Taming A Wild Tongue Argument

Baldwin´s extensive use of pathos makes the reader feel emotionally connected to the people and events in the essay. He often times recounts stories from his childhood, which were filled with racism. A noteworthy story was that of Baldwin and the two police officers who gave him ¨gratuitous humiliation¨ (Baldwin, 32). When he was a young teen, Baldwin was pushed down and humiliated by two white police officers, who went as far as to make sexual inferences about him due to his race. Most readers would feel empathy towards him due to it happening at such a young age, which exposed how racist the world still was. He also says, ¨If the concept of God has any

In “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” by Gloria Anzaldua, she speaks from personal experiences she grows up with while living as a Chicana in the United States. Throughout her life she was subjected to being oppressed because of her native language. From a very young age she felt as if she was not allowed to express and acknowledge herself while speaking Spanish. Anzaldua believes that “If you want to really hurt me, talk bad about my language. Ethnic identity is twin skin to linguistic identity – I am my language”. What I get from this quote is if a person is really looking forward to tearing me down, speak poorly of my roots or culture since that is a part of my identity. Since both are all I know, it would be extremely offensive. In “How to

In her passage, Anzaldua claims that language is an identity. She stresses the importance of how people who speak Chicano Spanish are viewed as inferior due to it not being a real language. Anzaldua reveals that “repeated attacks on [their] native tongue diminish[es] [their] sense of self” (532). Being criticized by the language one speaks causes a low self-esteem and a misconstruction of identity. It can lead a person to stop or hide the usage of their language thus suppressing one’s self. She highlights the discrimination of Chicanos, so people are aware of it therefore encouraging tolerance and social justice. Anzaldua argues that “until [she is] free to write bilingually and to switch codes without having to always translate. . .[her] tongue will be illegitimate” (533). This shows how truly she

People who are different are consequently viewed differently. It is human nature to judge others by the stereotypes that have been ingrained into our minds for however long. Stereotypes, however, may not encompass the whole story. Sometimes, you are only getting the discriminatory side of the story--a single story. Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue” focuses on the discrimination towards broken English compared to Standard English and the stereotypes that evolved from such discrimination. Similarly, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s “The Danger of a Single Story” presents the idea that the “single story” is the reason for biased stereotypes that, more often than not, are untrue. Tan’s life in America was seemingly difficult due to the fact that her life and education were dependent on the language barrier between English and her “mother tongue”--the latter being seen as inferior and embarrassing. She initially felt that her mother’s fragmented English was something to be ashamed of since that was the “single story” that her peers have been spoonfed their whole lives. Adichie, however, denies these views by explaining that such stereotypes are incomplete and do not relay the person at hand’s true identity. In both “Mother Tongue” and “The Danger of a Single Story,” the speakers express how a person’s native language influences their identity through rhetorical devices such as ethos, diction, and metaphors.

In Gloria Anzaldua’s letter “Speaking in Tongues: A Letter to 3rd World Women Writers” she delivers her message of being a third world woman writer and how there is a constant struggle between conforming to gain a voice in the world of writing and staying true to your culture. She pulls pieces from her own life experiences and works from other looked over women writers of color to make her point and connect to her audience letting them know she is part of their plight to be heard. In my rewrite of the essay “A Letter in “tongues”” I changed the delivery from a letter to a free verse poem condense Anzaldua 's message from Writing Women of color to just discriminated women writers just in general. They both focused use of pathos and ethos but mine leans more towards ethos pointing out that the dominant ideology of english writing being the only way to be heard as a writer that it is denying the voice of writing women of color and that is ethically wrong not what has happened to herself to invoke feeling.

In each of these excerpts Anzaldua uses multiple rhetorical modes in order to try and connect with her readers. In excerpt 1 Anzaldua uses narration and description to connect with her readers. She starts off excerpt 1 by recalling some her painful childhood memories and experiences from attending school in America. During the excerpt readers can sympathize or for Anzaldua as she recalls a time when she was isolated from the rest of her class because she was “talking back” to her teacher, when all she was trying to do was pronounce her name. Whether or not you have ever experienced something like you this you like help but feel sympathy for her.

Many considered the Chicano language to be improper, but Anzaldua has redefined how we should embody the language. Anzaldua speaking Spanish in America is one of the few things that remind her of her Hispanic heritage. Languages are diverse and cannot always prove our ethnic background, but it is one of the many things that are significant to our identity. Language can legitimize our culture and has the ability to connect us despite distance. We should embrace our identities and recognize them to avoid negative stereotypes, which create predicaments for the stereotyped group. As a Chicana, Anzaldua, like many others, has trouble identifying herself, which has caused her to feel embarrassment and makes her question whether America is a welcoming place for Chicanos. As Gloria emphasizes the importance of embracing one’s culture, she also finds herself later realizing that we should stay true to one’s self and disregard what others have to say.

