Naomi Michel
Cover Letter
12/4/21
English
Writing this Rhetorical Analysis definitely was not hard but it was challenging. It requires you to deeply analyze. This is something I am not used to doing. I always just summarize by skimming. This phase required me to break down texts and understand what they are doing. This assignment will help me in the long run when reading essays I read in my alone time and in class.I usually have a hard time getting through paragraphs but this is a great trick. My audience is to readers of my mother tongue, telling them how Amy Tan has gone about drawing in her audience and the strategies she has used. I spoke with an informal matter but yet it was informative. Learning outcome 4 was a huge lesson that I learned writing an essay for this phase. I had to look over and study rhetorical strategies and apply with knowledge by learning how to recognize it. This essay is an example of this. I did worksheets that had to do with answering what the purpose, authors, exigence, genre, and argument was. I did this not only with Mother Tongue but other readings as well. In these ways my knowledge was built up.This also links to learning outcome #2 which was “Explore and analyze, in writing and reading, a variety of genres and rhetorical situations”. Exploring and Analyzing Mother Tounge is how I accomplished this outcome. I had not completed this assignment on time which made it a bit of a struggle to get through it cause I had to go back and do worksheets and more. It was all worth it because I came out learning something!
Naomi Michel
English Composition
Phase 2 Rhetorical Analysis Essay
12/4/21
Rhetorical Analysis on “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tans
Relating to experiences is one of the many ways that audiences are drawn to authors and their published work. Having a difference in opinion or informing on a topic are other ways authors have readers tune in. What we will discuss are the more subtle ways writers are able to appeal to an audience. “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan is written in a specific way which we are drawn to. Her writing style, tones, rhetorical appeals, and more has well made us feel connected to her anecdote. In what follows I will specifically analyze and explain how she has done this.
In Mother tongue, Amy Tan shared a bit about herself in the start of the essay, stating how she’s an author/writer that has published a book titled the “The Joy Luck Club”. Readers looking up her name will find her other published works and how, including this reading, they link to her identity as an Asain American and what she has faced.One being the critization of her mothers english/accent. This should impact some readers in a way where they find this reading much more credible being that mother tongue is about her experiences as the child of an asain immigrant.
Stating that personal opinions is as much as she can share on English variations has a connection to the writing style she uses. It being in fact personal and reflective is a approach to ethos. She appears much more sincere to the audience. From the beginning of the essay, we as readers get to know about Amy’s realization of the type of English she mostly uses in the outside world. How this isn’t how her mother is used to communicating. That isn’t easy to understand for her mother. This conflicts Amy into thinking, despite being raised with her mothers english, she doesn’t speak like her in most spaces. The same spaces where her mother is often treated like a 2nd hand. She begins first to tell us about the mistreatment of her mom by saying “I’ve heard other terms used, ‘limited English’, for example —– as if everything is limited. Including people’s perceptions of the limited english speaker”. She then adds on to it by sharing past stories of the specific situations when her mother is treated wrongly. Presenting evidence through storytelling, provides vivid descriptions for the reader. This is a strategy used to appeal to audiences. This has given us an understanding about why she feels so strongly about this, knowing a family member tries so hard but still gets treated like 2nd hand. This is too pathos because the reading is loaded with emotional tones, therefore evoking empathy or sympathy.
Amy Tan utilizes logos as well. Again giving real life examples, she specifically states how her mothers english has affected her school life. In about the middle of the reading, she explained how English achievement tests were a bit more challenging than math tests. Amy tells us that “Fill-in-the-blank sentence completion, such as, ‘even though Tom was, Mary thought he was’ — the correct answer always seemed to be the most bland combinations of thoughts —- so you wouldn’t get answers like “Even though Tom was foolish, Mary thought he was ridiculous’ Well according to my mother, there were very few limitations as to what Tom could have been and and what Mary might have thought of him. So I never did well on tests like that”. Reading this explanation, you’re able to understand that a child growing up in a household where “simple english” was used, would have trouble tackling tests that involved having to put together sentences of all types. This explanation makes readers think logically about what she is getting across. Whether that leads to the reader still not doing what the author wants them to know or leading to the reader realizing what she is saying is true and makes sense. Making sense of exactly how english almost limited her possibilities.
These are the various ways Amy has used the 3 rhetorical appeals (ethos, logos, and pathos) and writing strategies to present evidence and build up their writing style. After telling us about her academic effects and situations she’s seen of her mother, Amy brings it back to conclude her main point. Having been brought to pay attention to her mothers english, that shaped her perception of the world, and beginning to implement it in her writing. This goes back to her belief that her mothers broken English is valuable enough and should be respected. In her words she wants to capture “what language ability tests can never reveal:her intent, her passion, her imagery, the rhythms of her speech and the nature of her thoughts”. Closing it off with this, Amy ends it with pathos yet again, creating a stronger connection to her personal thoughts and feelings.
