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In Gloria Anzaldúa’s chapter, “How to Tame a Wild Tongue”, she discusses the language and identity of people of mixed heritage especially those classified as Chicanx, Mexican Americans. Anzaldúa claims that growing up with two different sets of ethnic impositions greatly affect not only how a person communicates linguistically but also how they identify themselves. She develops this claim by first establishing that as a chicana her lingual development was always a delicate subject amongst both the anglo and latino parts of her life. The act of being pushed to assimilate into the anglo culture was no easy task that left her, as her book title states, at a type of borderland regarding both her english and spanish use. Subsequently, she examines …show more content…
how this lingual impasse affects the very foundations of a chicana’s identity and self-image. Through the cultivation of not being anglo or latinx enough chicanx individuals are left with an overwhelming feeling of alienation and cultural and self dejection. However, Anzaludúa’s juxtaposes the effects of her exploration of language and identity with a resounding message of resistance and endurance of the “norteamericano” cultural dominance. As a young woman who identifies as a Chicana individual, I feel a strong agreeance with Anzaldúa’s exploration and dissection of language and identity regarding people of multiple ethnic upbringings. Through my own experiences and observations as a Chicana I feel that there is a strong correlation between being of mixed ethical upbringings and the way chicanx individuals we lingually communicate and identify. Anzaldúa opens her chapter with a presentation of how linguistically she never seemed to satisfy her anglo or latinx counterparts.
She begins by recalling an instance where she was scolded for speaking spanish during recess which subsequently led to her being told since she was in America she needed to speak “American” and nothing more. Similarly, when at home she experienced her mother criticizing her ability to speak English fluently and especially without an accent. This obsession with complete assimilation into the anglo culture through the perfection of the English language not only highlights her battle with belonging but also establishes her view on how the anglo treat languages that are not their own. Anzaldúa (1987) resoundingly states that, “El Anglo con cara de inocente nos arrancó la lengua” (p. 54). Translated it accuses the anglo people of ripping out the tongue of the spanish speakers while holding the pretence of an innocent face. Growing up her interactions in school held one thing in importance, the eradication of her mother language down to the root. So great was this purpose of erasure that it was ingrained into those close to her such as her parents who felt the pressure of total assimilation. Yet, the irony of her stating such a bold accusation of the anglo people in her mother tongue cannot be lost. Her decision to expose this action of the anglo individuals in spanish instead of english foreshadows the resistant viewpoint she adopts at the end of …show more content…
dissection. However, before she delves into this stance of resistance she explains that she was met with criticism not only from the anglo assimilation pressure but also from the latinx community. Under the pressure of speaking a perfect a english there also came a pressure to speak perfect spanish as well. When her english fluency and use increased she was met with a fatal disappointment of her latinx companions. Anzaldúa (1987) relays how various latinx individuals vehemently told her that she was, “Pocho, cultural traitor, you’re speaking the oppressor’s language by speaking English, you’re ruining the Spanish language,” (p. 55). The same stigma Anzaldúa faced due to her anglo teachers and assimilation pressured parents is one that she subsequently feels from her native tongues community. First she was not american enough and now she is too american. One side told her tongue was not good enough so she let them hack away at it which left her a burning traitor in the eyes of the latinx people. The disappointment and rejection from both the anglo and latinx communities gives way to a sense of identity crisis and feeling of frequent alienation. When there is no sense of belonging you lose sight of not only what you are but who you are as well.
