A Glimpse Into Amy Tan
A Glimpse of Amy Tan
As one of the first Asian American cultural writers of her time, Amy Tan is also one of the most significant contemporary writers of Literature today. Amy Tan brings to life the struggles of dual cultural identity, generational clashes due to age and cultural gaps minority woman face in society. Many of her stories are based upon real obstacles her, her Mother and Grandmother had in their lives as young woman, facing not only the minority issues but the sexiest stigma’s of their times.
Born in Oakland, California in 1952, Amy Tan was born to immigrants that had left lives and family behind in China. As a teenager, Amy was faced with the tragic death of her Father and a few months later her Brother. Shortly after their deaths Daisy, Amy’s mother, decided “to cleanse the evil influence of their "diseased house". (Mote) And moved her family to New York, Washington, Florida and finally to Europe. At first they lived in the Netherlands and eventually settling in Monteux, Switzerland where Tan completed high school. Being considered an outsider by her peers, and the continuous feeling of anger and loss she felt from losing her brother and father, she began hanging out with a crowd of drug-dealing hippies and at sixteen was arrested. Her relationship with her Mother became increasingly strained and after a close encounter of almost eloping with a mental patient, Amy and her family returned to United States where her mother enrolled her in a small Baptist college in Oregon, and had her majoring in pre-med. After a year at Linfield Amy enrolled in San Jose University, moved in with her boyfriend and changed to a double major of English and linguistics. After accomplishing her Bachelors in English and Linguistics she continued her education at San Jose to receive a Masters in Linguistics. On 6 April 1974 she married long time boyfriend, Louis M. DeMattei, and began work on a doctorate at the University of California, Berkeley. After a year
As one of the first Asian American cultural writers of her time, Amy Tan is also one of the most significant contemporary writers of Literature today. Amy Tan brings to life the struggles of dual cultural identity, generational clashes due to age and cultural gaps minority woman face in society. Many of her stories are based upon real obstacles her, her Mother and Grandmother had in their lives as young woman, facing not only the minority issues but the sexiest stigma’s of their times.
Born in Oakland, California in 1952, Amy Tan was born to immigrants that had left lives and family behind in China. As a teenager, Amy was faced with the tragic death of her Father and a few months later her Brother. Shortly after their deaths Daisy, Amy’s mother, decided “to cleanse the evil influence of their "diseased house". (Mote) And moved her family to New York, Washington, Florida and finally to Europe. At first they lived in the Netherlands and eventually settling in Monteux, Switzerland where Tan completed high school. Being considered an outsider by her peers, and the continuous feeling of anger and loss she felt from losing her brother and father, she began hanging out with a crowd of drug-dealing hippies and at sixteen was arrested. Her relationship with her Mother became increasingly strained and after a close encounter of almost eloping with a mental patient, Amy and her family returned to United States where her mother enrolled her in a small Baptist college in Oregon, and had her majoring in pre-med. After a year at Linfield Amy enrolled in San Jose University, moved in with her boyfriend and changed to a double major of English and linguistics. After accomplishing her Bachelors in English and Linguistics she continued her education at San Jose to receive a Masters in Linguistics. On 6 April 1974 she married long time boyfriend, Louis M. DeMattei, and began work on a doctorate at the University of California, Berkeley. After a year
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