Gary Engkent Short Story Post (Quiz 3)

Garry Engkent's "Why My Mother Can't Speak English"

1. Identify the obstacles that prevent Engkent's mother from learning to speak English. According to Engkent, what responsibility does he attribute to his mother for her inability to learn English? What responsibility would you attribute to Engkent's mother for her inability to learn English?

            Gary Engkent and his family immigrated to Canada to China when he was five years old and his parents were around forty years old.  As a child in a new country, Gary was able to pick up the English language easily, learning about it in school, listening to the people around him speak it, and frequently going to movies.  His father learned it in order to carry on his restaurant business.  His mother, on the other hand, not only decided not to learn it, but also was told not to learn the language by Gary’s father.  It is of course harder for adults to learn a new language than a child, for they already almost fully comprehend one.  Gary’s father made sure that his wife did not learn English because he thought it was a waste of her time, because, working in the family restaurant’s kitchen, she only needed to be able to understand the food orders. 

            There were still two larger, more important reasons why Mrs. Engkent never learned English, and they were because she did not want to abandon her Chinese roots and because she wanted to stay with Gary’s father.  Gary attributes this loyalty to his father as the reason for her inability to learn English.  By not learning English, she would not become a victim of the ideas of the “white man,” and create a conflict between her and her husband. 

            I would attribute Mrs. Engkent’s inability to learn English to the fact that she did not want to depart from her Chinese roots.  This need to live how she did in China allowed her to celebrate the Chinese way of life, including holidays and traditions.  It also was a factor in maintaining her loyalty to Gary’s father.