The sense of alienation is something that especially stings when it is felt toward something that was once equated to a sense of home and belonging. Anzaldúa delves into the hardships that come with being forced to abandon one’s mother tongue by describing how it not only chips away at the linguistic ability of an individual but also their sense of self. She describes the internalized inadequacy many chicanas who grow up speaking Chicano Spanish feel. This feeling mastitis and they seem to avoid contact with other chicana’s in fear that they will be forced to acknowledge the deep rooted shame they hold for, in their opinion and that of others, not speaking spanish very well. All their life they were belittled for their language and as they grow and utilize a combination of both, Chicano Spanish, they continue to be devalued. The feeling of belonging wholly to one or more parts is absent leaving an ambiguous sensation towards both anglo and latinx sides especially the latinx side. While belonging is partial Anzaldúa explains that it is not complete nor a permanent feeling. Anzaldúa (1987) illustrates this by sharing that, “When watching Mexican movies, I felt a sense of homecoming as well as alienation,”(p. 60). In something that should feel natural and comfortable there underlies a feeling of dejected estrangement. In being pushed to fit the mold chicanx individuals were
evicted from their mother tongue’s community. No longer are they a part of the thing that made them who they are as individuals. The feeling of homecoming Anzaldúa refers to is fleeting and rapidly consumed by her later mentioned sense of alienation. Things such as movies and songs that hold ties to a world that no longer fully accepts chicanx individuals are temporary blankets of security that dissolve with their own feelings of self-demotion. The self-demotion that began to bloom within the chicanx individual when their tongue was bluntly and carelessly cut into. Yet, while those feelings hide within the chicanx Anzaldúa also notes that a different feeling particularly one of perseverance resides within as well. Those who are made to renounce what makes them individuals will not give in without resistance. Anzaldúa, after dissecting the effect assimilation has on language and identity, upholds a tone of defiance and fortitude that implies although the battle may be lost against the anglos the war is far from over. The battle being the lingual assimilation and identity crisis that has transformed the way Chicax individuals speak and think of themselves. The war being the fight to denounce the complete dominance of anglo culture over that of the Latinx people. Anzaldúa (1987) rebelliously proclaims that, “Stubborn, persevering, impenetrable as stone, yet possessing a malleability that renders us unbreakable, we, the mestizas and mestizos, will remain,” (p. 64). Although this does not mean that the internalized feelings of doubt and alienation are erased from the Chicanx people it implies a reinstated sense of unity amongst the community. It is as if the chicanx people are saying, “Yes you have stabbed us in the tongue but you have not and will not take the indigenous blood that flows through our veins”. Like their ancestors they will become like stones weather the storms of forced complete assimilation to come yet remain immovable and unbroken. The malleability Anzaldúa speaks of is one that correlates with adaption thus indicating the survival of the fittest, the latinx/chicanx people. Although language may be a wall between those that identify as latinx and those that identify as chicanx the “indian” they have within them will push towards a unified resistance of norteamericano culture totality. Through the examination of Anzaldúa’s, “How to Tame a Wild Tongue”, I have found a type of solace in a feeling I did not fully understand before. Growing up I felt the same pressure Anzaldúa tells of to learn English so fluently no one would suspect it was not my first language. I was put into English classes because my stubborn tongue would not yield to the commands of the anglo language. My mother encouraged me to practice because after all perfect was what I was to strive for in fluency. It was a strange feeling since in my kindergarten days I had attended a school in Mexico which did not reprimand me for speaking in a tongue that came so naturally and comfortably. Yet, that was all I was when I enrolled into elementary school in California, reprimanded. First grade me felt a blooming shame begin to develop because I couldn’t quite get it. That is until I did get it and all of a sudden that was the problem. I stopped reading in spanish and become so immersed in english my mother began to tell me I was losing the thing my young self had originally found so much pride and comfort in. The shame came back but this time because me, a mexican born girl, was mashing english and spanish. I found myself not only sin lengua but also sin lugar. I wasn’t anglo enough to be fully assimilated but now I wasn’t mexican enough as well. Who was I and where did I belong? I struggled most of middle school with this question and then it happened, my big realization. Much like Anzaldúa it was in books that I found an acceptance. Francisco Jimenez, Gary Soto, and Sonia Nazario just to name a few began to give me back the pride and sense of belonging I had lost. While she found lingual solace in her authors I found my identity within mine. Immersing myself in my home country's history and stories that follow people like me I have begun to find peace. I have slowly began to accept that it is not wrong to express myself in both english and spanish because they are a part of who I am. I worked hard to learn english and while sometimes I like to pepper in some of it when I speak spanish it doesn't make me any less of a Mexicana. Similarly, while this country's policies and redactions make it difficult for me to feel welcome it has seen me grow and given me experiences that have made me who I am. I may be lacking a singular tongue and a singular place of belonging but that does not mean I am lost nor does it mean I will be overcome by those who wish for me to renounce my roots and conform to purely anglo culture. Like Anzaldúa I am Chicana and proud and while it was a struggle to arrive to that conclusion no one will take it away from me.
