Preview

Gloria Anzaldua's 'How To Tame A Wild Tongue'

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
549 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Gloria Anzaldua's 'How To Tame A Wild Tongue'
In “How to Tame a Wild Tongue”, Gloria Anzaldua discussed the social and cultural difficulties Mexican immigrants go through when being raise in the USA. In addition, through her anecdotes she shows the strong relationship between language and identity, thanks these she also explains how one’s language must be preserved and celebrated. In the excerpt from “Movimientos de Rebeldía y las Culturas que Traicionan” Anzaldua exposes how culture aims to impose who we should be. In both pieces Gloria Anzaldua describes how culture forms a big part of people’s life and its tendency to cut down any other ways of thinking that does not follow those same beliefs, without realizing how it might affect the happiness and well-being of the people.
Anzaldua
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Summary Of Entre Lucas Y Mejia
    • 378 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Summary Of Entre Lucas Y Mejia

    In Julia Alvarez’s speech “Entre Lucas y Juan Mejia”, She start explaining the challenges we faced as an immigrant. She said, “As an immigrant, you leave behind an old world and enter into a new world in which the old ways no longer apply” (1). In my opinion as an immigrant I can related to this quote, because when I came to United States I felt that I entered in a completely new world. In which I had to start a new life with a different language and culture. Also, Julia Álvarez mentioned the challenges she had as a female writer in another country that has a different language.…

    • 378 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Borderlands/ La Frontera by Gloria Anzaldua Essay Example
    • 568 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Borderlands/ La Frontera by Gloria Anzaldua Essay Example

    Before Anzaldua can give her solutions to the problems borderland people face, she must clearly demonstrate these people’s frustrations. Anzaldua grabs the attention of her Mexican-American readers through their natural ability to relate to her argument, while she catches readers of different ethnicities by switching back and forth between Spanish and English, creating the same type of frustration that borderland natives experience daily. In the last paragraph of Chapter Four, “Movimientos de rebelidad y las culturas que traicionan” Anzaldua depicts how "colored women" through the years have been treated unfairly by their own people as well as foreigners. At the end of the paragraph she switches to Spanish to say, “Aqua en la soledad prospera su rebeldia. En la soledad Ella prospera” (45). (Translation: “Here in the loneness, she thrives in her rebelliousness. In the loneness, she thrives”). I have a small Spanish-language background, but in my experience reading Borderlands/ La Frontera, it was frustrating to need to refer to a Spanish-English dictionary. Yet through my frustration I was able to finally identify with the barriers that borderland people face. Through creating a language barrier in her writing, Anzaldua ultimately places…

    • 568 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Tame A Wild Tongue And Hurston: A Comparative Analysis
    • 539 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Tame A Wild Tongue And Hurston: A Comparative Analysis

    In the story “How To Tame A Wild Tongue”, Gloria Anzaldua is a young Chicano girl who felt as though the language she spoke was needed to identify…

    • 539 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Anzaldua Metaphors
    • 100 Words
    • 1 Page

    Anzaldua Metaphors

    In this essay, Anzaldua reveals her thoughts about the issues of racism, identity, and low self-esteem faced by Mexican immigrants living in the United States. Anzaldua states that a person’s identity is linked to the way they speak. Anzaldua begins her essay with a metaphor demonstrating how immigrants are suppressed in society. She uses ethos to establish her credibility throughout this essay such as in paragraph 35 (“Until I can take pride in my language…”). Today there are still issues where immigrants are judged by the way they speak and made to feel ashamed of their own language and culture.…

    • 100 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Anzaldua's Essay 'How To Tame A Wild Tongue'
    • 822 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Anzaldua's Essay 'How To Tame A Wild Tongue'

    In Gloria Anzaldua’s article, “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” she demonstrates her experiences of overcoming ethnic identity. From personal exposure, Anzaldua describes her observation of linguistic terrorism throughout her life. The article begins in a school setting where the author reveals an unacceptable atmosphere for being caught speaking Spanish. Communicating meant speaking American, and avoiding any Mexican accents. Violation of the First Amendment is expressed through the author feeling attacked for expressing her roots. Anzaldua’s emphasizes how people who have experienced alienation should not be ashamed of their native tongues.…

    • 822 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    A Comparison of Three Different Articles Regarding the Difficulties of an Immigrant
    • 893 Words
    • 3 Pages

    A Comparison of Three Different Articles Regarding the Difficulties of an Immigrant

    Every day, Americans of all races encounter the problem of walking into a store and hearing people of other ethnicities speaking other languages. It is frustrating to have to interrelate with other individuals and not be able to connect fully with them because of a linguistic barrier. In the articles, The F Word by Dumas, Mother Tongue by Tan and Aria by Rodriguez, the difficulties of being an immigrant are stated. Many immigrants have problems adapting to a new society and sometimes society does not understand. Every day, they endure many problems such as not being understood, having to learn a new language, and discrimination.…

    • 893 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Where Worlds Collide 'And The Hunger Of Memory'
    • 476 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Where Worlds Collide 'And The Hunger Of Memory'

    In the story, the author is getting pulled in various directions. Rodriguez wants to stay true to his Mexican culture for his parents' sake claiming they, “...grow distant, apart, no longer speak,” but also wants to belong in American culture where his education has driven him to a position not many Mexicans get to or have to opportunity to be (Rodriguez 105). This story confronts the idea that anyone can succeed as long as they are willing to sacrifice their cultural identity in the process.…

