How to tame a wild tongue is an essay by Gloria Anzaldua. This essay focuses on the different types of Spanish people spoke, and in this case, Anzaldua focuses on losing an accent to adjust to the environment she was living in. The issue that was applied in this essay was that the Spanish she spoke wasn’t exactly considered “Spanish”. The essay was divided into different sections as where the author tries to let people know, her Spanish speaking language should be considered valid just like every other Spanish speaking language out there. In the beginning of the essay, Anzaldua speaks about a time when she was in class and was trying to give her teacher an explanation about something, but instead, she immediately got punished in which they considered her “talking back”. The teacher then proceeded to tell her, if she wanted to live in America, she will have to speak American, and if she didn’t like it, she could go back to Mexico where she belongs. From a very young age, young girls are taught not to talk back and not ask too many questions as where the adults would take this as a f...
Preceding her youth, in 1977, Anzaldua became a High School English teacher to Chicano students. She had requested to buy Chicano texts, but was rejected to do so. The principal of the school she worked for told her, in Anzaldua’s words: “He claimed that I was supposed to teach “American” and English literature.” She then taught the text at the risk of being fired. Anzaldua described, “Being Mexican is a state of soul – not on of mind.” All in all, the reprimanding she had to endure only made her stronger: “Until I can take pride in my language, I cannot take pride in myself.” It led to Anzaldua embracing her Mexican culture even more, contrary to shoving it aside. Anzaldua transformed her beliefs into something both cultures can applaud, and be honored
Now Anzaldua is not completely oblivious to the fact that one has to, assimilate. This is proven by how well known and respected she is. In order to get to where she is she had to assimilate, just as Rodriguez did. However the difference is that while she was assimilating under duress, Rodriguez leapt at the chance to assimilate. Anzaldua while putting on a mask that matched the majority culture was still the same culture underneath. Rodriguez, on the other hand, changed the very culture he identified with. While she still identified with the culture that had managed to survive under oppression for hundreds of years, he flung off the culture of his immigrant parents and accepted the majority culture of Am...
Anzaldua grew up in the United States but spoke mostly Spanish, however, her essay discusses how the elements of language began to define her identity and culture. She was living in an English speaking environment, but was not White. She describes the difficulty of straddling the delicate changing language of Chicano Spanish. Chicano Spanish can even differ from state to state; these variations as well as and the whole Chicano language, is considered a lesser form of Spanish, which is where Anzaldua has a problem. The language a person speaks is a part...
Anzaldúa's main point in the essay “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” is that Language is important and part of who we are. People should not be forced to speak another langue or criticized for speaking their own language. Anzaldúa says “So if you want to hurt me, talk badly about my language. Ethnic identity is twin skin to linguistic identity - I am my language”. (pp.416) Language defines who we are. and when we are forced to change out language we are forced to change who we are.
The essay “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” by Gloria Anzaldua is relevant to today’s society, because it brings to discussion important social issues such acculturation, racism, and sexism. A major social event that she lived through and was an advocate of was the Chicano movement, which influenced her in her writing. This essay is not only written solely using her intelligence and research, it also comes from personal experience. Furthermore, she says that she will not be silenced anymore, that all people deserve the right to freedom of speech and the freedom to their culture. Not to have to submit to the dominant cultures found here in the United States. This essay is directed towards two groups
All in all Anzaldua's essay is very motivating and “colorful”, due to her utilization of metaphors she uses give the reader gains insight into her writing process, most of all into the process of connecting images and building ideas. However Anzaldua's use of language and style, the transition from English to Spanish and back again in particular, may create confusion for certain readers, who are not familiar with the different
“Se Habla Español,” is written by a Latin author, Tanya Barrientos; and Amy Tan, a Chinese author, wrote “Mother Tongue”. In both literate narratives the authors write about their experiences with language and how it impacted their lives. In This essay we will be discussing the similarities as well as the differences in the stories and the authors of “Se Habla Español” and “Mother Tongue”. We will discuss how both authors use a play on words in their titles, how language has impacted their lives, how struggling with language has made them feel emotionally, and how both authors dealt with these issues.
