
Throughout history there has been prejudice and racism. Some groups of people will always think that they are better and dominant to another. Europeans have demonstrated throughout history that they think they are dominant. They have demonstrated this through the slave trade to the world wars. They always want to prove that they are better. With the idea of dominance comes groups who are put into submission and are seen as weaker and less important. These groups are subjected to racism, xenophobia, and harassment. This is especially true when those groups immigrate to a dominant country. This racism and xenophobia can be seen in Mother Tongue through the discrimination of a Chinese immigrant. In order to understand Amy Tan’s Mother Tongue, you must understand prejudice toward Chinese Immigrants in America. 

Prejudice shaped how others perceived Amy’s mother. People would not treat her as an equal because they attributed her “broken” English to a lack of mental ability. In one specific case, she was not treated fairly by a medical professional. She went in to the hospital to get a tumor checked out. They didn’t show her any compassion and didn’t apologize when medical records were lost. They also withheld information from her. She demanded that the doctor talk to her daughter and she wouldn’t leave until he did. Eventually the doctor talked to Amy, and when he heard that she spoke perfect English he was compassionate and apologetic. They also told Amy about her mother’s CAT scan and when the next meeting on her treatment would be. The doctors had a prejudice towards Amy’s mother because she didn’t speak perfect English. They thought since she didn’t speak English well then she wasn’t very smart and that she wasn’t equal to them, therefore, they held information from her and didn’t treat her as they would any other person. The reason that Americans have been mean to Chinese immigrants is based in history. According to Milestones, during the 1850’s there was an influx of Chinese immigrants into the United States. Many began working in the gold mines while others worked on building railroads. Eventually many became very successful because of the railroads. As the Chinese immigrants became more successful, the American workers begun to have resentment toward the Chinese immigrants. Eventually legislation passed that restricted the immigration of Chinese into the United States. This was called the Chinese Exclusion Act. Many of the non-Chinese workers were angry with the Chinese workers because they felt like they were taking all the jobs from them (Milestones). A lot of the resentment toward Chinese immigrants today is because of the resentment that took place during the 1850’s. There was a lot of propaganda against Chinese immigrants during this time and even those who were not directly affected by the immigrants began to hate them because of what was shown in the papers. The resentment has been passed down through families and the resentment has lingered. Now Chinese immigrants are not treated the same because the idea of nativism has remained.

The prejudice that other people had toward Amy’s mother extended to the professional world. In one instance, Amy had to pretend to be her mother to call a stockbroker in New York. He was supposed to send her a check but it was two weeks late. Amy talked to the stockbroker calmly and with perfect English while her mother yelled behind her telling her what to say. The next week they went to New York and her mother yelled at the stockbroker. If there weren’t prejudices toward Mrs. Tan, then she wouldn’t have to have her daughter talk for her. Many of the prejudices that arose from the 1850’s presented themselves in the workplace. Many Chinese immigrants ae not treated the same during work. According to Fredrick Leong, there can exist barriers between the Chinese immigrants and their coworkers because of the idea that the immigrants are different. They could possibly be discriminated against or even bullied and harassed if it becomes extreme. Much of the discrimination and harassment is because the Chinese immigrants have different traits and values than their coworkers. There are also barriers because of the belief that Chinese workers are only good at math and science. Their coworkers may stereotype their abilities and have a social expectation because of it (Leong). Overall there is a lot of discrimination and negative feelings towards Chinese immigrants in the work place and it might even escalated violence. 

In the 19th century and even now there is resentment toward immigrants. Americans continue to hold the views of nativism and won’t let them go. We hate anyone who does not look or act like us. We resent anyone who is not “American”, even though America is a melting pot of cultures and was built on the idea of many cultures together in one country. I hope that in the future these ideas will begin to subside and love and respect will be more prevalent. Everyone is human and we should treat everyone as equal. The only way to do this is to do our part in not carrying on the racism and resentment. 
