Amy Tan explores the complex meanings of language in her celebrated short story, “Mother Tongue.” She emphasizes that language is not solely a means of communication but also a tool used by society to judge individuals. Tan aims to challenge the belief that differences in language diminish a person’s value by demonstrating how deviations from the norm can both divide and unite people. Through her mother’s struggles with English, Tan reveals the challenges and discrimination she faced, which led to inadequate treatment and neglect.
As a child, Amy recalls pretending to be her mother during phone conversations as a way to gain respect and credibility. On one occasion, she even called a stockbroker on behalf of her mother and demanded payment for an outstanding claim. However, when her mother personally met the stockbroker in New York, he was taken aback by their striking language barrier. To outsiders, her mother’s limited language skills appeared futile and unlikely to contribute to any progress.
Tan reveals that her mother was diagnosed with a non-cancerous brain tumor later in the story. However, when they went to the doctor’s office, the CAT scan disappeared and there was little concern for her mother’s need to understand her prognosis. This was particularly upsetting because Tan had already lost her husband and son to brain tumors. When Tan stepped in to translate for her mother, she received much better treatment than her mother did. They made promises and sincerely apologized. In both cases, Amy’s mother was judged based on her limited English skills, assuming she lacked intelligence and didn’t deserve their attention.
The sociological aspect of language deals with how people judge others based on their speech. However, the author highlights that her mother’s language is different from American English, but it is deceptive because her mother comprehends more than what might be perceived at first glance: “You should know that my mother’s expressive command of English belies how much she actually understands. She reads the Forbes report, listens to Wall Street Week, converses daily with her stockbroker, reads all of Shirley MacLaine’s books with ease—all kinds of things I can’t begin to understand” (Tan 7).
The daughter believes her mother is intelligent even though others think she is useless because her mother understands things that she cannot. Amy Tan demonstrates that lacking certain qualities does not diminish one’s worth as a person, as individuals possess unique qualities that others may not have. According to Jane E. Aaron, a stipulative definition expands the meaning of a concept to encompass a larger purpose or idea, often reaching beyond common knowledge (235). Tan exemplifies this by portraying language in a manner that distinguishes us based on our manner of speech.
The doctors and the stockbroker struggled to understand her mother’s unique form of English, leading them to dismiss her. The title “Mother Tongue” cleverly plays on the concept of both one’s first language and her mother’s unconventional English. Despite its difficulty, this language is an important aspect of her identity and does not diminish her mother’s value. Regardless of the specific language or manner in which she communicates, she remains an exceptional individual.
Analysis Of Garth Lenz’s True Cost Of Oil
Rhetorical Analysis of Garth Lenz’s: The True Cost of Oil Many people are unaware of the devastating destruction that the Alberta Tar Sands are causing on Canada’s ecosystem and the lifestyle of the native peoples of the Athabasca. The Alberta Tar Sands are large deposits of crude oil, also known as bitumen. The Athabasca deposit is the largest known reservoir of crude bitumen in the world. The Alberta Tar Sands are unique in the fact that it is the only oil reserve that is suitable for surface mining.
That being said, the Alberta Tar Sands are causing irrevocable damage to Canada’s fragile eco system. Photographer Garth Lenz has been capturing threatened wilderness regions, devastation, and the impacts on indigenous peoples, for the past twenty years. He has appeared in the world’s leading publications, and is a Fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers which is a charitable organization whose aim is to further environmental and cultural conservation through communication enterprises.
Lenz gave a TED-Talk speech in November of 2011 titled the True Cost of Oil. As Lenz demonstrates through his emotional and shocking pictures of the Canadian landscape, the environmental devastation that this oil mining is causing to the ecosystem as well as the indigenous people of the land is irreversible and unprecedented. Lenz’s techniques thoroughly convince the audience that the tar mining in Canada is devastating to both the Canadian people and to Canada’s natural ecosystem and landscape.
In order to support his claim, Lenz uses a variety of rhetorical devices to capture the audience’s attention. The speaker first uses vivid imagery to draw in the audience with claims such as “The worlds largest most devastating environmental industrial project is located in the heart of the largest and most intact forest in the world-Canada’s Boreal Forrest . . . home to the largest remaining wild caribou heard in the world, the George River herd with 400,000 animals” (Lenz 2011). Through this claim, Lenz allows the audience to capture the severity and importance of this forest.
The speaker paints a vivid picture with dramatic words to match a vibrant photographic background of nature and wilderness. Lenz is granted the reader’s respect though displaying photographs that he took himself that silhouette and enhance the topics he is discussing. The logic he uses also makes it hard for the audience to disbelieve the facts that he is presenting. The audience is hit hard with numbers that makes one want to cringe at the fact that this environmental devastation is becoming our reality.
A pipeline ten times the size of Exon Valdez is in preparation to be built, the largest tailings pond on the planet is in the middle of the Athabasca Tar Mine’s where toxic drainage is equaled to two-thirds the size of Manhattan, and over eight hundred indigenous people are being affected by cancer through the carcinogenic foods they must eat out of pure necessity. The logos in the speech are evident and reputable. Lenz calls upon the deductive reasoning of the audience in a very effective and upright manner.
