Read the following excerpt: “Du Yusong having business like fruit stand. Like off the street kind. He is like Du Zong—but not Tsung-ming Island people. The local people call putong, the river east side, he belong to that side local people. That man want to ask Du Zong father take him in like become own family. Du Zong father wasn’t look down on him, but didn’t take seriously, until that man big like become a mafia. Now important person, very hard to inviting him. Chinese way, came only to show respect, don’t stay for dinner. Respect for making big celebration, he shows up. Mean gives lots of respect. Chinese custom. Chinese social life that way. If too important won’t have to stay too long. He come to my wedding. I didn’t see, I heard it. I gone to boy’s side, they have YMCA dinner. Chinese age I was nineteen.”

1.) How does the anecdote about the gangster in Shanghai who shows up at the wedding develop the author’s idea about language?

By including the transcript of her mother’s words, the author forces readers into the same place as Tan’s friends: we don’t fully understand what she is saying.

It helps readers to understand her mother's views on the world and how she expresses them.

It allows readers insight into how difficult it was for the author to understand her mother's language.