes: What do you want to remember about this text?

I want to remember the motivation that he kept going despite the obstacles that he had to face.    
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Nobody Mean More to Me Than You And the Future Life of Willie Jordan

Posted by Animesh Ray (he/him) on

Rhetorical Situation Worksheet

Your name:

 Animesh Ray

Completing this worksheet may take more time than you think. It’s worth the time. The information you gather will help you later when writing up assignments. But more importantly, the process of addressing each of the questions below will slowly work to change how you read texts. Keep in mind that some answers will not be obvious or even observable in the text, and so you may have to do some critical thinking and, at times, even some online research. Use full sentences. Take as much space as you need.

Context & Exigence: What topic/conversation is this text responding to? What year is the text published? What is the exigence–that is, what motivating occasion/issue/concern prompted the writing? The motivating occasion could be a current or historical event, a crisis, pending legislation, a recently published alternative view, or another ongoing problem.

The author is responding to the White English superiority toward Black English. The text was published in the year 1988. The motivation behind this text was that there is language inferiority occurring with Black English and also that Black English is experiencing an extinction.

Author: Who is the author of this text?  What are the author’s credentials and what is their investment in the issue?

The author of this text is June Jordan. She is an activist for African-American equality. She explores gender inequalities, problems with her race, etc.    

Text: What can you find out about the publication?  What is the genre of the text (e.g., poem, personal essay, essay, news/academic article, blog, textbook chapter, etc.)? How do the conventions of that genre help determine the depth, complexity, and even appearance of the argument? What information about the publication or source (magazine, newspaper, advocacy Web site) helps explain the writer’s perspective or the structure and style of the argument?

The publication is a journal that is from the Harvard institute. They acknowledge issues that go on with teaching and education. The genre would be Discrimination or Racism as is shown in the Black English extinction and rejection from society with standard English. This shows social unfairness. The publisher advocates what they see are issues in the current times and this article would work perfectly for them from seeing the problems of racism.

Audience: Who is the author’s intended audience? What can you infer about the audience (think about beliefs and political association but also age, class, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, profession, education, geographic location, religion, etc.)? Look for clues from the text (especially the original publication) to support your inference.

The author’s intended audience is the White people that downgrade Black English. The African-American people do not conflict with their form of English.

Purpose: What is the author trying to accomplish? To persuade, entertain, inform, educate, call to action, shock? How do you know?

The author is trying to persuade that there is no problem with Black English as it is not inferior to another form of language/style. She is also trying to resurrect the culture in their own style language of Black English and not lose it.  

Argument: What do you believe is the main claim/idea/argument that the author is trying to communicate? What stance does s/he take?

She is arguing for Black English legitimacy in America and stands firmly with it. She doesn’t want to see her own style of mother language be taken away to a superior style of English that White folks use and downgrade others.  

Evidence: How is the argument supported? Types of support include reasons and logical explanations as well as evidence. Types of evidence include anecdotes, examples, hypothetical situations, (expert) testimony, quotes, citing sources, statistics, charts/graphs, research the author or another source conducts, scientific or other facts, general knowledge, historical references, metaphors/analogies, etc.

She says, “But I decided against pointing to these identical traits of syntax; I wanted not to make them self-conscious about their own spoken language – not while they clearly felt it was ‘wrong.'” She uses this to the students she is teaching about their own mother’s tone which is perfectly normal to say. She is trying not to lose this Black English she grew up with and for the future generation of her race because it represents a strong sense of culture and legitimacy in America.

Rhetorical Strategies: What aspects of this text stand out for you as a rhetorical reader? In other words, what do you observe about what the author strategically does (consciously or not) in hopes of appealing to their audience? List here as many observations as you can make about what the text does.

The murder of Willis Jordan’s brother by the police stood out the most for me because it represented how much social injustice was there back in the late 1900s. The author appeals to the audience as being in her favor after seeing the tragedy the black community is dealing with. She is looking for sympathy from the audience.                                   

Citation: Add the correct MLA or APA bibliographic entry for this text. Use easybib.com if you prefer.

Wikipedia Contributors. “June Jordan.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 8 Aug. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_Jordan. Accessed 18 Sept. 2019.

Notes: What do you want to remember about this text?

