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The New Groom Policy At English High School Martin Espada Essay

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“He can rip my tongue out if he wants to. But it won't work porque yo hablo espaol con el corazón.”(L.96-99) This distinctive declaration was said by Martin Espada after being affronted by a bigot outside of the Massachusetts state house for simply speaking Spanish. Espada was born in 1957 in Brooklyn, New York. He has worked multiple jobs including working as a bouncer, tenant lawyer, and a professor of English at the University Of Massachusetts Amherst, where he is best known for his political poetry, which he has won awards for, such as the Poetry Foundation‘s Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize. In his essay, “The New Bathroom Policy at English High School, Espada argues linguistic zealots and xenophobia is inexcusable, he writes that bilingualism …show more content…

When talking about his own experience with Spanish as a Puerto Rican from Brooklyn, Espada reports, “I have learned that the best way for me to maintain Spanish is to fight for the right to speak Spanish. Defending the right of all Latinos to use the tongue of their history and identity created in me a passion for Spanish itself.” (L. 16-20) Though Spanish is not his native language and despite looser connection due to the proximity of English and the cultural warfare against Spanish in the United States, Espada is determined to fight to maintain the ability and privilege to speak Spanish as a way to connect with his cultural heritage and identity which also grants him an unintentional passion for the language. Not only does he fight for himself, but he wishes others to experience the pride he has and the value he holds for the Spanish language. On the other hand, Espada presents the dark side of connecting to his identity and cultural …show more content…

In this poem Espada expands on this issue where Anglo Americans view non-human life at the same level or sometimes as more important than non-Anglo Americans through the multiple meaning word aliens. Both non-citizens of the United States and non-citizens of the Earth are called aliens, but xenophobic linguistic bigots view the aliens from Star Trek as more deserving of love, despite only the other being actually real because under those fun costumes and wigs of Star Trek the english language that signifies the belongingness for the bigots persists, undisguised. This dangerous view results in the dehumanization of people of certain backgrounds and allows people to strip essential human rights from those they view as unimportant, guilt free, shown by the approval of Proposition 187. Overall Espada’s essay explains his views on bilingualism and language as a necessary cog in people's identity and culture, due to this standpoint he fights against linguistic zealots, bigots, and others who view non-English languages as anything other than

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Bilinguals in America must bear with unjust persecution by English-only zealots. In Martin Espada’s essay, The New Bathroom Policy at English High School, he conveys bilingualism as the conflict of not completely fitting into one distinct culture and language, but to live with two separate languages and identities, which bilinguals experience oppression due to their differences. Espada’s definition of bilingualism consists of the ability to speak two languages. Espada gives an example of bilingualism: “My friend Jack… explains his bilingualism: ‘English and Spanish are like two dogs I love. English is an obedient dog… Spanish is a disobedient dog.’

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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).

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Anzaldúa was a Mexican American who was a well-known writer and had a major impact on the fields of queer, feminist, and cultural theory. Her most famous work is Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza which includes poems, essays, and short stories. Anzaldúa was no stranger to the use of literary theories in her writing, which is evident in her short story “How to Tame a Wild Tongue.” Here, the author uses a combination of feminist, reader-response, and psychoanalytic theory to show the struggle of being oneself when they’re Mexican-American. Through the use of feminist theory, she explains how a female is labeled as an “habladora” when she tries to voice out her opinion about something; reader-response theory provides the reader with an understanding of the struggles of self-identity, which they are able to relate to, especially Mexican-Americans; and lastly, psychoanalytic theory illuminates on her childhood experiences, which could explain why Anzaldúa believes in what she does, such as the idea that Anglo people have tried to tame her tongue—in other words, her language.

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My Rhetorical Analysis Language is a part one’s identity and culture, which allows one to communicate with those of the same group, although when spoken to someone of another group, it can cause a language barrier or miscommunication in many different ways. In Gloria Anzaldua’s article, “How to Tame a Wild Tongue”, which was taken from her book Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza, she is trying to inform her readers that her language is what defines her. She began to mention how she was being criticized by both English and Spanish Speakers, although they both make up who she is as a person. Then, she gave convincing personal experiences about how it was to be a Chicana and their different types of languages. Moreover, despite the fact that her language was considered illegitimate, Anzaldua made it clear that she cannot get rid of it until the day she dies, or as she states (on page 26) “Wild tongues can’t be, they can only be cut out.”

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He shows this through his many experiences with bilingual court and education. At the end of his essay, Espada concludes with a basic summary of what he has learned. Espada claims “The repression of Spanish is part of a larger attempt to silence Latinos, and, like the crazy uncle at the family dinner table yelling about independence or socialism, we must refuse to be silenced.” Through the summary the reader understands despite English being the prevalent language the in the U.S. today the Spanish culture is still being preserved through bilingualism. On the other hand Rodriguez argues that in order to gain a public identity, one must be willing to sacrifice some part of their own cultural identity.

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Anzaldua employs her text to express her emotions in regards to various predicaments faced by immigrants during their lives in the United States. She approaches personal insights in regards to language such as expectations from the Anglo population when it comes to being an immigrant and speaking proper English, and the expectations from her Hispanic parents and their desire for their children’s success. Anzaldua’s work has several thought-provoking ideas within it, but this paper will be focused on the analysis of the following quote: “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-

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Anzaldúa was born in the Rio Grande Valley of south Texas on September 26, 1942. Anzaldúa was a descendant of many of the prominent Spanish explorers and settlers to come to the Americas in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and also had indigenous ancestry. Anzaldua’s major work is ‘Borderlands/La Frontera’ which was published in 1987. It was first published by a book with two sections, the last section was in an article that she called “How to Tame a Wild Tongue”. Her intended audience for this article were the people who come to another country and they forget their identity and their language, is about the people who are ashamed to speak their own language.

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In “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” Gloria Anzaldua argues for the permission to define her own Chicano/ Feminist voice without being hindered by stereotypes and limitations. Gloria argues that, “wild tongues can’t be tamed, they can only be cut out,” but specifically argues that different accents stir up one big culture. She says “We oppress each other trying to oust Chicano each other, tying to be the “real” Chicanas, to speak like Chicanos.” meaning each Spanish is a variation of two languages, and that there’s different ways she speaks to others in certain situations like having two tongues. Gloria also argues that she shouldn’t be embarrassed by her language and accent by saying “I am my language” meaning her language is what makes her special and unique.

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