Anzaldua's Essay 'How To Tame A Wild Tongue'

Up to “half a year passed…” (Rodriguez, 287) until his teachers “…began to connect [his] behaviour with the difficult progress of [his] older sister and brother were making” (287). Note the fact that the teacher’s realization was because of his siblings and not because of his solitude, silent attitude. The message, as Anzaldua perfectly evokes in his short story, is that it’s our very “tongue [which] diminishes our sense of self” (298). A similar image Anzaldua depicts in ‘How to Tame a Wild Tongue’ – coincidently at the rather beginning of the text just like Rodriguez – is when the Anglo teacher said “If you want to be American, speak ‘American’. If you don’t like it, go back to Mexico where you belong” (295). On this occasion, Anzaldua’s mother also tells him off as she was “…mortified that [her son] spoke English like a Mexican” (295). Here, the pressure derives from the mom and the teacher, making Anzaldua feel out of place. He believes that “wild tongues can’t be tamed, they can only be cut” (295) emphasizing that one’s identity must be forgotten if he/she wants to learn another language (English), ultimately gaining a new identity. Another example of lack of identity recognition is when Kingston, in ‘Tongue Tied’, specifies that only the Chinese girls were left out when the class went to the auditorium. Kingston “…knew the silence had to do with being a Chinese girl” (284), hence, her self-esteem diminishes, she feels excluded from the class;

In the essay,” How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” Anzaldua talks about the Chicanos people are betraying their culture for speaking the dominant discourse and how it’s affecting their self identity. Anzaldua informs to the Chicanos that they are ruining the Chicanos Spanish by speaking another language, especially the English discourse. The reason for the people in Chicanos are translating the English discourse is because that their culture language is unheard to other people and they don’t want to be embarrassed.Thus, leaving the Chicanos people to speak the discourse as a neutral language, so they won’t feel embarrassed of their culture. But regardless, Anzaldua disapprove the idea of the Chicanos people to use the English dominant discourse instead of their own, not only damaging their culture, but

Activist, Gloria Anzaldua’s narrative excerpt “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” She goes into the depth of ethnic identity While knocking down walls of linguistic and identity down. How one would identify themselves while broadcasting the struggles any person with culture has felt. She uses ethos, pathos, and logos alongside all five senses, making the reader feel they witness the efforts she went through if not observe then actually experienced. Anzaldua's thesis is that language is a part of one’s identity. People shouldn't let others try to tame their tongue or cut off their native language because once they do, they can disconnect a person from their culture and roots

Growing up, Gloria Anzaldua was encircled by lots of sayings that only women had to follow concerning how you ought to act and such. She identifies herself as a Chicano. Chicano is an assortment of nearly everything, from the “standard Spanish to Southern Texas Spanish.” All with diverse customs of speaking, many people believed that Chicano’s cannot voice Spanish suitably. They feel uncomfortable when talking to other Hispanics. Identity, in relative to language, is together. She talks about the finest technique to demoralize a Chicano is to talk critically of her language, which in turn would bring harm to her identity. She is zealous about her identity and language, and It is quite clear when she begins to speak about her experience in trying

She explains what her Chicano language means to her and how it identifies who she is, first she discusses overcoming tradition of silence, second she explains the importance of her Chicano language, and third, she explains Linguistic Terrorism. 4. After reading Gloria Anzaldua’s narrative it made me notice what my first language means to me, which is Spanish and how it makes me who I am. 5. The authors’ purpose is to enlighten the reader on the stigma attached to speaking in

At Pan American University, I, and all Chicano students were required to take two speech classes. Their purpose: to get rid of our accent"(206). These words show how her mom would criticize her for speaking English

In Gloria Anzaldua’s essay “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” Anzaldua expresses her experience of growing up in the United States with a strong Mexican background. She is quick to point out the prominent social and cultural differences within the dual cultural society such as language and culture. Anzaldua uses definition essay to demonstrate that language and culture is not always concrete. Throughout her essay, Anzaldua switches back and fourth between English and Spanish. It is clear that Anzaldua is proud of not only her Spanish language, but also her ability to speak both English and Spanish.

