Britain, with an army to enforce her tyranny, has declared that she has a right (not only to tax) but "to bind us inall cases whatsoever," and if being bound in that manner, is not slavery, then is there not such a thing as slavery upon earth. . . . neither have i so much of the infidel in me, as to suppose that he has relinquished the government of the world, and given us up to the care of devils; and as i do not, i cannot see on what grounds the king of britain can look up to heaven for against us: a common murderer, a highwayman, or a house-breaker, has as good a pretence as he. the words "slavery," "devils," and "murderer" evoke a sense of

Read the excerpt from "mother tongue." lately, i’ve been giving more thought to the kind of english my mother speaks. like others, i have described it to people as “broken” or “fractured” english. but i wince when i say that. it has always bothered me that i can think of no other way to describe it other than “broken,” as if it were damaged and needed to be fixed, as if it lacked a certain wholeness and soundness. what best supports the inference that tan believes nonstandard english is no less valid than standard english? tan spends a lot of time thinking about her mother’s “fractured” english. tan has trouble thinking of descriptive words when she is writing. tan’s american education makes it difficult for her to understand her mother. tan winces when she describes her mother’s english as “broken.”