Wild Tongue Rhetorical Strategies

Throughout the reading by Gloria Anzaldua, we as readers, get to view the way she lived and to relate with the text. Gloria was born in Rio Grande Valley of South Texas in 1942. When Gloria was at a young age, she was shamed and embarrassed for the way her voice sounded. Growing up, she was told, “If you want to be American, speak American, if you do not like it, go back to Mexico where you belong” (Anzaldua 2). When she was told this it made her very upset. Gloria was also put into classes throughout her life to fix the way she spoke. In this reading “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” you as the reader get to be put in the position of how Gloria and the people felt while living in the United States. During the reading, the dialogue goes back

Also, I plan to share my opinion on why I think she mentioned all of the eight different languages and what the advantages and disadvantages could be to this.
In Aristotle’s three types of rhetoric, logos refer to logic. In the text, logos are used throughout the reading, however, I think the one that stands out the most is when she says, “By the end of this century Spanish speakers will comprise the biggest minority group in the U.S.” (Anzaldua 7). This is saying that Spanish people are moving to the United States and becoming a bigger part of the country. The United States is no longer just having Americans living here, there are other ethnicities moving into the country. Additionally, ethos refers to ethics or credibility. In the reading, ethos is used on page 9. Gloria talks about her homeland and refers to it about her life at home. I think she makes use of the ethos throughout the reading to make it connect with the readers about her life. She says “The whole time I was growing up, there was Norteno music sometimes called North Mexican border music, or Tex-Mex music of Chicano music, or Cantina music” (Anzaldua 9). With this quote being said ethics are being used because she knows the knowledge being the music. When Anzaldua pulls her life at home into the reading, it allows us to view the position she was put in and

Pathos refers to emotion and is to appeal to the audience compassion. On page 2, pathos is used when Gloria talks about how she felt when she got ashamed for talking in Spanish in an English living community. “I remember being caught speaking Spanish at recess- that was for three licks on the knuckles with a sharp ruler” (Anzaldua 2). She felt attacked by others when they disrespected her for not being like everyone else. We as readers feel the pain that Gloria went through with the way she explained how she got in trouble. Furthermore, Anzaldua listed the eight different languages that are spoken in her community to let the readers imagine what it sounds like to live there. She also lists all eight of the languages because they are all used there and there are some people in the community that speak more than just one of the languages. Living in a community that has many different languages being spoken can be difficult when trying to speak to someone since you have no idea what language they