Always Living In Spanish Analysis

Identifying Yourselves with your Culture

“ It’s easy to become anything you wish….so long as you’re willing to forfeit your soul” stated by Gene Luen Yang (29). In other words it means that it is easy to become a new person, as long as you are willing to give up your identity. In the articles “Always Living in Spanish” and “ Aria: Memoir of a Bilingual childhood” the author argues how the people had to adapt to the new circumstances they live in. Additionally they had to adjust to the new culture to be accept it in the new society they live in. However there were times people had to give up their own language to learn the new language, but still remember or practice their own language at home. Even though people would try to adapt to the

new culture and habits of the society they would still get judged for not speaking the correct way or for trying to fit in. In fact, in the article “From Decolonising the Mind” and book The Joy Luck Club it explains how people were suffering stereotypes because of their race and class.

If you were latino, from Centro America, another place and color you were pre judged that you did not know and would not know how to speak the correct English. Likewise if you did not come from a rich family you would not be accept it to a high economic family.

However, it is true that language people speak or write represents who they are and the way society looks at them. The article “ Always Living in Spanish” the author Marjorie Agosin demonstrates, how the author would feel comfortable speaking her own language. Marjorie Agosin admits “ Only at night, writing poems in Spanish, could I return to my senses, and soothe my own sorrow over what I had left behind” (557). Agosin demonstrates that through the day she would speak and talk like an American would do, but at nights she would speak and write in her own home language which was Spanish. Writing and speaking in Spanish would remind her of her identity and where she came from. She felt through her writing she would be able to explain the way she felt without telling the world herself the way she felt about life, but her writing would expressed and speak for itself for

her. In the same way the article “ Aria: Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood” how in school the kid would feel uncomfortable talking in English and soon as he would get home he would talk in his language and feel comfortable again with his family. Richard Rodriguez writes, “ We pieced together new words by taking, say, an English verb and giving it Spanish endings” (513). In other words, Rodriguez explains that how his family would combine two different languages together to learn English. By example, the family would at times combine English with Spanish to understand the meaning of the word in English they were trying to learn. At a point where the family stop practicing their home language to fit in the society. Likewise these two articles “Always Living in Spanish”and “Aria: Memoir of a bilingual Childhood”share the same idea how the people had to adapt to the new society. In addition, they had to adapt to the new festivid days, what people celebrate and what they do not do. However the articles are different from one another because in one the author kept practicing and speaking in their language which made her happy. In the other article the author stop speaking at home their home language which made him lose his own identity and try to be another person to fit in with the society. Overall the authors ideas connect because the authors would feel happy and excited when they would get home and speak their language with their family. They would remember who they really were and came from which made them happy. Also, they would express themselves through their culture values.
The society tends to make stereotypes to people who are from different races and class because there are not like them.

The article “ Bilingualism in America: English should Be the Official Language” explains how people from color were been pre judge since they were not white. S. I. Hayakawa claims “ Brown people, like Mexicans and Puerto Ricans; red people, like American Indians; and yellow people, like Japanese and chinese, are assumed not to be smart enough to learn English” (566). Hayakawa observes how people of color were been discriminated for being different colors and had low expectations of them. Just for being different from the society there were always going to be stereotypes for them. Similarly in the book The Joy Luck Club it talks about how Rose, one of the main characters of the book, has been discriminated from the social economic life she came from. Amy Tan confirms that “She assure me she had nothing whatsoever against minorities; she and her husband, who owned a chain of office stores, personally knew many fine people who were Oriental, Spanish and even black. But ted was going to be in one of those professions where he would be judged by different standard, by patients and other doctors who might not be as understanding as the Jordans were” (124). Tan is saying that the parents of Ted supposedly did not care about the different societies of economic people live, but if there son was going to be judge depending the wife and family he had. Since his

profession was going to be a doctor he had to had a good economic standard as his wife. Not everyone in the society view people as their personality as the Jordans. Everyone judge people differently and at times do not care about their personality by economic standard. The ideas of the authors Hayakawa and Tan connect because both people are been judge for been different than the society. How there color identifies if they are smart or not, how they had low expectations from them, and how the economic standard matters to the society. However the authors ideas are different to because the author Hayakawa claims how people from the Mexico, Central America, and more are been judge from their color and expect less from them than from white. In the other hand the author Tan explains how Rose is been discriminated because of her economic status.
Concluding it is easy to become a new person, yet there always going to be obstacles people have to face. In the articles and book the authors discuss how the society discriminates the people from color, class and even for their language they speak or come from. Yet they still practice and were From of where they came from and they are cultured roots.