In today’s society, Chicano Spanish speaking people are targeted to conform to the standard Spanish speaking language and culture. Gloria Anzaldua was exposed to this conformity at a young age when her teacher did not appreciate the way Anzaldua pronounced her Spanish name and said, “If you want to be American, speak ‘American. ’ If you don’t like it, go back to Mexico where you belong” (Anzaldua 374).
Gloria Anzaldua who was a sixth generation Tejana and prolific writer wrote the essay “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” which is about her experiences dealing with being told to conform to the “right” language or culture throughout her life. Anzaldua gives the reader historic background of her rich culture which helps the reader understands why Anzaldua wishes to keep her cultural roots. Anzaldua uses rhetoric to make the reader feel what most Chicano Spanish speakers have felt in America.
Chicano Spanish is not like standard Spanish, Anzaldua explains how it is a variation of languages and also how it was created when she states, “For a people who are neither Spanish nor live in a country in which Spanish is the first language; for a people who live in country in which English is the reigning tongue but who are not Anglo; for a people who cannot entirely identify with either standard (formal, Castilian) Spanish or standard English, what recourse is left to them but to create their own language? ” (Anzaldua 375).
The Essay on Spanish Language and Bilingual Childhood
One day his teachers came to his home and explained that he was not doing so well in school and therefore the English language needed to be enforced in the house (453). The teachers asked for his parents to try to speak English with Rodriguez and his siblings. Rodriquez explains how speaking Spanish at home was the family language and it made him feel a intimate and close with his family and it ...
This quote shows how Chicano language isn’t the ‘right’ form of Spanish which makes people unsteady about the language; however it also shows how important this language is to the people that speak it because it gives them their own identity and ownership of their own culture. Anzaldua explains the history of the Chicano language and the differences it has with standard Spanish. She aims to show the reader how this evolved language is a mixture of other languages and how it all wraps together to create Chicano Spanish.
Many people have believed that this language is a poor version of Spanish which is taking unfair cheap shots at this Chicano culture. These shots at Chicanos are making it harder and harder to keep the language alive because Chicanos are feeling uncomfortable speaking it because they expect to be judged by this “bastard language”. Anzaldua thinks that if this trend continues throughout the Spanish speaking culture, by the end of this century Chicano’s main language will be English and this culture will be extinct. Anzaldua gives hope that this culture
will continue to thrive when she says, “I will no longer be made to feel ashamed of existing. I will have my voice: Indian, Spanish, white. I will have my serpent’s tongue-my woman’s voice, my sexual voice, my poet’s voice. I will overcome the tradition of silence” (Anzaldua 378).
This rebellious statement shows that the Chicano culture has hope of keeping its existence because Anzaldua shows how big of an impact this language has on the identity of the Chicano people. In Anzaldua’s essay “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” she uses three main rhetorical components which are ethos, pathos, and word choice.
Anzaldua’s word choice is very unique throughout her essay. She goes back and forth from English to Chicano Spanish; an example of this is when she says, “But Chicano Spanish is a border tongue which developed naturally. Change, evolucion, enriquecimiento de palabras nuevas por invencion o adopcion have created variants of Chicano Spanish, un nuevo lenguaje” (Anzaldua 375).
This pattern of English to her language can confuse the reader while they are reading the passage especially if they don’t understand the language. Anzaldua uses this word alternation as an aid towards the Chicano language.
The Essay on Anzaldua’s Struggle with Language
Gloria Anzaldua, the author of “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” expresses a very strong tie that she has to her native language. Anzaldua grew up in the United States, but spoke mostly Spanish. She did not speak the normal form of Spanish though; she spoke Chicano Spanish, a language very close to her heart. The text focuses on the idea of her losing her home accent, or tongue, to conform to the ...
She is very compassionate about keeping her language alive which is why she alternates the languages in her text to show the reader that the language is still thriving. Anzaldua makes it so that when you read her passage you read enough English to the point where you start to get comfortable then she throws a sentence completely in Spanish. This can also anger the reader with their ability to understand the text. Anzaldua had to go through many language improvement classes which were very stressful and tried to change her identity.
Anzaldua might be trying to make the reader feel her pain through her speech classes by making them feel uncomfortable about their inability to read the text. Anzaldua is very emotional about her language throughout her essay which gives her essay pathos. Anzaldua makes the reader feel hopeless about the Chicano culture but then revives the reader with hope in her Chicano culture. Anzaldua gives the reader fear the extinction of the Chicano language when she says, “Chicanos feel uncomfortable talking in Spanish to Latinas, afraid of their censure. Their language was not outlawed in their countries.
They had a whole lifetime of being immersed in their native tongue;” (Anzaldua 378).
This fear of speaking their language make the reader feel like there is no hope that the language will continue and it will be lost due to the fear of the Chicano people. However Anzaldua picks the readers hopes up with her statement, “I will no longer be made to feel ashamed of existing. I will have my voice: Indian, Spanish, white. I will have my serpent’s tongue-my woman’s voice, my sexual voice, my poet’s voice. I will overcome the tradition of silence” (Anzaldua 378).
This statement is a motivational speech that gives the readers goose bumps thinking about the hope that these Chicano people not only have in their language but in their culture and way of life. Anzaldua is very credible in her essay because she uses personal experiences regarding the Chicano culture in the Spanish society. Anzaldua states in her essay how people in society are disrespecting the language that she and her culture have spoken throughout history. Her claim is supported by her personal experiences in this discrimination towards her Chicano language.
The Essay on Culture Makes Better Future
Culture is sort of like history or evolution. People make the mistake of assuming history has a purpose or that evolution has a purpose. But in reality, history is just an aggregate of facts and opinions about the past. History, or the march of civilization, has no direction, no goal. Yes, we seem to be “improving” ourselves by certain metrics but that isn’t an a priori ...
Her first experience with discrimination towards Chicanos happened in school when young Anzaldua pronounced her name with a Chicano accent, “If you want to be American, speak ‘American. ’ If you don’t like it, go back to Mexico where you belong” (Anzaldua 374).
This is just one of many experiences that Anzaldua has had throughout her life with discriminatory situations regarding the Chicano language. These experiences make her creditable to use “unfair treatment towards Chicanos” as a claim in her essay because it shows the reader that she has been involved in the Chicano culture which makes her able to talk about it freely.
The Chicano language is a mixture of Spanish speaking languages along with English to help give the people who use it an identity and often these people are seen as less of what they actually are; however this judgment is just unfair towards language because society has not seen something so different. Gloria Anzaldua leaves the reader with a sense of hope that the Chicano language will stay strong and thrive through all the hardships that they will experience when she says, “Stubborn, persevering, impenetrable as stone, yet possessing a malleability that renders us unbreakable, we, the mestizas and mestizos, will remain” (Anzaldua 382).
Anzaldua is very proud of about her language and culture and shows her confidence that the Chicano culture will break the ongoing trend of small native languages going extinct because of the English language overpowering them. Anzaldua also gives the reader the first look of what to expect from a Chicano person giving us some characteristics. The reader could convey a Chicano person of being very hard working and very resilient after reading the last line of Anzaldua’s essay.