Tan Lines: A Decision about Using Rhetoric more Effectively

Excerpts from the Paper

Tan Lines: A Decision about Using Rhetoric more Effectively
Given two readings, one by Min-
zhan
Lu and the other by Amy Tan, and having to make a decision about which of these two uses rhetoric more effectively, one has to select Ms. Tan. The reason is evident in the final sentence of her essay: “So easy to read” (Tan, 1).
Both of these stories or essays, if one prefers that term are interesting in that they are based on the difficulties that the English language and its convoluted words provide for those who are not truly native-born speakers. However, Amy Tan makes her points more effectively because of the situations and the actual verbiage she creates and provides to us. If one had to make a black-and-white rhetorical comparison...

.....s are those who are interested in Tan’s approach and subject might not be as interested in what Lu has to say or how she says it. It is unfortunate that in these days, rhetoric is defined as being “popular”, that many more will read and enjoy “The
DaVinci
Code” than turn to a novel by Thomas
Pynchon
.
The problem with choices of rhetoric is that one tends to utilize one’s subjective appraisal rather than whether the author has fulfilled what she or he set out to do: pinpoint and subject and personalize for strangers. If one judges on the personalization, Tan’s rhetoric is the choice here.
References:
Lu,
Nin-zhan
: “From Silence to words: Writing as Struggle”
In College English (1987).
Tan, Amy: “Mother Tongue” from
Threepenny
Review (1990)