Her mother has long known her limitations in life due to her English skills. She proves her mother's limitations in life by telling two stories. One begins when her mother forces her to talk on the phone when she is only fifteen. She must have spoken to her stockbroker in New York, acting like her mother, Ms Tan. Her mother already knew they wouldn't take her seriously because of her English. They then travel to New York from California, where his mother, the real Mrs. Tan, was yelling at her boss in "impeccable, broken English" (Tan). This is meant to be a more humorous story, but the second story is much more serious. Tan talks about the time her mother was in the hospital for a benign brain tumor, and they showed her almost no sympathy for losing her CT scan. His mother tries really hard to speak her English as best as possible while explaining to the hospital that her husband and son both died of brain tumors. Coincidentally, once the hospital called her daughter, who spoke perfect English, they miraculously found the scanner and apologized "for all the suffering" her mother (Tan) endured. These two stories clearly show linguistic discrimination and how it can have a negative impact on everyday life.