The Report, Summary, Response & Analysis Statements

The Report:

I have chosen “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan because she directly touches on the social and cultural differences that many people experience through language alone. The purpose of Amy Tan writing this essay was to explain to people her love for language in and of itself and to make people aware that just because someone has, in her terms “broken english”, does not mean that they are not intelligent. Amy focuses on her mother much throughout this essay because she has learned through the experiences of her mother that people can be cruel to people they see as less off than what they are. People try to take advantage of her mother because she can not speak clear english.

The stance that Amy takes is one of great courage in the sense that she is willing to do what it takes to make a difference. Even though that she has been told that she is the worst at writing she continues to write because she has a strong natural love for language. Through her determination she has become successful. I have discovered through reading this essay that Amy Tan is a strong person who is passionate about the art of language.

The Summary:

Mother Tongue is an essay by Amy Tan describing her life with her mother in America. How the broken speech of her mother has had an influence on her life. Amy Tan tells the story of how she becomes to have a strong natural love for language. Amy describes how we speak differently to family compared to how we speak to people out in public. More importantly Amy describes that we have a completely different language that we speak within our own families and a different language that we speak out in public. Amy relates to the experiences of her mother here in America to describe why she believes that we speak a different language to our families compared to the language we speak in public. Amy also talks about how by her helping her mother has giving her the ability to learn and experience how language is used as a tool within the social and cultural aspects of society. Amy’s rebellious nature has giving her the strength to continue her pursuit as a writer and lover of language.

The Response:

Now that I have read Amy Tan’s essay and understand it I am able to conclude that Amy Tan has actual practical first hand experience that can back what she is claiming. It is because of the rebellious nature of Amy Tan that she become a writer as compared to a scientist or another field that favors mathematics. The most important thing is the fact that Amy Tan decided to do what she wanted to do despite of what others thought she should do with her life. I would also conclude that this essay had much more of meaning and than just describing her love for language. It also presents to us that language tool of understanding our social and cultural differences. Amy also presents that language has a place within everything for example a certain type of language was required to write a science report, a different type of language used by scholars and at home and with friends one might speak even a completely different language again.

The Analysis:

Amy Tan being addresses her audience of, I would guess, of scholars at a very simplistic level to get their attention. “I am not a scholar of english or literature” This tactic would be a good technic to use because if she presents her self as portraying that she knows everything the room full of scholars would not take her serious and some may even become bias towards her. Amy Tam does a good job of putting herself as an equal with her audience. Amy Tan uses her skill with language to address her audience in an effective way.

Amy Tan then immediately goes on to say that she is a writer. Now she uses her qualifications as a writer to convince her audience that she knows what she is talking about. Amy Tan presents that she has experience. “I am a writer. And by that definition, I am someone who has always loved language”. Amy Tan at this point has earned the respect of her audience. Now at this point Amy Tan is free to tell her story. Amy talks to the audience about her experiences with language from living in America with her mother. She used no hard complicated terms she only spoke simple terms that normal everyday people could understand and relate to. Her method is one of the best methods of approach of telling her story because it had the effect that allowed everybody to relate to what she was talking about.

Literacy Narrative

I grew up on a small farm just outside of Woodstock New Brunswick. In my family learning to read and write was not important. I was expected to work on the farm from a very young age, like my dad had to had to before I was born for his dad. A family tradition I guess. My only motivation was the idea that I was going to inherit the farm from my father when he either got too old to work it or if he passes away. Until then I am completely dependant on my parents. My mother did eventually decide to send us to school, not for and education but more or less to get us out of her hair and it was free.

I started school when I was about six years old. The two-hour bus ride to and from school was like hell on earth to me. I was bullied by the older children because I wore old cloths and had a speech impairment. I was a shy quiet child who had no friends because I lived so far away from everybody. The closest house was over one mile away. It would take over one hour to walk.

I struggled in school my first five years. I was always behind everybody else, until one day when my teacher stood up for me by complimenting me about being intelligent in front of the class and telling the other students that it was wrong to bully other people. I began to work extra hard for this teacher because she stood up for me and I did not want to let her down. This teacher was an english teacher who liked reading to us. I continued to work extra hard in her class. Over time I began to realized that all of my other classes became easier throughout the rest of the year. By learning how to read and write I was able to bring up my grades in all of my other classes.

I began to read many books and different types of books until one night I was reading the Hardy Boys in my room when my dad came and gave me a severe beating because one of the pigs got hit by a car. He said that if he ever caught me reading again that I would learn what a real beating was. He believed that I was only to work on the farm and nothing else. During planting and harvesting seasons I was not allowed to go to school until all the work was finished. Later in New Brunswick it became law that all children had to attend school. Even then I was still forced to work on the farm for nothing more than living in fear of our next beating when dad got upset.

