Page 35 - The Language of Composition 4e Teacher Edition Sample.indd

Central and Classic Texts spark
discussion and foster critical thinking.

A Central Essay and a Classic Essay begin and anchor each thematic chapter. Guided Tour
The authors of these works explore enduring ideas and issues, articulate complex
lines of reasoning to build compelling arguments, and craft powerful rhetoric through
their command of style. These works invite students to delve deeply into the chapter
theme and lay the groundwork for analyzing the other texts in the chapter. The Classic
Copyright (c) 2023 Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. Uncorrected proofs have been used for this sample chapter.
Essays challenge students to read and write about complex nonfiction from different
eras, with syntax and diction that may be unfamiliar — yet the topics of these essays
remain engaging and urgent. These Classic Texts, which include such works as “A
Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift, “On Self-Respect” by Joan Didion, and “Letter
from Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King Jr., expose students to the kinds of texts
®
that often challenge students on the AP English Language Exam. Central Essays
range from selections written by celebrated twentieth-century and contemporary
Distributed by Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. Strictly for use with its products. Not for redistribution.
authors, including Toni Morrison, Amy Tan, Rebecca Solnit, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and
Bill McKibben.

Central Essay Mother Tongue Mireya Acierto/Getty Images
Amy Tan
Amy Tan (b. 1952) grew up in California. She has an MA in linguistics
and has written several best-selling novels, including The Joy Luck
Club (1989) and The Valley of Amazement (2013) . Her most recent
book is Where the Past Begins: A Writer’s Memoir (2017) .

KEY CONTEXT In her work, Tan draws on her Chinese heritage
to depict the clash of traditional Chinese culture with modern-day
American customs. Tan collected many of her nonfiction writings in
The Opposite of Fate: A Book of Musings (2003). “Mother Tongue” is from that
collection.
es
c
as
ur
am not a scholar of English or literature. I can-
am not a s c hol ar of E n glish or lit er a t ur e . I c an- carefully wrought grammatical phrases, bur- -
, b
ar
t gr
amm
ugh
o
a
y wr
efull
tic
al phr
I not give you much more than personal opin- dened, it suddenly seemed to me, with nominal-
dened, it suddenly seemed to me, with nominal-
ized forms, past perfect tenses, conditional
ions on the English language and its variations ized forms, past perfect tenses, conditional
in this country or others. phrases, all the forms of standard English that I
phrases, all the forms of standard English that I
How It Feels to Be Colored Me
I am a writer. And by that definition, I am had learned in school and through books, the
someone who has always loved language. I am forms of English I did not use at home with my
fascinated by language in daily life. I spend a mother. Zora Neale Hurston
great deal of my time thinking about the power Just last week, I was walking down the street
Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960) came to prominence in the 1920s
of language — the way it can evoke an emotion, a with my mother, and I again found myself con-
during the Harlem Renaissance, a period of enormous creativity of
visual image, a complex idea, or a simple truth. scious of the English I was using, the English I Library of Congress, LC-DIG-van-5a52142
African American artists, writers, and musicians. A novelist,
Language is the tool of my trade. And I use them do use with her. We were talking about the Classic Essay
folklorist, and anthropologist, she first gained attention with her
all — all the Englishes I grew up with. price of new and used furniture and I heard
short stories, including “Sweat” and “Spunk.” She is best known for
Recently, I was made keenly aware of the dif- myself saying this: “Not waste money that way.”
her novel Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937), set in Eatonville,
ferent Englishes I do use. I was giving a talk to a My husband was with us as well, and he didn’t
Florida, where Hurston grew up; the town was the first incorporated
large group of people, the same talk I had notice any switch in my English. And then I
African American community in the United States. She attended Howard University and
already given to half a dozen other groups. The realized why. It’s because over the twenty years
won a scholarship to Barnard College in New York City, living in Harlem throughout the
nature of the talk was about my writing, my life, we’ve been together I’ve often used that same
1920s. Toward the end of her life, Hurston remained out of the public eye; she was buried in
and my book, The Joy Luck Club . The talk was kind of English with him, and sometimes he
an unmarked grave in Florida.
going along well enough, until I remembered even uses it with me. It has become our lan-
KEY CONTEXT Hurston is a major figure of the Harlem Renaissance, an artistic movement
one major difference that made the whole talk guage of intimacy, a different sort of English

sound wrong. My mother was in the room. And that relates to family talk, the language I grew
spanning the 1920s and 1930s that celebrated Black life and culture. Most of her writing takes place
it was perhaps the first time she had heard me up with. in the American South, where Jim Crow laws enforced racial segregation from the 1870s through the
give a lengthy speech, using the kind of English I So you’ll have some idea of what this family 5
1960s. “How It Feels to Be Colored Me” was first published in The World Tomorrow , a progressive
have never used with her. I was saying things like talk I heard sounds like, I’ll quote what my
political magazine that was an encouraging home for Harlem Renaissance writers, in May 1928.
“The intersection of memory upon imagination” mother said during a recent conversation which
and “There is an aspect of my fiction that relates I videotaped and then transcribed. During this The front porch might seem a daring place
am colored but I offer nothing in the way of
I extenuating circumstances except the fact that
to thus-and-thus” — a speech filled with conversation, my mother was talking about a for the rest of the town, but it was a gallery seat
I am the only Negro in the United States whose for me. My favorite place was atop the gate-
174 grandfather on the mother’s side was not an post. Proscenium box for a born first-nighter.
Indian chief. Not only did I enjoy the show, but I didn’t mind
I remember the very day that I became col- the actors knowing that I liked it. I usually xiii
ored. Up to my thirteenth year I lived in the little spoke to them in passing. I’d wave at them
Negro town of Eatonville, Florida. It is exclu- 06/10/22 3:54 PM and when they returned my salute, I would
05_sheatlc4e_40925_ch04_170_315_7pp.indd 174
sively a colored town. The only white people I say something like this: “Howdy-do-well-I-
knew passed through the town going to or com- thank-you-where-you-goin’?” Usually automo-
ing from Orlando. The native whites rode dusty bile or the horse paused at this, and after a
horses, the Northern tourists chugged down the queer exchange of compliments, I would prob-
sandy village road in automobiles. The town ably “go a piece of the way” with them, as we
knew the Southerners and never stopped cane say in farthest Florida. If one of my family hap-
01_sheatlc4e_40925_fm_i_xxxv.indd 13 chewing when they passed. But the Northerners pened to come to the front in time to see me, of 19/10/22 4:47 PM
were something else again. They were peered at course negotiations would be rudely broken
cautiously from behind curtains by the timid. off. But even so, it is clear that I was the first
The more venturesome would come out on the “welcome-to-our-state” Floridian, and I hope
porch to watch them go past and got just as the Miami Chamber of Commerce will please
much pleasure out of the tourists as the tourists take notice.
got out of the village.
181
05_sheatlc4e_40925_ch04_170_315_7pp.indd 181 06/10/22 3:55 PM
Guided Tour TE-xxxiii
01_sheatlcte4e_46921_fm_i_lv_1pp.indd 33 25/01/23 7:01 PM