Compare and Contrast
Leave your name at the Border and When Bright girls decide math is a waste of time Neka Hunter English 101 F71 Spring 2013
One thing that I kept noticing as I read Leave Your Name at the Border was that speaking Spanish was almost looked down upon and that people were not only embarrassed by their name, but also by the fact that they knew how to speak Spanish. Manuel Munoz says, “English was for public display. Spanish was for privacy and privacy quickly turned into shame.” This quote really got me. I find it odd that they appear to be so ashamed of their heritage, that they would try covering it up by using the English equivalent of their name instead of sticking with their birth name. I could be reading it wrong and the meaning of the word “shame” here could refer to something else instead, but from what I get out of this story is that they are ashamed of their own language. He does say “It was simultaneously the language of the white population and the path toward the richer, expansive identify of “American.” Talking about English as a language. I could see how they would want to be recognized as “American” because they think that English could get them a better paying job, or just better opportunities, but at what cost are they willing to get it at? Another quote that kind of struck me as I was reading was, “Spanish was and still is viewed with suspicion: Always the language of the vilified illegal immigrant, it segregated schoolchildren into English-only and bilingual programs; it defined you, above all else, as part of a lower class.” I find it sad that in our society today things like this happen, that we still judge people by the color of the skin or the language that they talk, or even by the name that they have. This ties back into Amy Tans’ story too. How certain people are denied certain rights because they language isn’t up to our standards. We should recognize that people have gone through the trouble
One thing that I kept noticing as I read Leave Your Name at the Border was that speaking Spanish was almost looked down upon and that people were not only embarrassed by their name, but also by the fact that they knew how to speak Spanish. Manuel Munoz says, “English was for public display. Spanish was for privacy and privacy quickly turned into shame.” This quote really got me. I find it odd that they appear to be so ashamed of their heritage, that they would try covering it up by using the English equivalent of their name instead of sticking with their birth name. I could be reading it wrong and the meaning of the word “shame” here could refer to something else instead, but from what I get out of this story is that they are ashamed of their own language. He does say “It was simultaneously the language of the white population and the path toward the richer, expansive identify of “American.” Talking about English as a language. I could see how they would want to be recognized as “American” because they think that English could get them a better paying job, or just better opportunities, but at what cost are they willing to get it at? Another quote that kind of struck me as I was reading was, “Spanish was and still is viewed with suspicion: Always the language of the vilified illegal immigrant, it segregated schoolchildren into English-only and bilingual programs; it defined you, above all else, as part of a lower class.” I find it sad that in our society today things like this happen, that we still judge people by the color of the skin or the language that they talk, or even by the name that they have. This ties back into Amy Tans’ story too. How certain people are denied certain rights because they language isn’t up to our standards. We should recognize that people have gone through the trouble