Often times, the individual most hard obstruction for immigrants to get the better of, is the acquisition and use of a new linguistic communication. For many immigrants, absorbing into a new civilization is hard. In “Aria”, Richard Rodriguez describes the societal and cultural troubles immigrants encounter in America. He describes his awkward childhood as he attempts to come to footings with his private individuality (Spanish) and his public individuality (English). Rodriguez emphasizes the demand for a public linguistic communication in order to map good and take in the “societal and political advantages” (Rodriguez 440) of geting a “public linguistic communication” (Rodriguez 435). Rodriguez’s experiences are mirrored in Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue” in which Tan inside informations the experiences her female parent faces because of her female parent’s “broken” (Tan 442) English. Because of the nature of Rodriguez’s claims refering the deprived position of those who lack a public individuality, we are able to use his averments to Tan’s try to farther review and analyse the experiences that Tan’s female parent went through.
Rodriguez asserts “Merely when I was able to believe of myself as an American, no longer an foreigner in gringo society, could I seek the rights and chances necessary for public identity.” He further emphasizes that, “The societal and political advantages I enjoy as a adult male consequence from the twenty-four hours that I came to believe that my name so is Rich-heard Road-ree-guess” (Rodriquez 440). Rodriguez claims that public linguistic communication, which in this instance happens to be English, provides the foundation for the rights and chances available for those who speak the “public linguistic communication” (Rodriguez 435). This averment implies that an single must come to footings with his or her “public individualism” (Rodriguez 435) by talking the “public language.” By public individualism, Rodriguez refers to a individual who has become assimilated into society, talking the “public linguistic communication”. For Rodriguez, this “public linguistic communication” becomes his key to unlocking the door to chances that would non be available to him had he non embr aced his “public individuality” .
Because of the averments Rodriguez makes, we can farther use it to analyse Tan’s try, “Mother Tongue.” In “Mother Tongue,” Tan describes the differences between the linguistic communication that she speaks every bit opposed to that of her female parent’s. Essentially, the lone existent difference between the two is the complexness of the words and phrases used to convey a message. Tan’s mother speaks the “private linguistic communication” that Rodriguez speaks of. Her English can be described as no more than “broken” or “fragmented” (Tan 442). However, this does non make justness to her apprehension of the “public language.” As Tan points out, “… my female parent’s expressive bid of English belies how much she really understands. She reads the Forbes study, listens to Wall Street Week … reads all of Shirley Mac Laine’s books with easiness” (Tan 442). But because she does non talk the “public linguistic communication”, she is barred from the advantages that come with talking the “public linguistic communication”. For illustration, Tan recounts the narrative in which her female parent had gone into the infirmary for an assignment for a benign encephalon tumour. The infirmary had lost the catscan and harmonizing to Tan’s female parent, she had received no apologies for the error in malice of the fact that she had explained the state of affairs with “her best English, no mistakes” (Tan 443). The state of affairs that arose between Tan’s female parent and the hospital staff helps to confirm Rodriguez’s claims that those who speak the “public linguistic communication” will harvest the benefits that comes with geting the linguistic communication. Rodriguez would reason that had Tan’s mother spoken the “public linguistic communication” she would non hold needed the aid of her girl, who spoke “perfect English” (Tan 443) to unclutter up the state of affairs.
Although Rodriguez’s averments can be used to use to Tan’s try, farther analysis proves that certain facets of Tan’s averments can be used to review Rodriguez’s claims. In “Mother Tongue,” Tan claims that the “broken” English that her mother radius of, the “private linguistic communication” that Tan grew up with “had an consequence on restricting my possibilities in life as well.” (Tan 444) .