Black English is not inferior to any form of language.    
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Amy Tan’s – “Mother Tongue”

Posted by Animesh Ray (he/him) on

Rhetorical Situation Worksheet

Your Name:

Animesh Ray

Completing this worksheet may take more time than you think. It’s worth the time. The information you gather will help you later when writing up assignments. But more importantly, the process of addressing each of the questions below will slowly work to change how you read texts. Keep in mind that some answers will not be obvious or even observable in the text, and so you may have to do some critical thinking and, at times, even some online research. Use full sentences. Take as much space as you need.

Context & Exigence: What topic/conversation is this text responding to? What year is the text published? What is the exigence–that is, what motivating occasion/issue/concern prompted the writing? The motivating occasion could be a current or historical event, a crisis, pending legislation, a recently published alternative view, or another ongoing problem.

In 1990, the Text was published. The topic she is addressing is discrimination towards people who speak “broken” or “limited English.” Her passion stems from her childhood memories of her mother.

Author: Who is the author of this text?  What are the author’s credentials and what is their investment in the issue?

Amy Tan or An-Mei is the author. She is the daughter of an immigrant from China, and her interest in the subject stems from her and her mother’s experiences, as well as a linguistic narrative.   

Text: What can you find out about the publication?  What is the genre of the text (e.g., poem, personal essay, essay, news/academic article, blog, textbook chapter, etc.)? How do the conventions of that genre help determine the depth, complexity, and even appearance of the argument? What information about the publication or source (magazine, newspaper, advocacy Web site) helps explain the writer’s perspective or the structure and style of the argument?

Three Penny Review is an “American literary magazine” that provides audience literature, memoirs, poetry, essays, and criticism.” The genre explains why the writer’s paper was released by this particular publisher. This also explains why and how the author has written what she did.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Threepenny_Review

Audience: Who is the author’s intended audience? What can you infer about the audience (think about beliefs and political association but also age, class, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, profession, education, geographic location, religion, etc.)? Look for clues from the text (especially the original publication) to support your inference.

She probably had the “English language” spoken by everyone in mind as her target demographic. Everyone who could read English could benefit from this article, in my opinion. The author demonstrates that “broken English” is perfectly acceptable to people who claim that “perfect English” is incorrect, and she encourages individuals who don’t speak “perfect English” to tell those who do that, their imperfect English is perfect just the way it is. Gives a sense of acceptance in society. Because this post would draw readers who are interested in this topic, I believe the publisher Three Penny Review was picked to publish it.   

Purpose: What is the author trying to accomplish? To persuade, entertain, inform, educate, call to action, shock? How do you know?

The author’s purpose for writing this narrative is to tell those that speak imperfect English that they are not below anyone. The publisher is proof that she wanted to reach out to those people.    

Argument: What do you believe is the main claim/idea/argument that the author is trying to communicate? What stance does s/he take?

The main stance she is making is that people speak in their own tone and that they shouldn’t be treated differently or looked down upon because of it.

Evidence: How is the argument supported? Types of support include reasons and logical explanations as well as evidence. Types of evidence include anecdotes, examples, hypothetical situations, (expert) testimony, quotes, citing sources, statistics, charts/graphs, research the author or another source conducts, scientific or other facts, general knowledge, historical references, metaphors/analogies, etc.

Her mother’s experience is clear evidence in contrast to Amy’s experience. She and her mother’s personal experiences, in which differing treatment of her mother because she didn’t speak excellent English occurred on many occasions, seem to be the basis for her argument. However, they received favorable treatment when her daughter, the author, spoke in place of her mother in fluent English.

Rhetorical Strategies: What aspects of this text stand out for you as a rhetorical reader? In other words, what do you observe about what the author strategically does (consciously or not) in hopes of appealing to their audience? List here as many observations as you can make about what the text does.

-The experiences of herself and her mother and how both of their different experiences back up Amy’s argument.    
-Husband being able to completely understand her and develop an understanding of home language
-Her motivation keeps people moving forward and heads up.       

Citation: Add the correct MLA or APA bibliographic entry for this text. Use easybib.com if you prefer.

Tan, Amy. “Mother Tongue.” “Under Western Eyes” in The Threepenny Review, 1990, pp. 315–320.   

Notes: What do you want to remember about this text?

I want to remember the relatable experiences Amy went through for me. Makes me believe I was in the right after all and that society should treat us fair.    