One cannot argue with the factual evidence Lenz is presenting, especially with the dramatic pictures Lenz uses to reinforce the topics he is presenting. Throughout the speech, Lenz personal feelings and emotions were displayed. He is very emotional when it comes to certain topics, especially when it comes to the toxic water supply that is affecting the hundreds of Athabascan people who inhabit Alberta and the surrounding areas. Lenz grabs the reader’s attention, as well as their hearts when he tells the story of a First Natives Man who warned him not to eat any fish from the river he was canoeing down, as they were carcinogenic.
At this point in the speech, Lenz’s voice begins to break as he describes how he later sees four fish hanging from the man’s porch. The man was forced out of necessity to feed his children carcinogenic fish from a river that the oil mining has polluted. Lenz sheds a few tears over this matter and it really shows the audience his ethos on the subject. He is truly an individual who is speaking about this cause not for personal gain, but out of love for humanity and the environment.
The ethos Lenz displays in his presentation is strong and heart warming; it allows the audience to connect with him on a much deeper and more personal level of respect. In giving this speech, Garth Lenz conquered the difficult task of gaining both the hearts of the audience as well as their minds with his ethos and logos. Lenz skillfully created a dramatic photographic background to enhance the topics we was speaking of; therefore, it is safe to assume Garth Lenz was able to convince and capture the heart of all audience members.
Memo: How To Calculate The Impairment On Cruise Ship
Our analysis of your cruise ship’s potential impairment involved the use of U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles and referencing ASC 360-10 for guidance. Based on our recoverability tests, it has been determined that your cruise ship is impaired, resulting in an impairment loss of $1.6 million to be recorded on December 31, 2010.
In a different scenario where expected future cash flows exceed the carrying value, the asset would be considered recoverable and not impaired. This memo will now explain how we calculated the impairment on your cruise ship.
To determine if an asset is impaired, indicators suggesting that its carrying amount may not be recoverable must first be identified. According to ASC 360-10-35-21, such indicators include negative changes in utilization or shifts in the business climate affecting its value.
Based on provided information regarding potential alterations in route and economic climate due to pirate activities, it has been determined that there is indeed an indicator of impairment. Given the nature of the tourism industry, the presence of pirates poses risks and makes it unappealing to tourists, resulting in decreased cash flows.
Operating in new areas would also lead to a decrease in cash flows due to relocation costs and lack of experience. After identifying an impairment indicator, we need to evaluate the recoverability of the asset group. The primary asset in this group is the cruise ship, which includes your $0.1 million working capital. Your working capital is part of the asset group for two reasons: it is essential for running the cruise ship’s operations and its cash flows are not independent of the cruise ship’s. It is also separate from the cash flows of other assets and liabilities. The nonrecourse debt is not part of the asset group because it can be repaid without using the cruise ship’s cash flows. As per ASC 360-10-35-30, we estimated un-discounted future cash flows based on your assumptions about the group’s profitability and compared it to the carrying value of the asset group.
The calculations were performed using a probability weighted-average approach to consider three potential scenarios. The cash flow for each option during the years 2011-2015 was combined. Additionally, in 2012, an estimated fair value of $3 million for the ship was taken into account. These calculations can be seen in Table 1.
To determine the carrying value of the asset group, the net book value of $4.6 million for the ship was added to the net working capital of $0.1 million, resulting in a net carrying value of $4.7 million.
Based on our calculations, it was determined that the asset group could not be recovered as the projected future cash flows of $4.6 million were lower than the net carrying value of $4.7 million.
The total net carrying value of the asset group was $4.7 million, calculated by adding the ship’s net book value of $4.6 million to the net working capital of $0.1 million.
However, it was determined that the estimated future cash flows for the asset group were only $4.6 million, which is less than its net carrying value of $4.7 million. As a result, an impairment loss was recorded.
In accordance with ASC 820, fair value is defined as “the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants.” The fair value of the asset group consists of two components: a cruise ship valued at $3 million and net working capital valued at $0.1 million.
The fair value of the asset group is $3.1 million, which is less than its carrying value of $4.7 million, resulting in an impairment loss of $1.6 million as of December 31, 2010. Furthermore, we have computed the probability-weighted average for the second scenario and incorporated these calculations into Table 2 for the recovery test. After reviewing these calculations, we have concluded that the asset group can be recovered since its future cash flows total $4.8 million, surpassing its net carrying value of $4.7 million. The findings from the second scenario validate that there is no impairment in this asset.
After conducting an analysis of your cruise ship’s impairment, utilizing our expertise in U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles and guidance from ASC 360-10, we have concluded the following:
- In the first scenario, the asset group is impaired, resulting in a $1.6 million impairment loss.
- However, in the second scenario, there is no impairment loss as the asset group can be recovered.
If you have any further questions or need assistance, please feel free to contact us.