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Summary Of Taming A Wild Tongue

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Borderlands/La Frontera. United States: Aunt Lute Books, 1987. Print. In the article, “How to Tame a Wild Tongue”, Gloria Anzaldua, a Mexican American and a scholar of Chicana cultural theory, argues that language is part of her identity, and she can not truly accept and be proud of herself unless she accepts and is proud of the languages she speaks first. Like many Mexican Americans, the language Anzaldua speaks is largely influenced by both English and Spanish, and Anzaldua speaks Chicano Spanish when she talks to other Mexican Americans. However, since Chicano Spanish is different from standard Mexican- Spanish and standard Spanish, people who speaks Chicano Spanish would be repeatedly told that their language is wrong. Chicanos feel shameful about themselves when people attack their Chicano Spanish because language is part of people’s identity. Anzaldua believes that Chicano Spanish reflects Chicano’s identities, which is different from being just a Mexican or a Spanish, and should not be discriminated. Anzaldua urges Chicanos to be proud of the language they speak and be proud of themselves. Summary for “Without the Language, First Nations Identities …show more content…

Menard-Warwick chose two of her female Latino English Language learner students, Camila and Trini, to interview since she thought they were most representative of all the English learning students. As a female, Camila is expected to stay at home and take care of her children and is given less important. For example, Camila refused to attend an English Learning Class only because of the $70 tuition fee, and she explained that if she uses the $70 for herself, there would be “less money for her husband’s dream [of buying a house]”. Learning English is also for the sake of family. Camila’s husband later asked her to learn English because they want to take better care of her son and to be able to communicate with him in times of need. Similar to Camila, Trina also has a family, and her husband also likes to make decisions for her without consulting with her. However, Trina is more independent, and she “always had the desire to progress a little”. For example, she would go out to work secretly when her husband did not allow her to work outside, and the workplace gives Trina more chances to practice oral English. Overall, communities and families have certain expectations for females, such as to stay at home and to take care of the

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Rhetorical Analysis on Anzaldua’s How to Tame a Wild Tongue The passage How to Tame a Wild Tongue is a very defensive and straightforward argumentative essay which defends her language and the people who speak it against the discrimination that the author herself has experienced first hand (Ethos). From this text we can infer that the author is most likely from hispanic descent as she is speaking spanish a lot of the time throughout the text. This text mainly speaks about the discrimination many Mexican-Americans suffer because they are spanish speaking.

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