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Blog Post 1: L&L Narrative Brainstorms Worksheet

Posted by Animesh Ray (he/him) on

Language & Literacy Narrative Brainstorms Worksheet for ENG 110


Your name:

 Animesh Ray

Instructions: Please respond to the questions that follow with as much detail and description as you can. The more you put into reflecting now on the complexities of your language and literacy development, the better off you’ll be in completing our major assignment for the first phase of this course. Take as much space as you need.

When it comes to your experiences with language (speaking and listening) and literacy (reading and writing), what specific moments in your life can you recall that are particularly vivid or that emerge as being significant to you? Yes, it could be an example from your earliest memories of learning to speak, read, and write (in school or elsewhere), but it doesn’t have to be. It could be a memorable encounter—a moment of tension, confusion, or triumph. It could be about experiences developing additional dialects/languages and advanced literacies (i.e., learning to speak/write in different peer groups, at school, at work, with family, online, in different locations across the nation or world, etc. Please select 3 moments to describe. Then, explain why each is interesting or significant.

1.    One moment in my life that stood out the most to me is when I was watching Bollywood movies and songs which allowed me to learn the language of Hindi a little bit. I have childhood songs of Bollywood actresses dancing and it brought me massive joy. I get a sense of nostalgia when I hear those specific songs on car rides or randomly come on my Youtube feed.
2.   I was born in my home country of Bangladesh, I wasn’t raised in it for around 16 years. So my dialect was off when talking to my cousins and family back home when I went on vacation. It was a moment of lost culture for me. I try to improve my dialect with my parents at home over time so I don’t lose it. I will also return to vacation in Bangladesh with a stronger dialect to my voice when speaking with relatives.
3.   Another moment is when I was learning to read Bengali which is my home language. I am incapable of reading but I have learned the basic alphabet with the assistance of my father. It was significant to me because it made me feel a strong sense of culture every time I study for it. The language is difficult to learn.
Very personal

What specific materials or artifacts (i.e., objects, writing, learning materials, pictures, video recordings, etc.) from your past can you locate/recall and that in some way represent a meaningful moment in your reading/writing development? This can be something like a journal or book, but also anything at all (e.g., a toy, piece of furniture, cereal box, art supplies, etc.) What memories and feelings can you extract from these examples you’ve gathered/recalled? Explain.

     A Bengali alphabet book was an artifact that I recalled in the past that I was studying to represent the strong sense of culture within myself and my family members. The memories I can extract are of my dad being strict with me when I was studying it. I often felt demotivated to do it but I know his tough love meant a lot to me to learn and accomplish this goal.

For better or worse, who and what impacted how, when, and why you develop your languages and literacies? Who in your family, at school, among your peer group, or in your community played a part? How did your particular situation or experience shape your literacy? That is, what sorts of issues, experiences, organizations, or life circumstances played a part? What kinds of languages and literacies did you gain from those people and your particular situation? How? Why? Explain.

     My father is one with his assistance with my Bengali studying. Another example is my English teachers back in Middle School helping me with some poems that I despise. With their guide, I was able to annotate and describe some of what the poems are arguing or talking about. I learned about stanzas and octaves that help assist in writing essays about poems with the prompts and the teachers played a massive role in that.

In what ways do you see your language, reading, and writing capabilities as having social consequences or impacting your life circumstances—that is, what advantages did/do you have and what disadvantages did/do you face as a result of your language and literacy learning?

     Some advantage was home speaking the Bangla language made me able to communicate with other Bengali speakers or natives. This would help me translate to English so the non-English speakers would understand what someone is saying. The disadvantage is that I am still unable to learn the reading of Bangla as it is proven difficult and I can’t read any of Dad’s Bengali newspapers he brings from the groceries that he reads.

How might your experience with language and literacy connect to larger social realities (e.g., of your life, family, generation, gender, race, culture, nation, geographic location, historical moment, etc.)?

     I get to communicate the English language to everyone in NYC as everyone practically speaks it. We are in America after all. Communication is key to social realities as you can make connections and develop friendships, etc. With learning Bengali and being the race itself as well, I can speak with friends from my country and share the culture. You get to learn more about where you are from and how someone who was raised in Bangladesh’s path was different from the one I had in America. That is what I do with my friend.
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