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
Tan’s essay on Mother Tongue depicts a story of a daughter who grew up learning different type of “Englishes” (510). The latter described as the kind of English wherein on may regard as “simple”, yet she fondly refers to as her “Mother’s English”. In addition is the “broken English” or Tan’s mother’s communication style with her. Lastly is Tan’s own translation of her mother’s English that she described as “watered down.” An impression that is distinctly different from Tan’s loving description of her Mother’s English, Rodriguez connotes feelings of detachment. Rodriguez’s childhood consist of traditional catholic educators who expected a non-native speaker communicate in English. As a result, the young Rodriguez socially withdrew which prompt the nun teachers to approach the parents regarding the language issue. Since then, life has changed for Rodriguez, thus the beginning of what seem to be a detachment from his own family. Unlike Tan’s warm story of her Mother’s broken English, Rodriguez’s childhood experience connotes feelings of
Gloria Anzaldúa was a Chicana, lesbian feminist writer whose work exemplifies both the difficulties and beauty in living as one’s authentic self. She published her most prominent work in 1987, a book titled Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza. In Borderlands, she write of her own struggle with coming to terms with her identify as a Chicana, an identity that lies at the border between Mexican and American. For instance, she writes,“we are a synergy of two cultures with various degrees of Mexicanness or Angloness. I have so internalized the borderland conflict that sometimes I feel like one cancel out the other and we are zero” However, even as she details this struggle she asserts pride in her identity, declaring, “I will no longer be
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...
Rodriguez would, for example, use words such as “unsettling” “cloistered” and “alienation,” to describe the beginning of his assimilation in the public English speaking world. While he would use “calm” “enchantingly” “consoling” and “intimacy” to describe Spanish. As Rodriguez is being pushed to assimilate and English is heard everywhere including his home he becomes “increasingly angry” only from being obliged from his parents and trying to participate in class he begins to feel a sense of belonging in public. Rodriguez’s diction was evident and continuous in his essay which abetted the audience to understand that the author wanted the audience to be addressed formally and be known that he wants to be taken seriously and able to connect to his background and why he made his
Immigrants have helped shape American identity by the languages they speak from their home country. Richard Rodriguez essay “Blaxicans and Other Reinvented Americans” reveals Rodriguez’s attitudes towards race and ethnicity as they relate to making people know what culture really identifies a person rather than their race. For example, in the essay, it states that Richard Rodriguez “ is Chinese, and this is because he lives in a Chinese City and because he wants to be Chinese. But I have lived in a Chinese City for so long that my eye has taken on the palette, has come to prefer lime greens and rose reds and all the inventions of this Chinese Mediterranean. lines 163-171”.
Torres, Hector Avalos. 2007. Conversations with Contemporary Chicana and Chicano Writers. U.S.: University of New Mexico press, 315-324.
In Aria,” from Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez, Richard Rodriguez shares his autobiography of when he first entered his classroom at catholic school. He writes of his transition through emotions of fear, insecurity, and self-doubt as he transitions from the privacy of his home to the public world. Richard develops an understanding that his that private language that is used in his home is different from the language that is publicly acceptable in school. His school teachers pushed his americanalization which led him to discover his identity, since he indeed was an American but grew up in a Spanish speaking home. Through this journey of journey of assimilation he discovers that learning this new language brought him a sense of comfortability and acceptance. Richard Rodriguez heavily relates to the Crevecoeurian immigrant because he was willing to learn a new language, leave his culture behind, and embrace his American identity.
