The short story “Mother Tounges”, written by S. Quioyi Lu, follows the thought process
of a mother who is trying to provide a better life for her daughter by sending her to an
ivy league university in the United States. The main character, Jiawen Liu is a mother
originally from China who moved to the United States fifteen years ago. Liu used to be
an Economics Professor in China. The beginning portion of the story takes place in a
room where Liu seems to be taking an exam. Later on in the story, you learn that the
exam was to see if she could sell her English through a medical operation in order to
make money to pay for her daughter’s tuition. But she comes to find out that her English
is not worth as much as she would think and that her Mandarin is worth more. She is left
battling with this decision. On one hand, she can sell her native language- the one that
is, “close to her heart”- and pay for her daughter’s tuition and a better life in general with
the exception that she wouldn’t be able to communicate with her mother and she
wouldn't be able to read the language anymore. On the other hand, she can choose to
sell her English even though it won't help her and her family out as much as they would
like. When reading the novel you start to see that the author uses many literary devices
such as imagery to describe the appearance of the exam room “...and exit back into
the brightly lit hallway. Photos line the walls: the Eiffel Tower, the Great Wall
of China, Machu Picchu. The sun shines on each destination, the images
brimming with wonder. You pause before the Golden Gate Bridge.” and again
later on in the story to describe Liu’s difficulty of adjusting to using English in her day to
day life “You’re in the supermarket doing your best to ignore the Chinese
characters labeling the produce: so many things that you don’t know the
word for in English. But you recognize them by sight, and that’s good
of a mother who is trying to provide a better life for her daughter by sending her to an
ivy league university in the United States. The main character, Jiawen Liu is a mother
originally from China who moved to the United States fifteen years ago. Liu used to be
an Economics Professor in China. The beginning portion of the story takes place in a
room where Liu seems to be taking an exam. Later on in the story, you learn that the
exam was to see if she could sell her English through a medical operation in order to
make money to pay for her daughter’s tuition. But she comes to find out that her English
is not worth as much as she would think and that her Mandarin is worth more. She is left
battling with this decision. On one hand, she can sell her native language- the one that
is, “close to her heart”- and pay for her daughter’s tuition and a better life in general with
the exception that she wouldn’t be able to communicate with her mother and she
wouldn't be able to read the language anymore. On the other hand, she can choose to
sell her English even though it won't help her and her family out as much as they would
like. When reading the novel you start to see that the author uses many literary devices
such as imagery to describe the appearance of the exam room “...and exit back into
the brightly lit hallway. Photos line the walls: the Eiffel Tower, the Great Wall
of China, Machu Picchu. The sun shines on each destination, the images
brimming with wonder. You pause before the Golden Gate Bridge.” and again
later on in the story to describe Liu’s difficulty of adjusting to using English in her day to
day life “You’re in the supermarket doing your best to ignore the Chinese
characters labeling the produce: so many things that you don’t know the
word for in English. But you recognize them by sight, and that’s good
