Questions on Rhetoric and Style

  1. Why does Tan open her essay by stating, “I am not a scholar of English or literature” but then state, in the next paragraph, “I am a writer”? What is the difference? How does she establish ethos by this juxtaposition?

    Question

    uZxg83qH9uNZ3NUqyV8wT7hdxc9/5MQeJeZaOsQNhvI0w6Xk3EOeDQ1B873FE1s7
    Chapter 10 - Mother Tongue - Questions on Rhetoric and Style: Why does Tan open her essay by stating, “I am not a scholar of English or literature” but then state, in the next paragraph, “I am a writer”? What is the difference? How does she establish ethos by this juxtaposition?
  2. At several points in her essay, Tan relates anecdotes. How do they further her argument? Be sure to consider the anecdotes regarding Tan giving a speech, the stockbroker, the CAT scan, and Tan’s experience with the SATs. What would be the impact of omitting one of them?

    Question

    uZxg83qH9uNZ3NUqyV8wT7hdxc9/5MQeJeZaOsQNhvI0w6Xk3EOeDQ1B873FE1s7
    Chapter 10 - Mother Tongue - Questions on Rhetoric and Style: At several points in her essay, Tan relates anecdotes. How do they further her argument? Be sure to consider the anecdotes regarding Tan giving a speech, the stockbroker, the CAT scan, and Tan’s experience with the SATs. What would be the impact of omitting one of them?
  3. What is Tan’s strategy behind including a lengthy, direct quotation from her mother (para. 6) rather than paraphrasing what she said?

    Question

    uZxg83qH9uNZ3NUqyV8wT7hdxc9/5MQeJeZaOsQNhvI0w6Xk3EOeDQ1B873FE1s7
    Chapter 10 - Mother Tongue - Questions on Rhetoric and Style: What is Tan’s strategy behind including a lengthy, direct quotation from her mother (para. 6) rather than paraphrasing what she said?
  4. Tan criticizes herself twice in this essay. In paragraph 3, she quotes a speech she gave “filled with carefully wrought grammatical phrases, burdened, it suddenly seemed to me, with nominalized forms, past perfect tenses, conditional phrases. . . .” What are “nominalized forms, past perfect tenses, conditional phrases,” and why are they burdensome? At another point, Tan recalls a draft of The Joy Luck Club in which she wrote, “That was my mental quandary in its nascent state” (para. 20). Why does she call this “[a] terrible line”?

    Question

    uZxg83qH9uNZ3NUqyV8wT7hdxc9/5MQeJeZaOsQNhvI0w6Xk3EOeDQ1B873FE1s7
    Chapter 10 - Mother Tongue - Questions on Rhetoric and Style: Tan criticizes herself twice in this essay. In paragraph 3, she quotes a speech she gave “filled with carefully wrought grammatical phrases, burdened, it suddenly seemed to me, with nominalized forms, past perfect tenses, conditional phrases. . . .” What are “nominalized forms, past perfect tenses, conditional phrases,” and why are they burdensome? At another point, Tan recalls a draft of The Joy Luck Club in which she wrote, “That was my mental quandary in its nascent state” (para. 20). Why does she call this “[a] terrible line”?
  5. Although Tan clearly appeals to pathos through personal narration and characterization, she makes some appeals to logos. Identify them and describe their effect.

    Question

    uZxg83qH9uNZ3NUqyV8wT7hdxc9/5MQeJeZaOsQNhvI0w6Xk3EOeDQ1B873FE1s7
    Chapter 10 - Mother Tongue - Questions on Rhetoric and Style: Although Tan clearly appeals to pathos through personal narration and characterization, she makes some appeals to logos. Identify them and describe their effect.
  6. Tan divides the essay into three sections. Why? How do these resemble chapters?

    Question

    uZxg83qH9uNZ3NUqyV8wT7hdxc9/5MQeJeZaOsQNhvI0w6Xk3EOeDQ1B873FE1s7
    Chapter 10 - Mother Tongue - Questions on Rhetoric and Style: Tan divides the essay into three sections. Why? How do these resemble chapters?
  7. How does Tan avoid stereotyping Asian Americans in general and Chinese in particular in this essay? If you believe she is guilty of some stereotyping, discuss examples.

    Question

    uZxg83qH9uNZ3NUqyV8wT7hdxc9/5MQeJeZaOsQNhvI0w6Xk3EOeDQ1B873FE1s7
    Chapter 10 - Mother Tongue - Questions on Rhetoric and Style: How does Tan avoid stereotyping Asian Americans in general and Chinese in particular in this essay? If you believe she is guilty of some stereotyping, discuss examples.
  8. Discuss how Tan broadens the essay’s relevance by going beyond just her personal experience and raising issues that would be germane to her audience.

    Question

    uZxg83qH9uNZ3NUqyV8wT7hdxc9/5MQeJeZaOsQNhvI0w6Xk3EOeDQ1B873FE1s7
    Chapter 10 - Mother Tongue - Questions on Rhetoric and Style: Discuss how Tan broadens the essay’s relevance by going beyond just her personal experience and raising issues that would be germane to her audience.
  9. This essay was first published in Threepenny Review, which the novelist Jonathan Franzen has described as one of the “few magazines left in this country which seem pitched at the general literary reader and which consistently publish such interesting, high-quality criticism, reflection, argument, fiction, and poetry.” How does Tan appeal to this audience of “general literary reader[s]”?

    Question

    uZxg83qH9uNZ3NUqyV8wT7hdxc9/5MQeJeZaOsQNhvI0w6Xk3EOeDQ1B873FE1s7
    Chapter 10 - Mother Tongue - Questions on Rhetoric and Style: This essay was first published in Threepenny Review, which the novelist Jonathan Franzen has described as one of the “few magazines left in this country which seem pitched at the general literary reader and which consistently publish such interesting, high-quality criticism, reflection, argument, fiction, and poetry.” How does Tan appeal to this audience of “general literary reader[s]”?