Question 2
The hospital scene is very important in this article. It gives us a glimpse of what lack of fluency in a given language can do to a person. Language is used for expression and impression. A person is judged according to their presentation in terms of appearance and language skills. As for Tan, when she went to hospital and expressed her concern about the CAT scan appointment, the personnel in charge considered her an illiterate person who does not know her rights. They told her to book an appointment for another day since they could not trace her CAT scans concerning her brain tumor. When she told them adamantly that she could not leave the hospital before they called her daughter, she knew the profound effect her daughter’s language commanded. According to the narration, the fluency of her daughter changed their minds and they promised to look for the CAT scan and attend to her needs at the earliest of her convenience. Therefore, it is not possible to leave the hospital scene out of the plot of the narration. Through the hospital scene, the character traits of the hospital workers, Tan and her daughter are vividly brought out. The scene also helps in bringing to light the effects of inability to speak fluently. The hospital scene reveals to us the long-lasting effects of mother tongue through a life example. I think the paper would not work without it. This is because the paper is a chronological account of the things that used to occur in the early life of the narrator. Any small discrepancy leads to a misrepresentation of the actual occurrences in her life. Without the hospital scene, the paper would lack a life experience concerning the effects of one’s spoken language. The hospital part of the narration presents the reader with a situation that can only be remedied by oral expression.
