Zander 1

Laena Zander

Dr. Stephanie Dowdle Maenhardt

ENG 1050 – Online

July 14, 2018

1. Othering

The United States of America is a beautiful, diverse country – often referred to as the

“melting pot” of cultures. We started out as a group of colonies, formed over time from the many

immigrants who left their European homeland to seek freedom and opportunity. Then we

declared our independence from our mother country and became a separate nation – something

we celebrate with family, food, and fireworks every single year. Over time, more immigrants

from non-European countries came to America as well for the same reasons: seeking freedom

and opportunity. But because we started out as a refuge for immigrants of European descent, the

majority of our people are understandably of European descent. The other cultures, then, are

consequentially minorities as compared to the overall whole.

Because of this difference in groups, Americans in general have taken on a culture very

similar to their mother homeland. Our appearance, language, and foods are all pretty similar to

the countries of Europe. These minorities, however, have the added difficulty of being more

obviously different than the majority of Americans. Their appearance, language, food, etc. are

more uncommon than common, and so they stick out like a sore thumb. We’ve been hardwired to

treat these people as “others” because they’re not like us. This, in combination with the resultant

stereotypes that have formed to depict these differences, are glorified by the media to

unintentionally exaggerate and exasperate the differences and the issues they bring.
 Zander 2

The minority population looks different. This is probably the most notable difference

between them and the majority population. Though their clothes and styles may vary as well,

what is more obvious, and the source of many racial debates, is their varied shades of darker

skin. The majority population, with their European background, are all Caucasian. And it’s much

harder to tell a German man from a British or a French man. I think this has a lot to do with the

melding of European cultures and how their culture differences often become more of a symbolic

ethnicity with only one new generation (Strong & Cohen, 2017 pg.108).

The difference in physical appearance is, I feel, the foundation for all other differences in

minority cultures. As much as someone can change their clothes, language, and choice of media,

the color of their skin and the shape of their face is much more difficult to alter.

The next largest difference among minority cultures is language. Second only to how you

look in differences that are difficult to change is how you speak. The national language of the

United States is English. It is the only national language, and the only one required to be taught

in public schools. Many of the minority cultures in the US, even if they do speak English, have

little pockets of their homeland, or enclaves, that they can go to where their language then

becomes the more common norm. China Town and Little India are great examples of this.

In Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue” she discusses the variances in her own language, and

specifically her “Englishes.” She was raised in the United States by Chinese Immigrant parents.

Both going to American schools throughout her life and being a writer led her English outside of

her home to become very refined, using phrases like “The intersection of memory upon

imagination” among others. However, when she would speak to her mother in English, she

would say things like “Not waste money that way.” Even though she was, in theory, using the

same language in both situations, the way she was using them made them very different.
 Zander 3

One thing that Amy Tan really emphasized was her mother’s struggle with being othered

due to her “broken” English. Tan argued that her mother’s different English led others, including

herself, to view the woman as “broken” or “fractured” or “limited.” People’s perceptions of her

mother’s language ability translated to their perception of her mother as a person. She believed

that others treated her mother poorly because of her different way of speaking English. Ignoring

her, “pretending” to not understand her, not taking her seriously, not giving her good service.

While I can understand where Ms.Tan is coming from, I can also understand where the majority

population may have been coming from as well. They may have legitimately not understood her

mother’s English, making it difficult for them to take her seriously and/or give her good service.

Also, are the bankers, waiters, stock brokers, or doctors at fault if her mother’s accent is

preventing them from understanding her in these situations? Having been raised by her, Amy Tan

has been desensitized to the likely accent by close association. These workers, however, have

not.

Mckinley-Paige Rennison, in reference to Gloria Anzaldúla’s “How to Tame a Wild

Tongue,” wrote of how heartbroken she was in reading how accents were taken away from

children in American schools. “Accents are a part of their language and their nationality as well

as their ethnicity.” While I agree that accents are a part of the minority culture, I don’t believe

that encouraging children to speak their language of education as accurately as possible is in

anyway something to mourn over. I can understand being frustrated by the idea of being told

you’re speaking incorrectly, even though you’re pretty darn sure you’re using the same words.