When I started getting older I began to plan a way to get out of the home of my father. My mother and father were going through a divorce when I found a job at a sawmill from a guy who knew my father. He also knew that we were abused as children and forced to work hard. He took pity on me and hired me on the spot.

At the age of sixteen I was able to rent my own apartment from the earnings I got at the sawmill. After working about six months in the sawmill cleaning up wet and heavy bark with sticky tree sap dripping down my neck I knew that I was not going to work in these conditions for the rest of my life. I approached the high school that I last attended to see if I could get back into school part-time. I needed to keep my job and I could not go back home.

I at first got turned down because my marks were too low and I needed to live with a relative so that I could attend school full-time. I attended interview after interview trying to fight my case. Then one day the guidance counselor from the high school contacted me and said that they were willing to make an exception in my case under certain conditions. I was required to right a letter explaining my situation and the reason why I wanted to go back to school. As I began to write this letter I knew that this was it, my last chance to either succeed or not. I remembered my old english teacher and how she was the only one who believed in my abilities. I began right draft after draft until I felt that it was worth sending in to be reviewed by the review board that has turned me away several times before.

Three weeks later I got a call from the high school consoler again and she told me that they talked to my boss and that they would jointly accommodate me. I continued to work nine-hour shifts because I needed those hours to earn enough money to sustain my self along with a vehicle payment. I worked from nine at night until six in the morning and attended school every afternoon with only a part-time course load. This took me two extra years to complete high school. I was nineteen when I finished high school but because of my birthday being in the summer I turned twenty before my actual graduation.

My life in my parents home and my life on my own at my first job has shown me that I needed to take my education seriously and forget about what my father thinks. I need to have the ability to provide for my self by getting a job that I liked not the job that my father thought I should have. Learning how to read and write was the beginning to all of that. I later joined the Canadian forces and served with them for about six years. I moved to North Bay Ontario during that time and met my wife Nikiyah and we currently have seven children. I could have excepted my life as it was. I could have been still working at that same sawmill if it even still exists. I decided that I wanted make a difference. To fire that shot that will be heard for freedom to live my own life not the life that someone else says I have to live. At the end of everything else I am the one in control of my own destiny.

 

Reflective Learning Statement

I have always had a problem with being a slow reader so it would always take me a really long time to get my required reading all done. When I would have to write a paper I would start getting anxiety attacks and start panicking until the paper was finished. I remember going to bed one night counting essays in my sleep like I was in a horror movie or part of a psychotic mind experiment only to wake up with a migraine headache. After a few events like that I decided that it was time to get with the program and learn to do better. You have to remember that failure is not an option for me so the only real choices that I really had was to either except those nightmarish killer headaches or survive. In my case what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.

I began to start reading more for the purpose of picking up my reading speed. One day I was at a second hand book store looking for some cheap books to get started. It was there that I discovered some of J.R.R Tolkien’s work. His work changed my life completely around to now where I want to write as good as him. I began to write fluently with many failed attempts but I still would love to be a writer if only I had the tools for the job. I am here at university to earn those tools. By the way if you have seen the movies The Lord of the Rings read the books a much better story.

After reading through many of the classes autobiography statements including my own I have come to realize that many of us have the same problem. It is like we know what we want to say but have trouble getting it all out. I think it is because that we have so many ideas coming to us all at once that we are mixing our ideas together. I have found that with all the techniques that we were taught in class will help us or at least help me. My favorite technique is the one where we are to pick up a pen and start writing whatever comes to mind then stop and see what comes out. That’s works for me probably because I am very high strung person.

My Autobiography Statement

     I am Benjamin Dunn and I grew up on a small farm just outside of Woodstock NewBrunswick. My goal in life is to be ready fight the battles that others cannot. I have been planning to attend university for a while now but life has slowed my progress preventing me from attending university until now. My main reason that I am here is to become a faster reader and an excellent writer so that I can write the novel that I have been working on for the last ten years. I believe that writing this novel is hard for me because I do not have the necessary skills needed to start and finish. I really believe that my creative intelligence is writing pose fiction because that is the one thing that I always think of and go back to and most importantly it gives me the chance to write about how I believe things should be. I believe that everybody has a creative intelligence and that creative intelligence is that one thing that you will never lose even after you have been stripped of everything else. I always go back to writing or wanting to write. As I begin my undergraduate career I am excited to learn all that I can. I am a fast learner and put many hours into my work but I am a very slow reader and it takes me a long time to start any writing assignment. I hope and believe that by the time that I finish my undergraduate degree I will be a faster reader and an excellent writer because that is my purpose for being here in University.