Summary Of How To Tame A Wild Tongue By Gloria Anzald�a

Tanya Barrientos explained her struggle with her identity growing up in her writing “Se Habla Español”. Barrientos describes herself as being “Guatemalan by birth but pure gringa by circumstance” (83). These circumstances began when her family relocated to the United States when she was three years old. Once the family moved to the states, her parents only spoke Spanish between themselves. The children learned to how read, write and speak the English language to fit into society at that time in 1963. (83) Barrientos explained how society shifted and “the nation changed its views on ethnic identity” (85) after she graduated college and it came as a backlash to her because she had isolated herself from the stereotype she constructed in her head. She was insulted to be called Mexican and to her speaking the Spanish language translated into being poor. She had felt superior to Latino waitresses and their maid when she told them that she didn’t speak Spanish. After the shift in society Barrientos wondered where she fit it since the Spanish language was the glue that held the new Latino American community together. Barrientos then set out on a difficult awkward journey to learn the language that others would assume she would already know. She wanted to nurture the seed of pride to be called Mexican that her father planted when her father sent her on a summer trip to Mexico City. Once Barrientos had learned more Spanish and could handle the present, past and future tenses she still

Gloria Anzaldua’s short essay, Towards a New Consciousness, begins with the description of her mixed culture, a mestiza, and the conflicts she faces in being torn between being Mexican and Native American. Anzaldua expresses her struggle of her torn heritages by describing herself as being caught between two cultures and their values. Instead of being able to love and respect both cultures, Anzaldua feels as if we people feel the need to take up one side of our heritage and end up hating the other part. She paints an image as standing on an opposite side of a riverbank, yelling back and forth answers and questions showing that we eventually end up favoring one side and only getting pieces of the other

Much to my own embarrassment, my Hispanic heritage had been a thing I hardly thought of. My Father left my family when I was young, and with him went the hopeful wisps I had of learning about myself. It’s not to say that I wasn’t aware that I was Hispanic, but rather, growing up in a mainly white household I didn’t think I had any right to claim my ethnicity. However, the more I look around me and learn about the community Hispanics have grown accustomed to, the more I find that I understand where I came from. To me, being Hispanic isn’t about what you were told when you were younger, or the traditions you grew up with. Rather, being Hispanic is about learning where you come from, and learning about those who share your same heritage. ‘Hispanic’

Anzaldúa recounts her experience growing up in a community where her Chicana culture wasn’t widely accepted. She would be punished for speaking the language her culture influenced to create a language, which corresponds to a way of life. In Gloria Anzaldúa’s “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” the variety of languages helps her compare, contrast and define her argument of the distinguished languages concerning her Chicana identity.

In the United States early history, Native Americans, Africans and Europeans were marginalized by White People, and categorized as the minorities because they were seen as the inferior race. For nearly three centuries, the criteria for membership in these groups were similar, comprising a person's appearance, their social circle (how they lived), and their known non-White ancestry. History played a major part, as persons with known slave ancestors were assumed to be African (or, in later usage, black), regardless of whether they also had European ancestry. Most often these minorities face significant discrimination in various forms whether through voting, law policy, unequal pay, or even implicit racism, minorities of all kinds have been and still are being put down today. The book Between the World and Me is a letter to Ta-Nehisi Coates’s fifteen-year-old son, Samori. He weaves his personal, historical, and intellectual development into his ruminations on how to live in a black body in America. Not only does Coates give his personal experience in how he experience in first hand discrimination, racism, marginalization but he also gives vivid images on how he lived multiple worlds and how those experiences changed him. In “How to Tame a Wild Tongue”, Gloria Anzaldua exposes her feelings about social and cultural difficulties that Mexican immigrants face when being raised in the United States. She establishes comparisons among English, Spanish and their variations on how

Gloria Anzaldua, an American writer, passionately displays her mixed feelings of the Spanish and American differences of culture and language through the pages of How to Tame a Wild Tongue. She consistently proves her identity through the use of Spanish language in the text, albeit the text is primarily in English. However, Anazaldua is not a Mexican citizen, she still feels so deeply connected to its’ culture. Even so she can speak English and has struggled with the barriers that arise, she continues to claim that her culture and language make up who she and the other Chicanos are and it is highly valued to them.

Chicanos are unique to their place, and their surroundings. Their culture is slowly built up from their surroundings, and who they encounter. For Anzaldua, she proudly displays her heritage and her Chicana identity despite the negativity she has received.

