Discuss the structure of Tan’s essay “Mother Tongue.” Note how the essay blurs the line between nonfiction essay and narrative form. Why do you think Tan chose this structure? How do you think such a form influences the development of ideas in the essay? Do you think it is an effective form? Why or why not?

Match the bolded words in the excerpts to their contextual meanings. unoriginal well-groomed numerous he was a gentleman from sole to crown, clean favored and imperially slim. (from "richard cory" by edwin arlington robinson) this debt we pay to human guile; with torn and bleeding hearts we smile, and mouth with myriad subtleties. (from "we wear the mask" by paul lawrence dunbar) . .if it must, these things are important not because a high-sounding interpretation can be put upon them but because they are useful. when they become so derivative as to become unintelligible, the same thing may be said for all of us, that we do not admire what we cannot understand. . (from "poetry" by marianne moore)