A Rhetorical Comparison of Aria:Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood and Mother Tongue

Manuel Sidney
English 11000-B

A Rhetorical Comparison of "Aria: Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood" and "Mother Tongue"
       
    In  Aria: Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood and Mother Tongue,  writers Richard Rodriguez and Amy Tan experience how families influence language and  as a result, identity. They discuss that because the private or intimate language is developed among family members, that language is responsible for how they were able to identity among family and in the world around them. Both utilize the  rhetorical strategies of anecdote, diction, and ethos to present their claim that families use a language of intimacy that can both limit and improve a child's public identity and perception of their identity.
    Both authors efficiently  utilize anecdote in order to portray how their individual families became responsible for the way that they used language and the development of  their identity; both feeling that the language used by their parents outside of their home was broken, causing both Rodriguez, and Tan to feel ashamed of the English tongue used by their parents.  For instance, I can relate Tan and Rodriguez stories’ when  I was living with  my aunt for a short period in Howell New Jersey,  we had neighbors that came from Netherlands who had two kids, they were at a non- bilingual school in Jackson New Jersey a near by town; both hated the fact that their teachers could not communicate with their parents being that their parents’ English was more than limited making them embarrassed every time they had to translate for them. As both of the authors, they kept their intimate tongue (Dutch) at home.  Rodriguez describes his childhood as a Spanish speaker in an English speaking world through Aria: Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood. Rodriguez remembers how his family influenced his use of language by making him  distinguish the public words of English he could not speak, and the private sounds of Spanish that surrounded him in his home. Family language convinced him that English was a public language where as Spanish was the most intimate one.  Rodriguez expresses that Spanish was the voice of my parents and sisters their voices insisting: You belong here. We are family members; in other words, telling Rodriguez that Spanish was part of his heritage or his background.                                                                        
     Tan uses anecdote in the same manner within her essay Mother Tongue,  in order to explain how family shaped the way she uses language and her identity within the family. Tan discusses that family language has a profound effect on how comfortable a student is with their public language, stating . “While my English skills were never judged as poor, compared to math, English could not be considered my strong suit“.  She also states that her family language, which she describes as broken' or fractured' English, made it difficult to relate with her other family members and carry respect for them. Tan states that  while she was growing up, her mother's limited English limited her  perception of her." and in turn, limited her relationship with her family.  Even so family language had a different effect on each author, both writers used anecdotes to personally indicate the influences of family on language and identity.
    Description diction is effectively used in  Aria: Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood and Mother Tongue as well. Rodriguez describes his family's language stating, "Tongues explored the edges of words, especially the fat vowels. And we happily sounded that military drum roll, the twirling roar of the Spanish roar". Through the use of descriptive words with positive connotative meanings, the bilingual author conveys the happiness and unity of identity his family found through their "language of joyful return". In contrast, he describes his family's transition into English as "twisted by unsounded grief". He uses the negative connotative meanings of twisted, unsounded, and "grief" to express that without their family language, his family identity was no longer as close nor connected. In contrast, Tan uses diction in a different way in her essay, descriptive and specific language is used, not to describe the feeling or nature of a language, but to represent its sound. She transcribed an example of her mother's "impeccable broken English" in order to communicate how it drew a barrier between her and her mother.  Through her fragmented diction and simple syntax, Tan demonstrates the difficulty she had in relating to her mother because of her family language. Although Rodriguez and Tan use descriptive diction in different manners, one to describe the feeling behind the words, and another to describe the words that masked the feeling, they both effectively use the rhetorical strategy to explain their claims.
    The two bilingual authors also utilize ethos in order to present their claim. In his essay Rodriguez states that his memory teaches him how to deal with the matters “the boy reminds the adult”  he was a bilingual child who was socially disadvantaged, belonging to two working class immigrant parents as he puts it.  Rodriguez presents the idea that because he spoke a foreign language  in an entirely different country, his experiences and hardships are sufficient to represent his argument: that family influences language use and that language use in term influences identity. Although he builds upon his ethos with experiences and memories, this development of ethos is successful because he never creates a "holier-than-thou" tone in addressing his qualifications to argue upon the subject of language. He acknowledges that "any child" has a "family language".  Rodriguez also avoids creating the sob-story of the displaced American and notes that he faced struggles due to his family language, that his family was  Nobody's Victim. Through ethos that avoid diving into accusation or self-pity.                   
    Rodriguez effectively presents a strong claim. Likewise, Amy Tan also develops a trustworthy ethos, relentlessly exploring her own misgivings with, and mistakes in judging, her own native tongue of "'limited' English". She uses her own experiences as a new student to the language of English to convey the validity of her viewpoint on the relation between family, language, and identity. However, Tan also develops credibility by truthfully admitting how she was ashamed of her mother because  she  believed that her  imperfect English reflected  imperfect thoughts; but then explaining how later in life Tan sought in writing to capture "her intent, her passion, her imagery, the rhythms of her speech and the nature of her thoughts". Through admitting her prejudices, Tan, like Rodriguez, avoids an accusing or patronizing tone towards the reader, allowing her to present her claim. 
    Authors Richard Rodriguez and Amy Tan argue that family changes the way we use language and that language changes family identity. As a result, they became more critical of themselves as to how they spoke English. Just the that Rodriguez restrained from speaking English showed how critical he was of himself, and how Tan corrects herself  regarding the intimate language she uses at home versus her written language. Both use anecdotes in order to explain the personal evidence they have for their claim. They also utilize descriptive diction to describe the impact of their "family language" and develop ethos through anecdote in order to establish trustworthiness and legitimacy with their audience in spite of whether that audience is bilingual or not. Through rhetorical strategies of anecdote, diction, and ethos they investigate the unified nature of family, language, and identity in two well written essays.