For my civic engagement project I interviewed a family friend, Rocio Ureno, who identifies herself as Chicana. I asked her multiple questions connected to the text as well as how she identified herself as Chicana. I came to realize that a lot of her life experiences connected to my families’ presentation about Pachucas breaking norms in society and dealing with patriarchy as well. When I interviewed her one of the questions I asked her was why and how she identified herself as Chicana. She responded by saying that she was born in the U.S. but her parents and some of her siblings were born in Mexico, so Mexican culture is incorporated in her family. She says that although she was born here, her Mexican roots are still with her. Being Chicana

There are many flaws in society that people have just accepted and decided not to fight for, but oppressed female writers and nationalist groups have taken a stand against them. Author Gloria Anzaldua expresses in her letter “Speaking in Tongues: A Letter to Third World Women Writers,” the battles she has encountered as a Chicana, gay woman, the opinions she has of our world and how to overcome the difficulties she and other third world women writers have experienced. Aside from her, nationalist movements such as the Chicano and the Young Lords Movements were created to fight against the social oppressions, Mexican-Americans and Puerto Ricans, minority groups have had to live under. Despite the fact that Anzaldua limits her discussion to that

When one visualizes Latino culture, the prevalent images are often bright colors, dancing, and celebrations. This imagery paints a false portrait of the life of many Latino’s, especially those that are forced to leave their home countries. Latinos often face intense poverty and oppression, whether in a Latin country, or a foreign country, such is true in Pam Ryan’s novel Esperanza Rising. Ryan chronicles the issues that many Latino immigrants face. The first is the pressure from the home country. Many of the countries face turmoil, and many are forced to leave their homes and culture. Once in a foreign place, people often struggle with standing by their own culture or assimilating to the new culture. Latino authors frequently use young adult literature as a platform to discuss the issues they face, as young adults are coming of age they struggle with their identities, personifying the struggle of old culture against the new culture.

Gloria Anzaldua, a woman who was born in 1942 in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas wrote “How to Tame a Wild Tongue”. Anzaldua was a migrant worker in the fields and then on her family’s land after her father's death in 1953. Later, as Anzaldua went through school and education she earned a teaching degree and then became an academic. She spoke and wrote about feminist, lesbian, and about her autobiography. She was a strong woman that stood up for herself and argued about the ways people made other people feel ashamed of themselves because they were from another country or because they spoke a different language.

Anzaldua is a Chicana who believes that others should not judge her linguistic and feminine identity, but be proud of the fact that she is a Chicana. When Anzaldua was a child, her mother would say “I want you to speak English” (34) because her mother was mortified by the fact that Anzaldua spoke English like a Mexican. Anzaldua’s personal experience leads her to advocate for the acceptance of her culture by saying “wild tongues cannot be tamed” (34) and “I will no longer be made to feel ashamed of existing. I will have my voice” (40).he believes that she should not cover up her Chicana side since it represents who she is. Anzaldua also sees ethnic identity as “twin skin to linguistic identity—I am my language. Until I can take pride in my language, I cannot take pride in myself” (39). She sees that her language is utterly important to defining her identity; she cannot live without it because it is her pride. Her personal experiences of dealing with others who mention that she must be more “American” than Chicana has led her to become more accepting of her linguistic

When I started school, I added student to my list. But this doesn’t just relate to me, everyone has their own lists, their own stories. When a couple has a child they become parents, two people with similar interests become friends, and peoples who share the same background create cultures. Author Gloria Anzaldua describes how she found her identity in her essay “How to Tame a Wild Tongue”. A story about both her feelings and her own story on the social and cultural difficulties Mexican immigrants faced when growing up in the southern United States. In Her essay she explains how there was 2 sides to the coin. They were ridiculed and forced to speak perfect English by their families and the US school system, but they were also antagonized by other more “pure” Mexicans for not speaking Spanish. Anzaldua says she first found her identity when she read her first book by another fellow Chicano. She says “a feeling of pure joy flashed through me…I felt like we really existed as a people” (211). Which is to say, that we as people tend to combine and live under one roof and when we find people who we can relate to, who we find a deep rooted connection, we feel pride and we rally around that feeling. “And peoples who share the same background create

Gloria Anzaldúa felt comfort in reading Chicano literature. Anzaldúa grew up with American literature taught at schools. She was taught by both her mother and her teachers to internalize her Chicano culture and assimilate to American culture. But by seeing Chicano authors published Anzaldúa “felt like [they] really existed as a people”(208). Anzaldúa uses many examples of literature by Chicanos and describes how she felt when discovering those works. This shows the exact ray of emotions that she experienced as she discovered each work. All of the emotions show that she felt comfort in seeing her culture represented.

In Gloria Anzaldúa’s piece, “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” she explores the complex relationship that ties identity to language. She describes how childhood and adult experiences shape who she is today. She provides a glimpse into the life of a person who speaks a minority language in a majority population. She begins the essay by recounting an experience of a dentist capping a tooth and trying in vain to control her tongue. He becomes frustrated with her as she pushes out the swabs of cotton, instruments, and other implements with her tongue. She shares this story because it represents the role society plays in systematically pressuring those who speak minority dialects to adopt the majority language. This social manipulation can be direct such as shaming someone who speaks their native language or it can be indirect such as providing access to economic benefits such as a higher-paying job for those who assimilate.