An Analysis Of From Silence To Words

Essay, Research Paper

An Analysis of From Silence to Words: Writing as Struggle

Through this essay, Min-zhan Lu depicts the struggles she faced growing up in China while speaking English. I feel the paragraph that best exemplifies this struggle is one found on page 239. In this one paragraph, Lu expresses her fear of losing command over the two languages that she speaks, English and Chinese. She feels that she cannot write, as she is required to write for school, without the influences of her language and culture from home. This accurately reflects the entire message of the essay. Lu believes that one should not be suppress outside influences from one s writing because if this is omitted then the opinion is not accurately conveyed. She trained herself to omit these opinions from her different writings for the sake that they appear incorrect to the opposing viewer s eyes. Through this paragraph, Lu conveys her frustration over losing her command over the languages as she ponders the reasons for this loss. The reader also sees Lu s struggle to please her parents by mastering English and in turn becoming cultured in their eyes and also to write in the manner set forth by her professors at school without the presence of English. In the mists of this struggle with language, Min-zhan Lu is trying on a larger scale to find her own identity. This is a task that appears difficult to a girl trying to please to authoritative groups in her life, her parents and teachers. My two questions are one, Lu places emphasis on certain words, how do you think that this effects her message and second, what do you feel is the tone towards English in the essay?