Question

refer to explorations in literature for a complete version of this narrative.
read this excerpt from \mother tongue\ by amy tan.
when i was fifteen, she used to have me call people on the phone to pretend i was she. in this guise, i was forced to ask for information or even to complain and yell at people who had been rude to her.
how does this detail develop the central idea?

○ it supports the idea that people judged the author’s mother based on her language.

○ it depicts how the author was embarrassed by her mother’s use of english.

○ it reveals why the author felt frustration with her own mother.

○ it explains why the author’s mother was not able to speak fluent english.

Explanation:

The excerpt shows the author's mother had her pretend to be her on phone calls, likely because others judged her mother based on her language (e.g., non - fluent English). The other options: the excerpt doesn't show the author's embarrassment (second option), nor frustration with her mother (third option), and it doesn't explain why her mother couldn't speak fluent English (fourth option). So the first option is correct.

Answer:

A. It supports the idea that people judged the author’s mother based on her language.