Yes and No Amy Tan

Yes and No by Amy Tan is a very interesting piece, Including many of her personal opinions and experinces. To me this article was meant to send a type of message after she read the New York Times magazine. Maybe that chinese people are not stupid just becuase they tend to nod their heads quite often. Maybe that they are very intelligent people who major in molecular enginering, pre-med or writers as she is. Also in my perspective, in writing this article Amy wanted to say " hey look I am chinese who once struggled with the way I speak but look I am a very successful writer, a bilingual one". However she adds on pages 31 that she worries seemingly about stereotypes, that may be part of the reason there are few chinese in top management positons, in mainstream political roles. She writes her story explaining that although there might not be ways of denouncing a yes and a no the way a questioned is answered appears to capture the point, just as direct and efficient.

In this article Amy is clearly stressed on the way chinese people are viewed. Honestly speaking I would be just as much harrassed. After all it is her heritage that invents and designs most of the top new gadgets, I would advice her to be nothing more but proud. She addresses the way she feels throughout the piece specifically looking at pages 29, she contemplates on which language had the greatest effect on her molding, was it english, chinese or both.

I found it to be somewhat true yet interesting when she quoted from Sapir Whorf hypothesis that "no two languages are similar to be considered as representing the same social reality. I believe where we come from and the languages we speak portrays a big role in our lives, our education and our status. We are viewed the way we speak, our words and sentences tell alot about us.