However, I believe in striving to speak another’s language with an accent as close to the natives

of that language as possible. When you’re in school, a large part of the reason you’re there is to

learn to read and write in the school’s language, which you should also be able to correctly
 Zander 4

speak. It’s simply good education. I also believe that it’s respectful to the language to try to

pronounce it as perfectly as possible, which naturally leads to a minimally foreign, if not native,

accent.

If what minorities see and hear isn’t enough of a culture shock, then what they eat might

just knock you off your feet (whether positively or negatively depends on you). For example: I

like Tex-Mex food. But when I get salsas and seasonings from the store, I need to be extra

careful about the brands and labels to know what kind of heat I’m getting. An American brand

labeled “mild” will often be noticeably cooler in it’s spice than a Mexican brand’s “mild”

product. The same thing applies to Indian food.

So, what does all of this mean? To put it simply, it means that we treat people who are

different from us differently. The more different they are, the more differently we treat them.

This “othering” we end up doing simply feels natural.

Barack Obama discussed this at length during his speech “A More Perfect Union.” Blacks

and whites are about as different as you can get with race. While blacks have many issues

culturally that can be traced back to the American Slave Trade (Fredrick Douglass painted a

gruesome picture of this in his speech), whites also have issues and struggles regarding race. The

vast majority of his speech was used to acknowledge both sides of these racial biases and how

we may get past them. All of that aside, we as a nation have many of the same problems across

all races – education, employment, food, healthcare. Obama argued that, in order to fix these

more pressing problems, we needed to overcome our biases and come together to strengthen our

country.

All of these differences then lead us to stereotype these cultures. A “typical” Asian kid is

better at academics than anyone else. A “typical” Indian kid aspires to be a medical doctor one
 Zander 5

day, or they’ll end up working at the 7-11 down the street. A “typical” black kid loves to play

basketball and dreams of becoming the next Michael Jordan.

The media loves using these stereotypes, too. Which in turn reemphasizes the physical

and cultural differences that these minority groups possess, and how differently we should treat

them.

Generally speaking, we as a nation have become more accepting and understanding of

minority cultures. Cultural restaurants and stores, as well as culturally mixed with American

restaurants (like Del Taco and Panda Express) are pretty common place. In many ways, however,

we have not changed. The gangbangers in TV shows are still commonly depicted as from

minority cultures. Colleges still have quotas for minority students and scholarships to help them.

Wealthier living communities are still predominately Caucasian or white.

I have seen othering in action in various ways throughout my life too. The colored kids

didn’t seem to do as well in my school. My parents acted noticeably different around black men.

My great-grandparents were noticeably uncomfortable when they saw pictures of me and my

Hispanic boyfriend when I was a teenager. I personally didn’t understand the details of why these

people were different, I just knew that they were.

The keys to the issue of othering, in my opinion, are understanding and acceptance. We

should try to understand where both the minorities as well as the majority population is coming

from, and strive to accept them as fellow men or women in those racial and cultural differences.

One of my good friends is a black Brazilian woman. She has an accent, and sometimes struggles

to find the right word in English, but her language is easy to understand and we can

communicate well. She also loves various odd meats, and craves pigs feet when pregnant. I, on

the other hand, am what you would call a “recovering vegetarian” and won’t touch bone in meats
 Zander 6

at all, let alone pigs feet. While we are different in many ways, we strive to understand and

accept each other as well as our differences.

Our nation and world could use more friendships like this one.

2. Rhetorical Analysis

I’ve chosen to rhetorically analyze Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue.” It was originally

published in The Threepenny Review in autumn of 1990. A magazine founded in 1980 in Berkley,

California.