America is a presumptuous country; its citizens don’t feel like learning any other language, so they make everyone else learn English. White Americans are the average human being and act as the standard of living, acting, and nearly all aspects of life. In her essay “White Privilege: The Invisible Knapsack,” Peggy McIntosh talks about how being white has never been discussed as a race/culture before because that identity has been pushed on everyone else, and being white subsequently carries its own set of advantages. Gloria Anzaldua is a Chicana, a person of mixed identities. In an excerpt titled “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” she discusses how the languages she speaks identify who she is in certain situations and how, throughout her life, she has been pushed to speak and act more “American” like.
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
The author began the story by using a metaphor, she compares the process of acculturation to a painful dentist visit where the dentist is trying to control and hold down her tongue, which is a representation of her language (Anzaldua 8). She appeals to the readers by using a clever metaphor comparing her tongue to freedom of speech or language, and the dentist to the oppressors of her culture and language the people who are apart of the dominant culture. Anzaldua also discusses how different cultures and influences determine which language people use to speak to one another. Anzaldua herself writes, “ Often with Mexicanas and Latinas we’ll speak English as a neutral language” (Anzaldua 8). Anzaldua’s point is that it is difficult to know which language to speak when feeling afraid or ashamed of what others may think. Moreover, Anzaldua discusses problems such as not being allowed to speak her native language. She writes about remembering as a child how during school speaking Spanish was forbidden and being caught speaking it would mean you would be reprimanded. Anzaldua writes “ I remember being caught speaking Spanish at recess--that was good for three licks on the knuckles with a sharp ruler” (Anzaldua 5). In making this comment she is showing us that throughout the school day you’re
According to Anzaldua, “ Chicano Spanish is considered by the purist and by most Latinos deficient, a mutilation of Spanish”(Anzaldua 32). The Chicano Spanish versus Spanish conflict that occurs in Latino society is a prime example of people considering themselves to be right in a situation where there is not a right answer. The Latino’s who speak Spanish that they believe to be normal are disturbed by the Spanish language changing. They believe that their own views are being challenged, they believe that they are correct, and they believe that anyone who challenges their views is inferior. The people who view all other views are, in reality, just trying to make themselves look more powerful. Like in Tan’s essay, people demeaned others in order to promote their own views, therefore, gaining power over the others who they demeaned. According to Tan, “ She said they would not give her any more information(...) And when the doctor finally called her daughter, me, who spoke in perfect english-- lo and behold-- we had assurances the CAT scan would be found”(Tan 2). The doctors treated Tan’s mother differently due to her use of what they considered “broken language”, leading to her being treated inadequately. People have an image of what they consider to be the right English, anyone who does not speak the right English is usually considered to be uneducated. In both Tan’s and Anzaldua’s essays, the lack of open-mindedness is one of the reasons that people want to become more powerful than others. People fail to realize that what they believe in is not always the right answer, like with stereotypes, the people are trying to gain power over others in order to make themselves seem more
Despite growing up amidst a language deemed as “broken” and “fractured”, Amy Tan’s love for language allowed her to embrace the variations of English that surrounded her. In her short essay “Mother Tongue”, Tan discusses the internal conflict she had with the English learned from her mother to that of the English in her education. Sharing her experiences as an adolescent posing to be her mother for respect, Tan develops a frustration at the difficulty of not being taken seriously due to one’s inability to speak the way society expects. Disallowing others to prove their misconceptions of her, Tan exerted herself in excelling at English throughout school. She felt a need to rebel against the proverbial view that writing is not a strong suit of someone who grew up learning English in an immigrant family. Attempting to prove her mastery of the English language, Tan discovered her writing did not show who she truly was. She was an Asian-American, not just Asian, not just American, but that she belonged in both demographics. Disregarding the idea that her mother’s English could be something of a social deficit, a learning limitation, Tan expanded and cultivated her writing style to incorporate both the language she learned in school, as well as the variation of it spoken by her mother. Tan learned that in order to satisfy herself, she needed to acknowledge both of her “Englishes” (Tan 128).
Another struggle for identity with Latinos is their struggle with the Spanish and English languages. While some Latinos may speak Spanish in their homes, the language may not be conversationally used in their schools. Some Lat...
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.