Her mother has long known her limitations in life due to her ability to speak English. He demonstrates his mother's limitations in life by telling two stories. The first begins when her mother forces her to talk on the phone when she was only fifteen. He had to speak to his stockbroker in New York, acting as his mother, Mrs Tan. Her mother already knew that they wouldn't take her seriously because of her English. They then travel to New York from California, where her mother, the real Mrs. Tan, screamed at her boss in "impeccable broken English" (Tan). This is supposed to be a funnier story, but the second story is much more serious. Tan talks about when her mother was in hospital for a benign brain tumor, and they showed her virtually no sympathy for missing the CT scan. His mother tries really hard to speak her best English as she explains at the hospital that both her husband and son have died of brain tumors. Coincidentally, once the hospital called her daughter, who spoke perfect English, they miraculously found the CT scan and apologized “for any suffering” her mother had endured (Tan). These two stories clearly show linguistic discrimination and how it can negatively affect everyday life