Essay on The Similarity Between Frederick Douglass and Amy...

Mariama Barry ENG110 Prof. Edmondson 12/11/12 Both stories â€Å"Mother Tongue† by Amy Tan and â€Å"Learning to read† by Frederick Douglass talk about how language both helped and hurt them. In Amy’s Tan â€Å"Mother Tongue† she explains how language has affected her as a child. She began to noticing the type of English she used in her books and with her mother. On the other hand, Frederick Douglass also explains how language has helped him â€Å"forge† his Identity. As a slave, he did not know how to read or write. But after learning from his master the language has helped him discover who he was. Frederick Douglass was born as a slave in Baltimore in 1818. He was raised by his grandparents after separated from his mother when he was only a few†¦show more content†¦As a result of this, â€Å" He was internationally recognized as an uncompromising abolitionist, indefatigable worker for justice and equal opportunity, and an unyielding defender of womens rights. He became a trusted ad visor to Abraham Lincoln, United States Marshal for the District of Columbia, Recorder of Deeds for Washington, D.C., and Minister-General to the Republic of Haiti†. Amy Tan was born in Oakland, California, in 1953. In 1970, Tan majored in English at San Jose State, in California. Tan began a carrier as a technical writer after she graduated, at the University of California. However, she changed her writing because she was inspired to write fiction book after reading of Louise Erdrichs novel â€Å"Love Medicine†. As a result of this, language has helped Amy Tan in becoming the successful writer she’s today. It helped her express her complete thoughts in a way that everyone who reads, understand. Additionally, the type of language that she uses in her writing makes people take her seriously and as important as everyone else. As Amy Tan explains in her story â€Å"Mother Tongue†, language, during her early years in America, have hurt her because compared to her scores in math and science, her grade was horrible in English. Due to the broken language spoken at home, she says â€Å"I could not block out of my mind the images already created by the first pair† for the word analogy† sunset is to nightfall as isShow MoreRelatedFormal English Essay1311 Words   |  6 Pagesspeak, read and write even though she is blind and deaf. Amy Tan wrote Mother Tongue, an essay where she talks about the trouble of speaking English as an immigrant in a new country. Frederick Douglass wrote Learning to Read and Write, an essay where he talks about becoming literate during a time when slaves were not allowed to read and write. They all talk about literacy in their own ways, but at some point they all had some similarities in their experiences. Although they all had obstacles in their