Introduction This essay examines the importance of language in literature, communication, and culture in general. Language, identity, and power have an interrelationship that has generated debate and discourses that affect not only an individual but also the broader community from where he comes. In this research paper, we will explore the relationship between language and identity. Using Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue”, we will look at the significance of language and how it affects the lives of people in their communities. Language: Significance and Effects Reading this story, it comes out clearly that the tongue affects the lives of individuals. That’s how language defines who we are. Therefore, it plays a role in his or her choices and the lifestyle he or she lives. People use language to view human life from different perspectives. In this story, Amy explores how the language she learned in classroom affected her life in different ways. She is a daughter to immigrant parents; her mother is a smart woman. Amy is a source of communication between her mother and those who don’t understand her. Here, Amy has used this story to emphasize that someone is not less intelligent just because he or she can not speak perfect English, like those who are native speakers. It is rare to get two people who speak the same language, even those who think they do so, fail to notice the variations in their speech because they are used to it. Amy is of Chinese descent, and therefore, language played a significant role in her family as she struggled to fit into the American society with a mother who used “limited English” (Tan 78). This story reflects the lives of many Americans who are natural citizens of the United States. I am sure there are many people out there who have parents with their way of speaking and comprehension of the English language, as did Amy. This fact does not reduce the intelligence of such parents. Still, they are forced to depend on their children for translations during communications. Sometimes it makes children ashamed by their parents, just as Amy was when she joined others to describe her mother’s English as ‘Broken “or “Fractured” (Tan 78). Language is exceptional, not just for Amy and immigrants in foreign lands, but for all of us. Speech brings people close to their families in special ways. Amy agrees with me saying that language “can evoke an emotion, a visual image, a complex idea, or a simple truth” (Tan 76).(Tan 76). Imagine a situation when you wake up one day and realize that you have no voice and, therefore, can not communicate with those around you. That’s when you will understand how large the importance of mother tongue is. Speechlessness means that you are not able to express yourself, communicate, or participate in what goes on in your world. Language involves combining specific words in a particular order. This depends on different people where you can find people using the same words but in a separate order. What is important is that so long as they can communicate, then that order is important to them. Language, therefore, helps in empowering people and helping them establish and define their identity. Importance of Language: The Tool that Can Unite and Isolate There is no doubt that through speech, peopl