In the article Amy Tan talks about language and how there are various ways you can

speak a given language. Specifically, she brings to light her perspective on the issue of “broken”

English, and the mistreatment of immigrants due almost entirely to their way of speaking.

Amy Tan uses Logos through her example of the data on how Asian children score more

poorly in language arts compared to math or science. She also uses logos with her statement on

her mother’s ability to understand more complicated written works in English, even though she

speaks in a way that could easily convey otherwise. “She reads the Forbes report, listens to Wall

Street Week, converses daily with her stockbroker, reads all or Shirley MacLaine’s books with

ease – all kinds of things I can’t begin to understand. Yet some of my friends tell me they

understand 50 percent of what my mother says.”

She uses Ethos in her introduction. She first clarifies that she is not a scholar of language

and feels she cannot give “much more than personal opinions on the English language and its

variations in this country or others.” Then, she goes on to talk about her life as a writer. “And by

that definition, I am someone who has always loved language. I am fascinated by language in

daily life. I spend a great deal of my time thinking about the power of language… Language is

the tool of my trade.”

 Zander 7

She uses Pathos in many various ways throughout her article. She talks about what we

know as “broken English” and how it’s the kind of English she grew up speaking at home; she’ll

also use it with her husband sometimes too. “It has become our language of intimacy, a different

sort of English that relates to family talk, the language I grew up with.” She also goes on to paint

a picture of the issue of broken English and how it relates to her internal struggle with the

othering it has caused in her own life, specifically with her mother. “Like others, I have

described it to people as ‘broken’ or ‘fractured’ English. But I wince when I say that. …as if it

were damaged or needed to be fixed, as if it lacked a certain wholeness or soundness. … they

seem just as bad, as if everything is limited, including people’s perceptions of the limited English

speaker. I know this for a fact, because when I was growing up, my mother’s ‘limited’ English

limited my perception of her. I was ashamed of her English. I believed that her English reflected

the quality of what she had to say. … 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.”

Kairos is used in the nature of the publication. The Threepenny Review is a publication

that came about in a place that is known for it’s openness to new and different, even far-reaching,

ideas (Berkley, California) in a time when people were coming out of an era of radical change

(the 60’s and 70’s). Her article was also published in 1990. A year in the middle of two decades

of political change. It is also about a social issue, and it’s the social issues that drive politics.

I think Amy Tan’s use of rhetorical appeals was pretty effective at conveying her point to

her audience. Though I don’t fully agree with her, and believe that her view and understanding is

based on bias due to a particularly intimate association, I can clearly understand where she’s

coming from in her effort to bring such an issue to light.

Zander 8
 Zander 9

Works Cited

Anzaldúla, Gloria. “How to Tame a Wild Tongue.” Fifty Great Essays. Boston: Pearson, 2011.

Pp.33-45. Everett School District.

https://www.everettsd.org/cms/lib07/WA01920133/Centricity/Domain/965/Anzaldua-

Wild-Tongue.pdf Accessed 26 June 2018.

Douglass, Frederick. “What to a Slave is the Fourth of July?” Abridged. Rochester, New York. 5

July 1852.

Obama, Barack. “A More Perfect Union.” As prepared for delivery. Philadelphia, PA. 18 March

2008.

Rennison, Mckinley-Paige. Week 3 Discussion Board. ENGL 1050 – Online. Salt Lake

Community College. Salt Lake City, UT. 27 June 2018.

https://slcc.instructure.com/courses/457546/discussion_topics/2458666?

module_item_id=7325859 Accessed 30 June 2018.

Strong, B, & Cohen, T. F. (2017). The marriage and family experience: intimate relationships in

a changing society (13th Ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.

Tan, Amy. “Mother Tongue.” The Threepenny Review, No.43, Autumn 1990, pp 7-8. San Jose

State University. http://www.sjsu.edu/people/julie.sparks/courses/Engl-117B-

spr2016/Mother-Tongue-by-Amy-Tan.pdf Accessed 26 June 2018.