Amy Tan, a Chinese American writer and novelist in “Mother Tongue”, argues that a person’s value and validity should not be affected by the way they speak, whether they use “broken” or “perfect” English. Amy develops her argument through the use of various rhetorical strategies like Ethos, Pathos, and Logos to appeal to the reader. She implements experiences and introduces them into what she believes is a noteworthy topic. She stated her experiences with her mother, as they had to endure such mistreatment because of how they spoke the English language. She writes to let people know that there is no such thing as “broken” or “perfect” English. Everybody speaks English in their own ways, some more different than others. Amy’s audience are the people with alternate views, who base people’s intelligence and worth on how they speak the English language. In order to inform them that just because people speak differently, it does not demonstrate their capabilities as a human being.

Tan begins her essay with ethos as she introduces and describes herself, stating that she is “ not a scholar of English or literature” and she “ cannot give you much more than personal opinions on the English language and its variations in this country or others.” By doing this, Amy prepares the reader for a more personal essay and shares her competence for writing about the language. Tan is able to bring up this topic as it has directly affected her life. As an Asian-American she has had first-hand experience with learning English and also living in a household where the English normally spoken is not considered “perfect”. This allows her to appeal to the audience by proving her credibility, which she does throughout the text leaving the reader at the end of the text with no doubt that she was a trustworthy and reliable source for this topic.

After introducing herself and giving the reader a general idea of what her essay is going to be about, the author moves to logical appeals(logos) to convenience the audience by simply using logic and reasoning. Building off the strategy she utilized, Tan uses her own schooling experience with standardized testing and different classes, being Math and English. She states that in school she would usually get “ B’s, sometimes B-pluses, in English and scoring perhaps in the sixtieth or seventieth percentile on achievement tests.”, but those scores would not compare to her true abilities in Math and Science as in those areas she achieved “A’s and scored in the ninetieth percentile or higher.” She uses statistics generally to acknowledge how Asian-Americans typically excel in Math rather than in English. The surveys demonstrated that they were usually steered “away from writing and into Math and Science” by teachers as they noticed that their students suffered from “broken” English. She often uses these facts to support her mother’s lack in her English-speaking ability throughout the text. Her mother has been steered away from certain opportunities or put to the side because of her “broken” English. 

Tan moves to completely utilize emotional appeals(pathos) throughout her essay as she gives examples of the unfair treatment her mother frequently received because of her “broken” English. Utilizing Pathos, Tan effectively supports her statements with personal touching experiences to inform her audience. She tells of her having to call the stockbroker for her mother as she would “call people on the phone to pretend I was she.” Amy yelled at him pretending to be her mother, as she was furious that her check had been delayed for two weeks. While yelling at the stockbroker, Tan used her “perfect English” as her mother believed this would be the only way that she would be able to receive what she needed. Tan’s mother has been ignored and bullied because of her “broken English” so Tan was her only solution to do certain day to day tasks. Other examples of her being condescended were when she attended places like hospitals and restaurants, Tan’s mother was supposed to receive a CAT scan from the hospital but never did as she was put to the side because of her “broken English”. Tan later called and was able to easily get her mothers CAT scan as she was treated the complete opposite compared to her mother, with respect and understanding. Tan having the “perfect English” was then given the responsibility of getting people to respect her mother. Both of these examples target the reader’s emotions, making them sympathize for Amy’s mother. Since she was treated unfairly over not being able to put out “perfect” words, her mother is clearly very smart as she “converses daily with her stockbroker”. She reads “Forbes reports” and even listens to “wall street week”, so it is clear that a person’s intelligence should not be assumed by how they speak and Amy effectively uses pathos to convince her readers of her argument.

In Conclusion, Amy Tan wrote “Mother Tongue” to let the readers know that there is no such thing as “perfect” or “broken” English, but instead a diverse way of speaking the language. No matter if a person’s English is crystal clear or barely understandable, it does not represent the intelligence of that person.  The clearly laid out structure of her text and arguments make a very informative essay. Also getting her idea across perfectly throughout the essay as she appeals to the audience with the use of Ethos, Logos, and Pathos to furthermore grab the audience’s attention and ingrain into their heads this idea that a person’s value should not be judged by the way they speak as we all unconsciously speak the English language differently.