Rhetorical analysis of Mother Tongue by Amy Tan In Mother Tongue Amy Tan an American writer shares her experience growing up with the family where no one speaks perfect English and how it affected her education and her life. Amy Tan Author of Mother Tongue uses her personal experiences with her mother to create a contrast between her mother who speaks broken English other people and herself who speaks perfect English yet is also fluent in broken English. Amy had a hard time as a child because of the different Englishes that were spoken.