Language Is A Way For Every Person To E
Collin Peterson
11/9/2014
Mary Cooper
Lit 101
Language is a way for every person to express themselves. In Sandra Cisneros’ “An Offering to the Power of Language”, she teaches the reader how the language you were born speaking holds a certain power to you. She writes about how important certain words can be to a person, and how they have connotations that can either be positive or negative. These words can have even more power to a person if they can’t be translated into another language. I believe that Cisneros has a very sound argument. However, I feel that she could expand a little more on the power of language, and its affect in everyone’s day to day life to further explain her point. Also, she could expand on the thought that some languages are better suited for certain styles of talking. Language is how people express themselves and it brings people together.
Cisneros story states that although she speaks English, specific words in Spanish hold a lot of emotional value to her. She starts her story with a Spanish word, a word that draws an extreme emotional reaction from her. The word was the word that her father called her, and her father had died. Her father had fallen ill, and she had been the one to take care of him and to watch over him, to preserve his health. She goes on to explain that the Spanish language had been what tied her to her ancestors, but more importantly to her father. When he passed away, her connection with the Spanish language, and her ancestors, also began to fade. She goes into an entire paragraph on one Spanish word, and all of the meanings that it can have. She goes on with this, but explains how this words definition to her is not translatable to English, just because of the emotional value it holds. Cisneros keeps talking about Spanish, but now says that whenever she is talking to her pets, a lover, or small kids she uses the Spanish language. She explains how the language reminds her of growing up as a child, and all of things
11/9/2014
Mary Cooper
Lit 101
Language is a way for every person to express themselves. In Sandra Cisneros’ “An Offering to the Power of Language”, she teaches the reader how the language you were born speaking holds a certain power to you. She writes about how important certain words can be to a person, and how they have connotations that can either be positive or negative. These words can have even more power to a person if they can’t be translated into another language. I believe that Cisneros has a very sound argument. However, I feel that she could expand a little more on the power of language, and its affect in everyone’s day to day life to further explain her point. Also, she could expand on the thought that some languages are better suited for certain styles of talking. Language is how people express themselves and it brings people together.
Cisneros story states that although she speaks English, specific words in Spanish hold a lot of emotional value to her. She starts her story with a Spanish word, a word that draws an extreme emotional reaction from her. The word was the word that her father called her, and her father had died. Her father had fallen ill, and she had been the one to take care of him and to watch over him, to preserve his health. She goes on to explain that the Spanish language had been what tied her to her ancestors, but more importantly to her father. When he passed away, her connection with the Spanish language, and her ancestors, also began to fade. She goes into an entire paragraph on one Spanish word, and all of the meanings that it can have. She goes on with this, but explains how this words definition to her is not translatable to English, just because of the emotional value it holds. Cisneros keeps talking about Spanish, but now says that whenever she is talking to her pets, a lover, or small kids she uses the Spanish language. She explains how the language reminds her of growing up as a child, and all of things