Feminist Essay on “why My Mother Can’t Speak English”

Hailey Yang

ENG4U

Mrs. Kennedy

10 February 2016

Feminist Essay on “Why my mother can’t speak English”

        Females have verbal functioning in both sides of the brain while males only have this function in the left hemisphere of their brains, which makes women naturally a better learner of a new language (“Male vs. Female Brain Difference”). However, it doesn’t mean that a woman will definitely have better language skill than a man. The article why my mother can’t speak English by Garry Engkent shows how a capable woman is unable to speak English after staying in Canada for thirty years due to the effect of feminism. Feminist literary theory is the assumptions that our society is widely patriarchal, our stereotype for gender are defined and our literature are dominated by men. This essay will examine how the patriarchal mindset and set gender roles are pervasively presented in most characters and it is hard to change this reality without a role model.

        Throughout the history, males are the ultimately leaders of all “important” affairs and women are responsible for following the men. In the article, this traditional Chinese family was absolutely held by the father when he was still alive. “My father was already a well-established restaurant owner. He put me in school and Mother in the restaurant kitchen, washing dishes and cooking strange foods like hot dogs, hamburgers, and French fries” (Engkent 167). It is obvious that males are “designed” to have education and start business while females just need to do basic jobs and keep their traditions. Although females own the rights to do “male-things”, men have power to control women in such society. “‘I begged him,’ Mother says. ‘But he would either ignore my pleas or say: ‘What do you need to know English for? You’re better off here in the kitchen…’’” (Engkent 167). The patriarchal culture constructs mom in such way that she should obey the father, which makes women just like belongings to the men. “‘I could not go anywhere by myself…Let me die with [the father]’” (Engkent 168). Mom herself might has already accepted this fact and she abandon the power. These “rules” are  

        It is almost impossible to remove the mindset that has been deeply rooted in people’s hearts. For mom, the stereotypes she owns affect her daily life. For example, she is unable to adapt the balanced society in Canada. “‘If she is going to examine me,’ Mother tells me, ‘I might as well start packing for China’”(Engkent 169). Facing the female judge, mom still insists that a female must be unfair and useless. After mom gets the citizenship without dad’s help, she went to the cemetery and “she has something to tell [the father]” (Engkent 170). Perhaps she still believes that her citizenship belongs to her husband. Although in the article a role model—the judge has shown that women are capable to do things, the biases are still inevitably existed in people’s minds.