Gloria Anzaldúa

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How to Tame a Wild Tongue Language identifies a person. Throughout her life, Gloria Anzaldúa was held back by a plethora of borders. Gloria, and many other chicanas refrained from expressing themselves because they would be looked at differently. Through her story, Gloria puts stress on the fact that chicanas should not be ashamed of their native tongue and that others do not have the right to judge them for their culture. Looking at another culture through one’s own is referred to as being ethnocentric. Many people, especially americans, decided that english was the “normal” language. At Pan American University, it was essential for Chicano students to take two speech classes, “to get rid of [their] accents” (44). Americans had no interest …show more content…

A main strategy is emotional appeal, she uses emotional appeal by working in Spanish to show readers what she had to deal with when she was younger. Readers did not take the time to understand the spanish language because when Anzaldúa was younger people did not take the time to appreciate her language. She was criticized and ridiculed because she spoke spanish and because when she spoke english it was with a spanish accent. Her language was criticized as an “illegitimate, a bastard language”(Anzaldúa) . This kind of negative attitude towards her culture caused her to believe that being a chicanas was a bad thing and that she should be ashamed of it. She was proud of her ethnicity and would not let people belittle her for that she says, “if you want to really hurt me, talk about my language” (Anzaldua). She did not let the negative comments that had been thrown at her, her whole life change the way she felt about her language. She believes that her language identifies her and states, “I can take pride in my
Anzaldúa constantly reminds readers how all her life she was ridiculed for speaking her native language, and was taught to be ashamed of her Chicana heritage. To further appeal to Chicanos and to educate those unaware of the hardships, she uses anecdotes of her times in school, strictly english spoken and reprimanded for a single spanish spoken word. She

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