
Coming from a family of immigrants, I understand the differences in culture and society from the experience of living in two different worlds. Personal experiences, including living with a family that is foreign to the United States, shaped my views of life in a more dynamic manner. This is essentially what Amy Tans explains in her essay, “Mother Tongue”. Born in the United States, but spending most of her life growing up in an alienated, traditional Chinese environment has enabled her to obtain multiple perspectives in society. To better comprehend Amy Tans “Mother Tongue”, it is important to understand the contemporary first generation American experience and their relationship with the English language. 

“Mother Tongue” was set in the 1980’s where Chinese immigration reached a new level of attractiveness. During this time, it was common for the Chinese to migrate over to the United States to seek a better future for themselves and support family. The reason for the big shift in immigration from China was due to the failure of the Chinese reform of the country’s economy and government policies in its entirety (Hooper and Batalova). The country sadly suffered a combination of an economic crisis and a political breakdown, which sparked red flags and caused concern for the future of many Chinese civilian lives. The solution was merely to start a new life and hopefully progress as an outsider in a new country. The original large population of first generation Americans from Chinese descent erupted between the 1950’s and 1980’s (Hooper and Batalova). Amy’s mother followed the same immigration path to the United States during her country’s time of crisis (Tan 343). Her journey to start a new life forced her to seek success to provide a good life for herself and her future family. Being a Chinese native made it difficult to completely adjust to the norms of this new country. Amy describes the way her mother speaks as broken, or limited, English that sounds like a completely different dialect to Americans (Tan 343). 

Since the original era of migration, the increase in population of immigrants in the United States has sky rocketed. Today, we see much more racial and cultural blends, allowing for outside countries customs to be more socially acceptable. Back in the 1980’s, however, the bloom of the new first-generation, Chinese-American population was just settling in. It was not as common to see people from other countries, nor were their cultural differences accepted without criticism.

With the migration of the Tan family to the United States brings a new first-generation, Chinese-American that will overcome obstacles and become the family’s first step in getting accustomed to the new American culture. In Amy Tans “Mother Tongue”, she shows how living as a new immigrant was a tough task to handle. Amy says, “I think my mother’s English almost had an effect on limiting my possibilities in life as well…But I do 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 a child” (Tan 345). In this quote, Tan informs the reader that living with a family of immigrants that share a different language in the household effects the ability to make progress in adjusting to the American culture. Her mother’s broken English helped Amy understand the struggles her mother faced, and assisted Amy in becoming the writer she is today.  Amy also tells the reader that living with these language barriers is a setback compared ordinary American families. Speaking on personal experience, coming from a family of Hispanic immigrants was tough, especially growing up in what was essentially two different worlds. Inside the walls of my home, I could flip a switch and go from a normal American boy that attended school, to a young Hispanic boy that respected the customs from my family’s native country. This double-sided life affected the way I performed in school and the way I perceived the differences between the traditional American culture and my native country’s culture. Understanding the difficulties of language barriers helps view the setbacks and struggles as huge accomplishments to the development a successful first generation American. Based on the Mouw, Ted, and Yu Xie article on academic achievement for first generation Americans, we can further comprehend the cultural perspective on becoming an American immigrant. In the article, it shows how being a part of two different cultures helps create a dynamic and unique background for an individual. It goes on to say that, “The cultural perspective begins with the premise that maintaining ethnic identity increases the social integration…It reinforces values and standards of behavior to promote academic success” (Mouw, Ted, and Yu Xie 1252–1267). This statement shows that being the first in your family to grow up in a new country, and having the ethnic identity from your native family, influences success in the future. Barriers can be knocked down through these interesting cultural backgrounds, allowing for unique personal development as well. 

A lot like cultural differences, the social aspect of being a first generation American can be very intimidating. Tan goes on and to share her social encounter experiences in the text; “English limited my perception of her. I was ashamed of her English. I believed that her English reflected the quality of what she had to say…the fact that people at department stores, at banks, and at restaurants did not take her seriously” (Tan 344). She felt embarrassed of her mother and for the way that other people treated her which shows that during this time, the people of this country had no sympathy for immigrants trying to succeed in life. I am aware that situations like Tan and her mother had to deal with still occur, because I have experienced it myself. A similar situation happened with my father and it disgusts me to know that because of slight cultural differences people get treated differently. Also related to social problems, an article that explains parent-child immigrant differences and adjustments gives a fuller explanation of the social impediments. The article says, “Children generally acculturate more quickly than their parents, with parents maintaining ethnic traditions that are at odds with children’s experiences in the new culture" (Costigan, Dokis 232–252). This statement lets the reader further understand the unbalanced advancements within the relationship with parent and child. The imbalances that are set between Amy and her mother makes her experiences with social encounters to be negative and sometimes embarrassing. However, she uses her mother’s inability to fit in with society her experiences with other difficulties as a foundation to her successful development as a first generation American. 

The historical and cultural era is associated with Amy Tan’s essay since it is based in the 1980’s. The United States was not completely in agreement with the amount of migration occurring in their country, especially with Chinese immigration coming to an all-time high because of the governmental crises occurring back in China. The children of these immigrants were building blocks to a new generation filled with different cultures and changing social lives. In Amy Tans essay she talks about the difficulties of growing up as an outsider with only herself to teach her ways to fit in with this new foreign, American culture. The difficulties she faces as a immigrant Chinese-American in the 1980’s lives on today in current first generation immigrants from a diverse amount of countries all around the world. The country is now more than ever more accepting of the multitude of cultures being brought in, however, Tan’s obstacles are still highly relatable to a majority of immigrant families today, but they luckily create a similar rise to success.