In the essay, “How To Tame A Wild Tongue”, by Gloria Anzaldua and the essay, Mother Tongue, by Amy Tan, the ignorance shown by many people is highlighted. Amy Tan’s essay focuses on how some people look down on others who do not speak English without an accent. Anzaldua’s essay focuses on how people do not have a broad view of language and often look down upon others who do not speak the language that they speak. Both of the essays address language, but the broader topic that they acknowledge is more important. The essays both acknowledge how humans feel uncomfortable around people that are different from them, and often demean others. People demean others due to people wanting to look more powerful by giving their views correctness while discrediting
At the beginning of the essay, Anzaldúa recounts a time when she was at the dentist. He told her, “We’re going to have to control your tongue” (33). Although he was referring to her physical tongue, Anzaldúa uses this example as a metaphor for language. The dentist, who is trying to cap her tooth, symbolizes the U.S. who is similarly seeking to restrict the rights of minority groups. Nevertheless, the tongue is preventing the dentist from doing his job. Likewise, there are several minority groups who refuse to abide to the laws of dominant cultures and are fighting back. Anzaldúa also touches on a personal story that happened at school. When she was younger, she was sent to the corner because apparently, she spoke back to her Anglo teacher. The author argues that she was unfairly scolded because she was only telling her teacher how to pronounce her name. Her teacher warned her, “If you want to be American, speak American. If you don’t like it, go back to Mexico where you belong.” This short story provides an understanding of what Anzaldúa’s life was like. It demonstrates how even at a young age, she was continually pressured because of where comes
Alvarez, L. (1998) It’s the talk of Nueva York: The hybrid called Spanglish. In V. P. Clark et al. (eds)
Reading a variety of stories is great fun in which we get to know the different viewpoints of different individuals. Looking at a variety of articles allows us to better connect to the article by either agreeing or disagreeing with the articles. Miguel, my partner’s life story is similar to two stories that we read and discussed in class. First, “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” by Gloria Anzaldua and “Why Schools Don’t Educate,” by John Gatto are relevant to Miguel. Miguel’s story would disagree with, “Why Schools Don’t Educate” since he believes that schools do educate us students. Going to school not only allows a student to be book smart but advanced in different activities that are offered at the school. On page 99, Gatto mentions that, “The
Tan’s essay does more than just illuminate the trouble with language variations; her essay features a story of perseverance, a story of making a “problem” harmonize into a “normal” life. Almost like a how-to, Tan’s essay describes an obstacle and what it takes to go above and beyond. Mirroring Tan, I have been able to assimilate “the [world] that helped shape the way I saw things” and the world that I had to conform to (Tan 129). Life is a struggle, but what makes it worth it is the climb, not what is on the other side.
However, this fails and she is able to overcome this societal pressure to change through a strong pride in her background. Anzaldua says, “[...] I am my language. Until I can take pride in my language, I cannot take pride in myself. Until I can accept as legitimate Chicano Texas Spanish [...] I cannot accept the legitimacy of myself”(30). Anzaldua states that her ethnic identity is equivalent to her linguistic identity so as long as she is embarrassed by the languages she speaks she will be ashamed of herself. So instead of backing down Anzaldua goes against society she says, “I will no longer be made to feel ashamed of exiting, I will have my voice [...] I will overcome the tradition of silence”(31). Anzaldua will not be pressured into disliking her background. She is proud to be a Chicano and she will not continue to feel ashamed of it. Although other people still did not appreciate Chicano literature like Anzaldua did, she still fought for it. While Anzaldua was in graduate school working towards a ph.D. she said, “[she] had to ‘argue’ with one adviser after the other, semester after semester, before I was allowed to make Chicano literature an area of focus”(31). This shows that Anzaldua is willing to go to great lengths in order to use Chicano literature. This clearly reveals that Anzaldua has a huge amount of respect for her background and she is not afraid to show it. And when she started teaching High School students she said, [...she] tried to supplement the required texts with works Chicanos [...]”(31). This is just another example of how Anzaldua would go to great lengths to get Chicano literature known. She ends this section of her essay by saying some encouraging words for Chicano people. She says, “Stubborn, preserving, impenetrable as stone, yet possessing a malleability that renders us unbreakable, we, the mestizas and mestizos, will remain”(34).
She is the one that refuses to oblige to societal orders. She is the “Shadow-Beast” (38) with “Chicana identity grounded in the Indian woman’s history of resistance” (43). Although alienated physically, Anzaldua is “immobilized” (43) mentally the more confined she becomes in a culture engulfed in pure oppression. She claims her “shadow-beast” as the depiction of her highly wanted independence as an individual human being, which eventually forces her to leave her family behind to find herself separately from the “intrinsic nature buried under the personality that had been imposed” (38) for people like Anzaldua for many years. Her push for rebellion sets a voice for the silenced anger and pure resistance against the ostracism of herself, her family, culture, and the white-washed society she has been born into. To be the only Chicana, lesbian, and rebellious woman in her family is considered sinful, as women, according to Anzaldua, in Mexico only have “three directions she could turn: to the church as a nun, to the streets as a prostitute, or to the home as a mother” (39). Noticing that women are culturally restricted to these roles, Anzaldua creates the opposite role for herself claiming to take the “fourth choice” by “entering the world by way of education and career and becoming self-autonomous persons,” (39), which she uses to her advantage to transform the prolonged oppression into her long awaited freedom to live as an openly queer woman
...xpressing her Chinese culture. Mastering a second language allows her to articulate her and her mother’s thoughts; it is a foundation for her pride and a foundation to express herself. For Gloria Anzaldua, instead of choosing one language over the other, she chose a mix of the two and fights for it. She realized the value of her language when she lost it and now treasures it. The kind of Spanish she speaks is neither English nor Spanish, but both. It is overflowing with culture from Medieval Spain, France, Germany, etc., just from the origins of the words. It is her pride and a representation of herself, fighting and living. In conclusion, in addition to Lera Boroditsky’s article proving that the structure of language affects how we think, the articles by Eric Liu, Amy Tan, and Gloria Anzaldua show how language is a foundation for a person’s culture, pride, and self.