Mother Tongue, by Amy Tan, and The Veil, which features “Celestial Light” as the main character, are two stories that are comparable in many senses. Though from the outward look, one might judge that the two stories, o which one is pictorial, have virtually nothing in common. These two perspectives generate interesting points of comparisons out of the pieces of art, as this paper proceeds to illustrate
The Mother Tongue, in a brief description, is about an Asian-American writer, who narrates the interesting segments of their life in an English-speaking nation. Their family had relocated from China, and her mother manifested obvious difficulty in adapting to the new language, while the main character, the narrator, has an amazing ease with English. The narrator lives literally in two worlds: that of her mother, and the other of her English friends and associates. Comparing the two environments, the narrator cannot help but marvel at the disparity between her mother tongue and the fluent English she speaks (Tan, 2008). Further, she describes how these two lives have generally affected her development and general ascendancy up the ladder of life. On the other hand, the pictorial narration of The Veil illustrates the kind of difficulties a young girl had to go through due to societal and religious dictatorship. Presented as Celestial Light, the narrator takes the readers through a pragmatic unveiling of her dreams, which Is to become a prophet. As alien as this dream seems, the narrator is proud of it, but the perspective of the society makes her have second thoughts about it. Having lived during a revolutionary period when the “veil” was introduced, the narrator had had to witness an astounding moment of her mother’s courage and admiration. Through her dreams, she is guided by this, coupled with the support from her father.
Comparing the two stories, one cannot fail to notice the striking similarities that stand out in both of them. Firstly, both stories present a common protagonist: the society. In Amy’s Mother Tongue, the narrator’s life is largely affected by the environment and the society around her. Her mother, for instance, has a difficulty mastering and speaking English, and this negatively impacts on her ability to socialize and communicate. In extension, her mother’s abilities to speak the language limit her in multiple ways (Tan, 2008). In a similar note, The Veil unmistakably presents the society as an obstacle to the development and social freedom of “Celestial Light”. For instance, even though she grows up as an ardent believer in religion, she still cannot comprehend the conceptuality and true significance of putting on the veil. In contrast, she points out only the negative sides of wearing the veil, such as causing a literal alienation from friends who are unveiled. Additionally, the perspective of the society about her dream thwarts her morale and makes her seriously “disagree with God”. Thus, the two authors use the society as the main protagonist in their stories.
Secondly, in both stories, the children, who are the narrators, come to the rescue of their parents, or they are depicted as having the prospectus of doing so. In Mother Tongue, the narrator has been shown to more often than note step in for her mother in instances where fluent English was needed. She becomes a very important figure, taking care of the weakness of her parent. In The Veil, Celestial Light is also depicted to have a dream of becoming a prophet, and one of her principle rules is that old people should not suffer. She is filled with compassion when she sees her grandmother’s incapability, and decides that if it would be in her power, she would desire that old people’s suffering be “banned”. In this picture, the two stories present children as rescuers of their parents.
On the other hand, the two stories have quite a number of differences. For instance, Mother Tongue presents both the daughter and the mother as not being proud of their real nature and character, since they strive to use a different language in the public from the one they use at home. In this regard, this becomes a limiting factor. Contrastingly, Celestial Light is very proud of her dream, her usual self, and openly declares even at school that should like to be a prophet. In yet another comparison, in Mother Tongue, the nature of the mother is a limiting factor to the success and development of the daughter. For instance, she performs dismally in achievement tests, SAT and I.Q. tests (Tan, 2008). Contrastingly, in The Veil, when Celestial Light’s mother is accidentally caught on camera demonstrating with zeal during the Islamic revolution, she is filled with joy and pride, and this propels her further towards the realization of her dream. Moreover, her dream is principally dependent on the existing conditions of life in their family: her father owning a Cadillac, her ailing grandmother, and the fact that their maid could not dine with them. These present opposing sides to the two stories, thereby depicting how the authors used overlapping claims in both cases.
References
Tan A. (2008).”Mother Tongue”, Retrieved from: (http://www.scribd.com/doc/13297165/Mother-Tongue-By-Amy-Tan-I-Am-Not-A)
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