https://padlet.com/spencerpaik1/rv8v3t7c36l7js8o Analysis of Kingston and Tan en-us 2020-10-25 05:38:57 UTC 2020-11-05 23:40:43 UTC hello@padlet.com spencerpaik1 https://padlet.com/spencerpaik1/rv8v3t7c36l7js8o/wish/858795230 Of the two essays relating to language in the Asian American community, Amy Tan's Mother Tongue was especially interesting to me. When I did my initial research, what really stood out to me was the criticism of her work. A lot of people felt that she portrays Asian men stereotypically and that the norms she portrays about Asian cultures are misleading. This was something I did not really see too much in this essay. In fact, the more dominant figure it seems, from both her life and in the essay was her mother, especially since her father died when she was young. From the readings I have seen about her life, it has been her mother laying down the law and the more restrictive cultural and gender norms upheld by her mother, a female figurehead. However, what is interesting is that contrasting the toxic relationship she has with her mother in general, this essay seems to be sympathetic. Tan pities her mother's experience being a stranger in her country and struggling to command respect because of language barriers. She also seems to place a lot of value on the opinions of her mother, in spite of the fact she has manipulated her with suicide threats, slandered her white partners, and held a knife to her throat in an especially tense conflict between the two of them. Another highlight I felt was interesting was about how Tan defends herself against the criticism. One article I read shows that Tan is speaking from her experiences, yet she also adds that her work is fiction. This is something I find contradictory especially since it seems like these are accurate personal narratives told from experience. Any hyperbolizing must be coming from somewhere so that doesn't seem like a valid defense.]]> 2020-10-25 06:04:18 UTC https://padlet.com/spencerpaik1/rv8v3t7c36l7js8o/wish/858795230