In the chapter titled “How to Tame a Wild Tongue”, from her book Borderlands/La Frontera : The New Mestiza, published in 1987; Chicana scholar, Gloria Anzaldua discusses her personal thoughts and beliefs about the linguistic challenges that immigrants, particularly Mexican Spanish speakers, experience when living in the United States. Anzaldua addresses a dual audience, her fellow Latinas and the Anglo English dominant culture to persuade them that the dominant culture should not be the only culture that can exists. That people should be able to speak their language and express themselves with their own culture. The author begins with an anecdote, using a metaphor, to compare the process of acculturation to a painful dentist visit where the

Anzaldua further proves the capability of non-dominant individuals to possess power and resilience over the dominant language. Even in pursuit of her own higher education, Anzaldua was met with barriers that she was able to persevere through and overcome. She even had to fight to persue a course of study that she was passionate about, Chicano literature. “In graduate school, while working toward a PH.D., I had to ‘argue’ with one advisor after the other, semester after semester, before I was allowed to make Chicano literature an area of focus (40).” Even in the professional setting of graduate school, Anzaldua fought to maintain and pursue her Chicano culture, portraying the capability of a non-dominant individual to establish an identify and

Selah Miranda Professor Samuels STEV-2 14 March 2024 Final Paper: Identity In Gloria Anzaldua’s autobiography, Borderlands/La Frontera, she expresses the complexities of identity and her experiences as a Chicana/Latina through essays and poems. As a queer and feminist writer and activist, Anzuldua describes the dualism of “borders” as social and cultural divisions amongst varying communities, living between different types of identities. Within Borderlands/La Frontera, Anzuldua examines the “borderlands” of language, sexuality, femininity/masculinity, ethnicity, religion, and nationality as she recalls her upbringing in the borderlands between Texas and Mexico. Anzaldua critiques her Mexican culture for its misogynistic faults, lack of representation,

The passage How to Tame a Wild Tongue by Gloria Anzaldua exposes the difficulties that many ethnicities of immigrants are exposed to, when they recently migrate to the United States. Gloria Anzaldua stands up for the minorities who are underrepresented, as well as talks of her own personal experiences. Anzaldua does not let linguistic terrorism be a negative influence, resulting in her own language being robbed from her, and pridefully speaks the language, regardless of the situation that she is presented with.

Have you ever been degraded by others and try not to let it tear you down? Within the short text “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” this idea is explored in numerous ways as the various groups of Hispanics and women attempt to gain more rights within their community and society as a whole. They come to the realization that the ways in which they are treated is in an unjust manner, making them feel insignificant and powerless. Therefore, in Gloria Anzaldúa’s “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” she confronts how many Hispanic minorities, especially women, are marginalized within society by presenting many of the difficult obstacles these groups face, and how they attempt to overcome them.

As Anzaldua writes her experiences, she creates tone as passionate and determination for what she stands for throughout the whole the essay. She wants to convince her audience that language is not just a tool of communication, but an extension of an identity; “I am my language, I cannot take pride in myself (until) I am free to write bilingually and to switch codes without having always to translate”(211). Notice how she compares language and treats it as herself. This gives a sense of life giving to the language. Furthermore, explaining the quote, she wishes to break off the conformity that society compressed her into.

Gloria Anzaldua, author of the article " How to tame a Wild Tongue", expresses very strong views on how she feels her native Chicano Spanish language needs to be preserved in order to maintain cultural unity when used as a private form of communication. Her statement, " for a people who cannot identify with either standard (formal, Castilian) Spanish, nor standard English, what recourse is left to them but to create their own language?" suggests that despite the societal pressures of needing to learn more formal and ‘properly' accepted English and Spanish, the very nature of the Chicano language is a unique creation of acceptance, through language within the Mexican culture. She is opposed to assimilation on

“Being defeated is often a temporary condition. Giving up is what makes it permanent” (Marilyn vos Savant). Within the short text “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” this idea is explored in numerous ways as the various groups of people attempt to gain more rights within their community and society as a whole. They come to the realization that the ways in which they are treated is in an unjust manner. Others treated them as if they are insignificant and powerless. Therefore, in Gloria Anzaldua’s “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” she confronts how many Hispanic minorities, especially women, are marginalized within society by showcasing many of the difficult obstacles these groups face, and how they attempt to overcome them.