Anzaldua is persuading people who are interested in Mexican culture and confirming the feelings of many Mexicans by giving many examples and with doing this she is establishing her credibility. She is told many times throughout her life that she needs to be able to speak Spanish without an accent. This affected her when she was younger a lot. She was not able to speak Spanish at school without her teacher telling her “If you want to be American, speak American! If you don’t like it, go back to Mexico where you belong.” She also had to fight with her mother about this because she wanted Anzaldua to not have the accent while speaking English. Her mother wanted her to be able to make a name for herself and believes that the only way you can do this is by not speaking English with an accent. Anzaldua explains how she was mortified by this because she spoke English like a Mexican. She explains that she had

James Baldwin was one of America’s foremost writers who grew up in a house hold in Harlem with a preacher father whose hatred of white people distorted his personality. James Baldwin was one man who saw the damages that hatred could have and with the help of a schoolteacher who later became a counselor, Baldwin had found it difficult to hate white people or any people. His works in fiction, drama, and essays were focused on problems involving racism and how it would harm both individuals and the nation. As the civil rights movement guaranteed basic rights to those who were African American throughout the nation had only just began and James Baldwin had been angered by the way African Americans were struggling everywhere. Later, Mr. Baldwin

Much like many immigrants are ridiculed for speaking broken English. John Baugh (2000) tells of a story from his childhood where he would mock students in his class who did not speak English as a first language. He would repeat what these students said with a mocking tone. As he grew older he began to realize that the way he teased many fellow students because of their broken English, was similar to the way he, and many of his fellow African American community members, were teased (p. 7-8). Baugh (2000) goes on to say that the mocking and false-sense of superiority he felt over the students learning English as a Second language was the same feeling many feel about those who speak Ebonics (p. 10). The reputation of Ebonics being a lower class dialect of Standard English, especially within the academic world, has created an academic disadvantage for many African American students (Baugh, 2000, p. 6). For these students, who are native AAVE speakers, there is no extra ESL or bilingual help to strengthen their Standard English, because Ebonics is not considered a language, but rather a dialect (Baugh, 2000, p. 3). This causes many African American students to never speak Standard English proficiently, and in turn do not read or write at grade

By welcoming the diverse languages and religions of the world, America is considered a melting pot of both cultural and ethnic identities. In the essay about bilingualism “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” by Gloria Anzaldúa she writes, “So, if you want to really hurt me, talk badly about my language. Ethnic identity is twin skin to linguistic identity - I am my language. Until I can take pride in my language, I cannot take pride in myself” (172). Anzaldúa believes that her ethnicity and language are what make her who she is. Therefore, by insulting her language, she is insulted as well. Her identity is “twin skin” with how she speaks. Linguistic identity is the ability for a person to speak freely in any language and ultimately their identity is shown through shared language. The things that define a person are their actions, their behavior, the way they walk, and the way they talk. A person’s culture has a heavy influence on their identity throughout their lives. To disrespect an important part of their culture, their language, is to disrespect the person on an extremely interpersonal level. The person would be, therefore, discouraged from speaking their native language. Anzaldúa shows that her language constitutes who she is; it binds her to the existence of her identity therefore a person’s language defines his/her identity.

Having a “standard” for a language such as English, creates a set of biased and unrealistic expectations because connecting language mastery with intelligence, ultimately degrades and oppresses those who speak differently from "the norm." Tan, Anzaldua, and Sedaris all bring up these points of bias and tie together one central idea that intelligence and ability do not directly correlate to language mastery.

An analysis of Gloria Anzaldúa‘s The New Mestiza and James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time reveals that humans oppress themselves based on their differences. This is turn prevents them from identifying themselves as part of the human race. In his writings, Baldwin offers a solution to this hurdle that targets the apparent causes of the problem. However, Andalzua’s analysis of human difference reveals a few flaws in Baldwin’s view of the problem as well as his proposed solution to putting an end to human misery and oppression. Andalzua does so by examining Baldwin’s view of power, his view of love as a solution, and his view of the behavior of those who had been oppressive.

Amy Tan, a Chinese American novelist with a degree in linguistics , in her essay “Mother Tongue” (1990), argues that one’s command over a language is not representative of the quality of their ideas or their intelligence. She supports the claims by first emphasizing her understanding of the issue as a woman educated in America whose mother is Chinese, then implying that she has been concerned with this issue for most of her life through descriptions of how her perspective of her mother’s language style has changed from adolescence to adulthood, and finally providing multiple personal accounts of experiencing language barriers with her mother. Tan’s purpose is to prove how the way a person speaks creates bias that individual regardless of what

Anzaldua takes great pride in her language, “So if you want to really hurt me, talk badly about my language. Ethnic diversity is twin skin to linguistic identity – I am my language” (p89). She states that her language is a part of herself so when you insult Chicano it’s like a strike to the heart of Anzaldua. Anzaldua goes on to explains that although Chicanos all over the US speak different dialects of Chicano Spanish, they are still all Chicanos. Just because the language varies a little does not diminish its authenticity. People who speak a variation on a language should not be ashamed because they speak a little differently. “There is the quiet of the Indian about us. We know how to survive. When other races have given up their tongue we’ve kept ours. We know what it is to live under the hammer blow of the dominant norteamericano culture. but more we count the blows, we count the days the weeks the years the centuries the aeons until the white laws and commerce and customs will rot in the deserts they’ve created” (p93). She strongly urges Los Chicanos to not give up their culture and endure. She believes that the will of their culture will outlast any obstacle they encounter and demands that they not give in to the temptation to conform.