Rhetorical Analysis Essay

Amy Tan is a Chinese-American writer and novelist. Both of Amy’s parents are from China. She earned a Bachelor’s and Master’s in English from San Jose University, California. After which she became a freelance writer as well as a language development consultant. In 1985 she wrote “Rule of the Game” which spring boarded her to wrote her first novel “The joy Luck club” and in 1990 published “Mother Tongue”. Her having a background with an immigrant family allowed her to experience first-hand not only the bias, discrimination and assumptions society in general makes towards those who are not able to speak in English perfectly, or the way they do, but also to understand what it’s like to be on the receiving end and how the individual feels about it and where truth lies. 

In her essay Amy Tan talks about the existence of multiple forms of English and her realization of her use of different types of English in her own life. She shows us the weight language holds using anecdotes of her past, where her mother plays a major role and is also the pivot point to her realization. In the beginning of her essay she mentions a time she was talking to a large group of people, of whom her mother was a part. That is when she noticed the type of English, she used there was not the same type of English she would use with her mother or her mother uses. It was an eye-opening moment for her and drove her to take her stand. I feel like the message Amy Tan is trying to get across to is that weather or an individual can speak in English fluently does not make the English they speak English they or anyone speaks “wrong” and does not put a limit on what they can and want to say or mean 

Amy Tan incorporates a few different methods to spread her message to her audience. Her audience is most likely people who have not yet realized the many different forms of English mainly, but also pretty much anyone could be an effective audience. She primarily attempts to appeal to the emotions of the reader using personal anecdotes leading to her realization and provides explanations to these moments. She speaks fondly yet personally ad includes her audience to make them relate more to what she is saying and hence feel a personal connection to her claim. The methods she uses are the rhetorical strategies pathos, logos and ethos and in doing so made her essay favorably persuasive. 

Logos is successfully applied by her using her past experiences as evidence to what she is saying. And this is the weight and impact that one’s English has, for example the difference in responses you may get when speaking to a doctor or someone depending on your linguistic capability. This was the case with Amy’s mother as she mentioned from one of her stories, being treated different and not getting the expected results but Amy, using proper English, in that same scenario was able to get the results with no hassle.  

The “broken” English used by her mother was seen by the doctors, in that story, and by many others as permission to provide less importance to. As in what someone says in broken English can’t have as much value as something in “correct” English. Tan disagrees with this statement for obvious reasons. She also talks about how others understand her mother at different levels, while she understands her clear as day. Not only that bet she normally doesn’t even notice when she switches up her English when speaking with her mom and others. This s because to her they hold the same value, the same meaning.  

Her mother could, and according to Tan normally does, speak in a manner providing an abundance of information and detail, but is unfortunately not grasped by those who have not understood the that there isn’t just one correct English. The use of this rhetorical devices emphasizes to the reader the importance language has and the ways it can be used to subconsciously discriminate. 

The author used techniques pathos unsparingly, which is emotional appeal. With each of her flashbacks she attempts to appeal to the emotions of her audience by mentioning the struggles that she and mostly her mother faced as an immigrant.  Mentioning these events that trigger the emotions of the reader is used to persuade them to understand how different Englishes have an impact on people individually. Referring back to the experience her mother had with the doctor, Amy Tan’s mother was unable to get the results she wanted due to the doctor giving limited attention to her because of her limited ability to use “correct” English. This can be easily empathized with because of the severity of the situation and the discrimination she faced. 

Tan manipulates the reader by customizing her writing to the reader. This is a rhetorical device called ethos. She personally addresses her readers often as to relatively include them in the conversation so they feel more attached to the problem themselves. Also, by talking in the first person, saying I, gives the conversation a more one on one feel to it. 

Hence as a result Amy Tan, using the rhetorical devices pathos, logos, ethos was able to get her message, the understanding of multiple forms of English, across to her audience.