Compare and contrast - Essay Example

September 10, Compare and Contrast: One-Pager Two interesting articles focused on the experiences that led them to becoming English writers despite their origin as minorities. The articles were “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me” written by Sherman Alexie, a Native American; and “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan, an Asian American. The current discourse hereby presents a comparative analysis of these authors’ written accounts of their experiences towards becoming writers. There were similarities that were exhibited in these articles in terms of the backgrounds of the authors.

Alexie, being a Native American, relayed experiences of starting to read as a young boy living with his family in the “Spokane Indian Reservation in eastern Washington state” (Alexie 11). Tan, on the other hand, an Asian American of Chinese descent, narrated experiences with speaking a distinct kind of “broken” English, the language used by her mother to communicate. Aside from sharing similarities in terms of not being native speakers of the English language, the authors allegedly affirmed their convictions to become writers, despite the evident challenges that faced them.

In addition, both authors openly affirmed that one of their parents had influenced the career path that was chosen. And finally, these authors initially pursued careers in medicine (pediatrician for Sherman and pre-med course for Tan) before confirming their interests in writing as a profession. Concurrently, despite the similarities, there were disparities that emerged in these articles. Sherman’s article focused mainly on his personal experiences which contributed to his career as a writer.

On the other hand, Tan narrated her mother’s experiences as influential and contributory to her development of proficiency in the English language and in other aspects of her life. In fact, Tan admitted that “I think my mothers English almost had an effect on limiting my possibilities in life as well” (Tan 2).Yet, the impetus which led to Tan’s decision to become a writer was her former boss’ admonition that writing was her worst skill. In addition, in Sherman’s article, he professed that he loved books and his intention for reading was to try and save his life.

While Tan was silent about the intention or purpose for writing; yet signified that her mother remained the most important critic of her written works.Works CitedAlexie, Sherman. "The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me." n.d. qcounty.com. http://www.qcounty.com/SCC/Spring10/Eng305_10035/Readings/ShermanAlexie--Superman.pdf. 13 March 2014.Tan, Amy. "Mother Tongue." n.d. teachers.sduhsd.k12.ca.us. http://teachers.sduhsd.k12.ca.us/mcunningham/grapes/mother%20tounge.pdf. 13 March 2014.