Compare and Contrast: Amy Tan and Richard Rodriguez
Compare and Contrast: Amy Tan and Richard Rodriguez
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The United States is a melting pot, made up of people from many different cultures and backgrounds. With no national official language, it allows immigrants to stick to their roots and embrace their heritage. For Richard Rodriguez, he grew up with Spanish strictly spoken in his household. This made him feel safe in his private life, which discouraged him from learning
English. Richard felt most comfortable speaking Spanish at school and refused to speak English.
What motivated him to learn English was his realization that he’s an American. For Amy Tan, she grew up with exposure to both English and Mandarin in her household. She embraced
English and felt at ease with translating for her mother. This encouraged her to learn English to the best of her ability at school. What motivated her to learn English was the challenge and opportunity to go against the stereotypes. Although they both grew up with different influences and cultures, they both agree that leaning English is crucial and that non-standard english shouldn’t be considered broken.
Family life and the way it functions strongly impacts the development of a child’s behavior. Richard Rodriguez, a first generation Mexican-American, had little exposure to
English because Spanish was exclusively spoken amongst his family. He considered it to be his private language since he felt most comfortable and safe using it. Due to his lack of practice with
English, Richard felt uneasy with branching out and speaking with others outside his household.
His parents took notice of this and encouraged him to speak in English at home. Richard
Rodriguez declared that, “The family’s quiet was partly due to the fact that, as we children learned more and more English, we shared fewer and fewer words with our parents” (Rodriguez
515). He felt that his family was losing the strength in their bond because Spanish drew his family together and they were no
!
The United States is a melting pot, made up of people from many different cultures and backgrounds. With no national official language, it allows immigrants to stick to their roots and embrace their heritage. For Richard Rodriguez, he grew up with Spanish strictly spoken in his household. This made him feel safe in his private life, which discouraged him from learning
English. Richard felt most comfortable speaking Spanish at school and refused to speak English.
What motivated him to learn English was his realization that he’s an American. For Amy Tan, she grew up with exposure to both English and Mandarin in her household. She embraced
English and felt at ease with translating for her mother. This encouraged her to learn English to the best of her ability at school. What motivated her to learn English was the challenge and opportunity to go against the stereotypes. Although they both grew up with different influences and cultures, they both agree that leaning English is crucial and that non-standard english shouldn’t be considered broken.
Family life and the way it functions strongly impacts the development of a child’s behavior. Richard Rodriguez, a first generation Mexican-American, had little exposure to
English because Spanish was exclusively spoken amongst his family. He considered it to be his private language since he felt most comfortable and safe using it. Due to his lack of practice with
English, Richard felt uneasy with branching out and speaking with others outside his household.
His parents took notice of this and encouraged him to speak in English at home. Richard
Rodriguez declared that, “The family’s quiet was partly due to the fact that, as we children learned more and more English, we shared fewer and fewer words with our parents” (Rodriguez
515). He felt that his family was losing the strength in their bond because Spanish drew his family together and they were no