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Analysis Of The New Bathroom Policy At English High School By Martin Espada

1063 Words5 Pages

Growing up Mexican-American in the United States can be a challenge itself. Throw in the task, of learning two languages, it made for a very confused little girl. There was often times growing up when I wondered why no one, but my family spoke Spanish. Why everyone at school and all my friends spoke this different language.Sometimes it even seemed like I was two different people. Rachel who spoke English out in public and Raquel who spoke Spanish at home with her family. Growing up in the United States, being constantly surrounded by English. I often find myself becoming disconnected from Spanish and my Mexican culture. With this in mind, I try my best to preserve my Mexican heritage and the Spanish language, when living in a country dominated …show more content…

He has published books as a poet, editor, essayist, and translator. Currently, he is a professor of English at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. I’ll be using his work, “The New Bathroom Policy at English High School”, in order to showcase Espada’s own concept of bilingualism. Martin Espada’s concept of bilingualism is that for a bilingual speaker to retain their culture and language, they need to fight for the right to speak their language. In “The New Bathroom Policy at English High School”, Espada claims, “I have learned that the best way for me to maintain Spanish is to fight for the right to speak Spanish” (pg 2). That bilingual speakers must remain strong in the face of adversity. Espada uses the argument, that in the United States, there is hostility toward Spanish speakers and a xenophobia against them. To support his argument he uses examples from his own personal experiences. During a speech, Espada tells of his encounter with a hostile man, who threatened to rip out his tongue for speaking to him in Spanish: “ He can rip out my tongue if he wants. But it won’t work, porque yo hablo Espanol con el corazón” (page 4). Espada is saying that no matter the discrimination he may face, it will not keep him from speaking Spanish. He believes that bilingual speakers have the right to speak their language whenever and

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