    • 476 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    drug cartels
    • 854 Words
    • 4 Pages

    drug cartels

    1. Her essay, "How to Tame a Wild Tongue" focuses on the idea of losing an accent or native language to conform to the current environment. Anzaldua grew up in the United States but spoke mostly Spanish. The problem is that the language she spoke was Chicano Spanish, not true Spanish. She was living in an English speaking environment she wasn't living in a Spanish speaking country, but was speaking a form of Spanish. She describes the difficulty of hard the delicate ever changing language of Chicano Spanish.…

    • 854 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    English 1301
    • 406 Words
    • 2 Pages

    English 1301

    People who speak a variation on a language should not be ashamed of the way they speak it. Part of their identity is in the way they express their ideas. Chicano has become more than just a sub-culture but a culture all its own. Anzaldua argues that Chicano music, movies, and literature are just as valid forms of cultural expression as any other. Gloria Anzaldua's essay expresses the need for the language of Chicano Spanish and Chicano culture to be recognized as valid. Being a Chicano, speaking Chicano Spanish, and participating in Chicano culture is not something to be ashamed of.…

    • 406 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Amy Tan's How To Tame A Wild Tongue
    • 833 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Amy Tan's How To Tame A Wild Tongue

    American values are frequently forced upon students or workers. There are few times, where people look down on people who do not accept the American Way of Life. In “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” Anzaldúa wrote, “So if you really want to hurt me, talk badly about my language. Ethnic identity is twin skin to linguistic identity – I am my language” (Anzaldúa 445). Linguistic identity can be difficult for a bilingual person, being somewhere in-between two different culture is confusing and sometimes uncomfortable. A person can’t simply identify with one or the other because each culture has impacted an individual’s life. Being a bilingual also creates boundaries and limitations because the feeling of being disconnected from the language and culture a person is…

    • 833 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Summary Of How To Tame A Wild Tongue
    • 1932 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Summary Of How To Tame A Wild Tongue

    Gloria Anzaldua, who was an activist and writer that grew up in Texas and endured several forms of oppression, covers several topics in her essay “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” including her feelings on the social and cultural difficulties that Mexican immigrants face when being raised in the United States. Among one of the things Anzaldua describes Mexican immigrants must endure is the judgment from other Mexicans for the way they speak Spanish. Anzaldua describes the situation as:…

    • 1932 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    How to Tame a Wild Tongue (Rough Draft)
    • 1605 Words
    • 7 Pages

    How to Tame a Wild Tongue (Rough Draft)

    When reading this passage, it is evident that Anzaldua feels strongly about her Hispanic background and doesn’t concur with the ideology of the university and their attempts to rid students of their accents. I also construe, through reading the passage, that even though many natives don’t approve of her Chicano way of speaking, she is pleased with her heritage and culture and doesn’t concern herself with others opinions.…

    • 1605 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Taming A Wild Tongue And Mother Tongue Essay
    • 554 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Taming A Wild Tongue And Mother Tongue Essay

    Gloria Anzaldua in How to Tame a Wild Tongue and Amy Tan in Mother Tongue both share a similar message in their essays, they argue that every single culture faces different language obstacles when learning the english language. Both struggle to develop the correct form of english, the one considered acceptable by society. Both Tan and Anzaldua teach us about their ethnic backgrounds, in an effort to better help us learn of their struggles. Amy Tan, is of asian descent, and tells us how growing up with a mother who spoke “broken english” influenced the person she became and how she approached the world. Gloria Anzaldua, considered herself a Mexican American but mainly Chicana, and she tells us of her struggle to accept her roots and to find a place where she belonged. Ultimately, this also influenced who Anzaldua came to be. The…

    • 554 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Se Habla Español Analysis
    • 682 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Se Habla Español Analysis

    In this essay Barrientos argues that the language she speaks defines her identity and who she is as a person. As Barrientos was growing up, she realized being Latin-American was not what she wanted to be, she decided to didn’t want to speak Spanish, as Barrientos says, “To me, speaking Spanish translated into being poor.” She also said “It meant waiting tables and cleaning hotel rooms. It meant being poor.” She thought if she stayed away from Spanish stereotypes they would…

    • 682 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Importance Of Being A Mexican-American
    • 630 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Importance Of Being A Mexican-American

    “We gotta prove to the Mexicans how Mexican we are, and we gotta prove to the Americans how American we are, we gotta be more Mexican than the Mexicans and more American than the Americans, both at the same time. It’s exhausting,” this is a quote from the movie Selena. Throughout my life, I’ve dealt with a lot of obstacles, but one I seem to continue to deal with is knowing my cultural heritage. I am a Mexican-American. Every day I have to deal with the struggles of not fully understanding what being a Mexican-American means. There are days I’m with family and they speak to me in Spanish. Of course, I respond, but I respond with Spanglish. They look at me either laughing or angry and say “Que? No eres Mexicana? Hablame en Español! What? Are you not a Mexican? Speak to me in Spanish!” It is frustrating because they know my parents do not Spanish-speaking to me in Spanish 100% of the time, not even 50% of the time, yet I’m to blame. This quote is every Mexican-American struggle. They are faced to choose who they are based on what they Every day. The reality is, I can’t choose one side because I am both.…

    • 630 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More

Related Topics