The paragraph from "Mother Tongue" by Amy Tan helps to develop the author's idea that using complex words does not necessarily make one's lanuage clearer or more understandable. (Option 2).
In the paragraph the author mentions she wanted to prove her mastery of the language and how well she wrote. She exemplifies this with a line from her first draft of The Joy Luck Club: “That was my mental quandary in its nascent state.” She then states the line is terrible and she can barely pronounce it herself. The use of complex words like "quandary" and "nascent" may show her mastery of the language but it certainly does not make it clearer or more understandable for readers.
