In the two essays, "Mother Tongue" and "Silk Parachute", two authors, Amy Tan and John McPhee, respectively, both write about the experiences they had with their mothers, who had strong influence on their lives, especially on their writing career. In my case, the most important person who had a significant impact on me is my father. Like Tan's and McPhee's, the experiences I went through with him were not all happy. I was also hit by him and hated him because of his rope. But now I realize that they are all useful lessons that have taught me to grow to be a better person and showed me the reason why I have to study hard.
Tan and McPhee both had many unhappy memories associated with their mothers. And because of those incidents, they have a lot of troubles when they were young. Tan's mother is a Chinese woman who cannot speak English very well.
Her language, which is half Chinese, half English, always made Tan ashamed whenever she went out with her. One of the most embarrassing moments happened when they went to her mother's stockbroker's office. Tan sat in front of the stockbroker with "[her] red face and quiet" and watched her mother "shouting at his boss in her impeccable broken English" (Tan 388). She felt really ashamed not only because of her mother's broken English but also because the way her mother behaved was so rude and aggressive. It contradicted to American's manner which is always gentle and polite. Like Tan, McPhee has many difficulties with his mother as well. To him, they are so many that he cannot remember them all. He pretends that he doesn't recall being confined to his room" for using four-letter words" (McPhee 398) or receiving "a letter that used the word...