Amy Tan’s piece, “Mother Tongue,” explores her tolerance and acceptance of her own personal varieties of English used in her writing and everyday life. Tan’s mother speaks very broken English, and this served as a challenging obstacle throughout both of their lives. Tan elaborates upon several examples of these challenges in her piece, “Mother Tongue”. Amy Tan was born in Oakland California, to Chinese immigrants, in 1952. She was brought to life shortly after World War II had ended and right before the Cold War began. Also during this time period, women began radically changing their stereotypical roles in America. Tan’s use of historical and cultural context, centered around the 1950s in “Mother Tongue”, helps develop her argument of just how challenging the countless obstacles regarding overcoming the language barrier, notably as a woman, really are.

One of the biggest challenges that refugees and immigrants in the United States face has always been and will most likely always be raising children and also helping them to succeed and excel in school (Nuñez). It’s not uncommon for parents to discover that their children have become “Americanized” and also pick up English faster, which throws off the parent-child dynamic (Nuñez). These concepts are prevalent in Tan’s childhood. For example, Tan elaborates upon several instances in which she was forced to impersonate her own mother, especially over the phone. This caused countless awkward encounters if/when her mother’s true identity emerged. Also, Tan felt as if her mother had hindered her educational potential. She writes, “I think my mother’s English almost had an effect on limiting my possibilities in life as well.” (Tan, 345). She goes on to say, “I believe that it affected my results on achievement tests, I.Q. tests, and the SAT.” (Tan, 345). It is unclear if Tan has confronted her mother with these disheartening accusations, but they have all definitely weighed on her heart throughout her entire life. She writes, “My mother has long realized the limitations of her English as well.” (Tan, 344). Although Tan’s mother was aware of her own setbacks, she failed to realize the impact that they had on her poor daughter. 

Tan did not excel in various subjects due to her life in a non-English speaking home, and the English she used varied depending on whether or not she was in school. In other words, her English was dramatically shifted when she was at home due to her mother’s unique, more simple version of the English language. Tan writes, “a speech filled with carefully wrought grammatical phrases, burdened, it suddenly seemed to me, with nominalized forms, past perfect tenses, conditional phrases, and the forms of standard English that I had learned in school and through books, the forms of English I did not use at home with my mother.” (Tan, 342-343). This quote alludes to the idea that Tan, along with everyone else, sadly treated her mother differently than others because of the language barrier. It’s almost as if Tan spoke to her mother as if she was communicating with a young child.

Immigrants living in America are forced to overcome issues regarding securing work and housing as well (Nuñez). Tan, along with her mother, came across a variety of opportunities in which they were not able to take full advantage of. As Tan explains in her piece, “some of my friends tell me they understand 50 percent of what my mother says. Some say they understand 80 to 90 percent. Some say they understand none of it, as if she were speaking pure Chinese.” (Tan, 343). Her mother’s lack of understanding English was very prominent to many. As Tan notes in her writing, the understanding of others varied greatly. Language barriers are truly a setback in all aspects of life. Tan goes on to write, “it wasn’t until 1985 that I finally began to write fiction.” (Tan, 346). Tan may have felt insecure about her own English skills due to her lack of help at home in this subject. This idea fostered in her head and may have held her back from following her dreams as a writer. 

Another notable historical piece is that Tan was born in 1952, but the 1950s were only truly “good times” for middle-class white Americans (Brinkley). Growing up during this time period most definitely was a challenge for Tan, as she was Chinese. It was in the 1950s when Chinese workers first migrated to the United States ("Chinese Immigration and the Chinese Exclusion Acts"). The Chinese Exclusion Acts were not repealed until 1943, and this action took place solely with the interest of aiding the relationship between China and the U.S. during World War II ("Chinese Immigration and the Chinese Exclusion Acts"). The cultural divide during this time would most definitely be noticed by Tan and her mother. Living in America directly after this change would be extremely difficult for Tan as her parents were Chinese immigrants themselves. 

Another difficult obstacle that immigrants in the U.S. face is the cultural barrier (Nuñez). Growing up, Tan has witnessed firsthand the horrors of feeling invisible, “the fact that people in department stores, at banks, and at restaurants did not take her seriously, did not give her good service, pretended not to understand her, or even acted as if they did not hear her.”  (Tan, 344). Tan’s mother failed to be acknowledged by so many ignorant, disrespectful people. During this time period, judgements and treatments such as these were unfortunately tolerated and usually expected. It’s often quite frustrating to fail or struggle to get a point across to one whom doesn’t grasp a concept that seems so simple, but those who live in America and lack basic English skills are struggling more imaginable.

Moving into the 1960s, women tried to escape their roles of being just wives and mothers (Brinkley). Tan lived through radical changes in America, and this was showcased in her work, “Mother Tongue”. She writes, “Fortunately, I happen to be rebellious in nature and enjoy the challenge of disproving assumptions made about me.” (Tan, 346). This rebellious trait that Tan claims to possess is crucial to her happiness and survival during this particular time and in this specific place. Tan writes, “She reads the Forbes report, listens to Wall Street Week, converses daily with her stockbroker, reads all of Shirley MacLaine’s books with ease-all kinds of things I can’t begin to understand.” (Tan, 343). Tan includes this background on her mother in order to drill into her readers that her mother was an intelligent, hardworking woman. The discrimination of Tan’s mother was solely based upon her failure to speak perfect English, not her lack of intelligence.

 Historical and cultural context mold Tan’s writing due to influencing her claim regarding breaking the language barrier. She was born into a time period in which being a daughter of immigrants, not to mention being a woman as well, would cause her to face countless obstacles throughout her entire life. Tan overcame these strenuous challenges and continued to defend her helpless mother. It is unfair how language plays such a tremendous role in judgements. Currently, times are changing. In the near future, Americans will (hopefully) be completely accepting of each other with no barriers regarding race, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, cultural traditions, national origin, etc. Discrimination in America must end due to our diverse population.
