How A Wild Tongue By Gloria Anzaldua And The New Mestiza

Anzaldua discusses the obstacles that come with being a Mexican American woman, explaining the cultural tyranny in Mexican American communities, like those portrayed in Chayo’s letter. Anzaldua writes, “Culture is made by those in power- men. Males make the rules and laws; women transmit them” (1018). Deviating from the norms of society by neither being a wife or a mother leads to the degradation and isolation of women since they are expected to act a certain

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;

Gloria Anzaldua, a woman who was born in 1942 in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas wrote “How to Tame a Wild Tongue”. Anzaldua was a migrant worker in the fields and then on her family’s land after her father's death in 1953. Later, as Anzaldua went through school and education she earned a teaching degree and then became an academic. She spoke and wrote about feminist, lesbian, and about her autobiography. She was a strong woman that stood up for herself and argued about the ways people made other people feel ashamed of themselves because they were from another country or because they spoke a different language.

Gloria Anzaldúa writes of a Utopic frame of mind, the borderlands created in and lived in by the new mestiza. She describes the preexisting natures of the Anglos, Mexicanos, and Chicanos as seen around the southwest U.S. / Mexican border, indicative of the nations at large. She also probes the borders of language, sexuality, psychology and spirituality. Anzaldúa presents this information in various identifiable ways including the autobiography, historical/informative essay, and poetry. What is unique to Anzaldúa is her ability to weave a ‘perfect’ kind of compromised state of mind that melds together the preexisting cultures while simultaneously formulating a fusion of genres that stretches previously

In this exposition, I am will give a 'How to Tame a Wild Tongue' synopsis and investigation. In 'How to Tame a Wild Tongue,' Gloria Anzaldua tries to examine the pessimistic social demeanor toward Chicano methods for talking and the hurtful impact of this contrary disposition on the self-personality of Chicano individuals who live in the borderlands. She begins her article with an allegory, remembering a dental practitioner who grumbled that Gloria's tongue was solid and unshakable. So she was baffled and began considering how to tame a wild tongue.

The reader understands it is due to adapt to the crowd, to fit in. Not because Anzaldua is being racist but because of where she was raised and the people around her who influenced her. She never had the chance to be herself she was ridiculed every time. And to avoid any conflict she would speak the preferred language to either party she came in contact with. For instance she says in the writing that “With Chicanas from Nuevo Mexico or Arizona I will speak Chicano Spanish a little, but often they don’t understand what I’m saying. With most California Chicanas I speak entirely in English.”(Anzaldua page 87). In this quote the reader can understand that she uses her different voices when speaking to different groups of people. When she says her home language it is most likely Spanish. So to most people she considers close she will speak to them in Spanish. All of her voices she has gathered through the years are scars that got as a child. But these scars are there to help Anzaldua with her writings. Because of the different voices she can better connect to different readers it helps her explain what she is writing and in a way get to know the reader and for the reader to know

Anzaldua discusses the obstacles that come with being a Mexican American woman, explaining the cultural tyranny in Mexican American communities, like those portrayed in Chayo’s letter. Anzaldua writes, “Culture is made by those in power- men. Males make the rules and laws; women transmit them” (1018). Deviating from the norms of society by neither being a wife or a mother leads to the degradation and isolation of women since they are expected to act a certain way. Although Mexican American women are constantly being persecuted by their community, Anzaldua argues that women have the strength to make a culture of their own based on how they choose to identify. Mexican American women should not be compelled to reject their Mexican heritage or to feel limited to its beliefs considering they are also a part of the American culture. Chayo symbolizes the importance of breaking away from a patriarchal society when she recreates the meaning of her own Mexican American culture that correlates with her lifestyle.

Language is an essential part of a person; through language, you will find a person’s culture and nationality. In “How to Tame a Wild Tongue”, Gloria Anzaldua, demonstrates her stance of language and how she proudly admits that language, to her, is an identity that makes her feel whole . She also expresses hardship growing up because some people are not willing to accept her for who she is and forcefully attempts to make her change.

Anzaldúa’s Borderlands/La frontera is a very interesting piece of writing to read because it covers a lot of issues such as identity, language, and gender. The fact that she combines several genres in her writing offers another amazement. Like a powerful concoction, her writing which embodies personal, cultural, and political realities, in a way, reflects not only the richness of her multiple cultural backgrounds but also her efforts in cultivating those cultures. In terms of language for example, she identifies herself (and her community) as a complex and heterogeneous people. As a result, they speak many languages (1586). In addition, her claim that ‘ethnic identity is twin skin to linguistic identity’ elucidates her freedom to write bilingually and that she is not ashamed to use her native language.

I agree with your interpretation of Anzaldua’s quote “So, if you want to really hurt me, take badly about my language”. Since she makes it clear that ethnic identity is twin skin to linguistic identity, therefore she can not take pride in herself, until she takes pride in her language. Thus, how are you supposed to know your true identity, if you are forced to change the way you express yourself.

Activist, Gloria Anzaldua’s narrative excerpt “How to tame a wild tongue” She Goes into 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 5 senses making the reader feel they witness the struggles she went through if not witness then actually experienced. Anzaldua’s purpose is to show others they shouldn't be ashamed of who they are and to not let anyone tame their tongue. She also broadcasts the discrimination brought upon not just her chicana language, but others as well. Her

This single statement gets you in the mindset for the rest of the narrative. You automatically start thinking the way she does and understand where she is coming from. It sets your expectations low but, the narrative that follows exceeds the expectation tremendously. She chose to start the story like that in order to make the reader understand her heritage and her language background.

This difficulty paper is written based on an article by Gloria Anzaldua entitled “How to Tame a Wild Tongue”. In her article, the author has mixed with many Spanish phases. Thus, this has made the process of understanding the article become more difficult. The main problem I encountered during the process of understanding this article is to connect the ideas or the contents in order to fully understand what the author is trying to imply. The process of connecting the ideas become difficult because usually readers will be distracted by the Spanish phrases given by the author. Thus, the readers will focus on finding the meaning of the phrases instead of connecting the ideas with the other idea that are written in English.

Activist, Gloria Anzaldua’s narrative excerpt “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” She goes into 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 as though they witness the struggles she went through if not witness then actually experienced. Anzaldua’s thesis is that language is a part of one’s identity. It is what makes a person who they and connects them to their roots. People shouldn't let others try to tame their tongue or cut off their native language; because once they do and are given that power they can disconnect the person from their culture and roots.

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