How To Tame A Wild Tongue English Language Essay

How To Tame A Wild spiel slope Language EssayHow to Tame a Wild Tongue is a chapter from the book glossd Borderlands/La Frontera The New Mestiza written by the author, Gloria E. Anzaldua. In this chapter the writer talks about her Chicana life in a quantify full of immigration controversies where Latinos brisk in the United States struggled to find their topic identity and a language to speak freely without shame and fear. Latino immigrants or Hispanics born in the United States be ment onlyy anguished by the dominant side of meat language and agriculture into changing into something that is uncomp permite English nor Spanish but a mixture of both. Anzalda targets Chicano readers who dispense her experience in finding a clear identity and American readers as well in order to better understand Chicano life.In the title Gloria Anzalda chose for this chapter in her book, is a title that does not check much sense at first sight but as the reader beings to read the first few paragraphs, he realises that the meaning of the title is how to change a persons language and way of talk, such as accent, on an immigrant population. In this case it would be the authors suffer experiences and her maternal language Spanish or to be more precise, Chicano Spanish. As the reader continues reading, he discovers that forcing somebody to only speak an different language is near to impossible. Anzalda showed weapons-grade opposition by talking in Spanish with her friends My home tongues be the languages I speak with my sister and brothers, with my friends. They are the last five listed, with 6 and 7 being closest to my heart. (56) She loved speaking Spanish and treasured at least her name to be spoken and heard in Spanish but instead she remembers being sent to the corner of the schoolroom for talking back to the Anglo teacher when all I was trying to do was tell her how to pronounce my name. If you want to be American, speak American. If you dont like it, go back to Mexico where you belong.(53).Anzalda is showing defiance by not scatty to let go of her maternal language. She is proving the futility in changing bingles language and speaking patterns by switching back and forth in the midst of Spanish and English. When a teacher would catch her speak Spanish at school she would be punished by that teacher. I remember being caught speaking Spanish at recess that was good for three licks on the knuckles with a sharp ruler. (53). She was accused of talking back to a teacher when all she did was giving an explanation. I remember being sent to the corner of the schoolroom for talking back to the Anglo teacher when all I was trying to do was tell her how to pronounce my name. (53). A society such as the one described in Gloria Anzaldas How to Tame a Wild Tongue cannot be easily influenced or changed if that society is still sprightliness in their territory or close to it. It is in this type of settings that futility manifests the most. On the other hand, once a society or group of individuals are interpreted away from their territory they will, un wise(p)ly, become heavily influenced if not entirely changed when it comes to their language, culture and history no matter how proud they are.In her book, the author discusses the heathenish and gendered impacts of the language itself. From an early age girls are taught not to talk in addition much, not to talk back and not to ask questions. In blue parts of Mexico and Southern most parts of the United States, the female plural form in Spanish is excluded from the language, leaving women fall under the masculine plural. some(prenominal) Latinos and Latinas think people living in these parts of the world are ruining the Spanish language by letting yourself influenced by the English language. You are being criticised for learning or speaking English, the language of the oppressors, indeed being treated as a traitor by your own people. Pocho, cultural traitor, youre speakin g the oppressors language by speaking English, youre ruining the Spanish language, I have been accused by various Latinos and Latinas. Chicano Spanish is considered by the purist and by most Latinos deficient, a mutilation of Spanish. (55).In this chapter, Anzalda discusses some examples of how the Spanish language changed and evolved in this part of the world since the first Spanish colonisations began in the region. A combination of different languages, Spanish, English and native American sounds and delivery were combined to develop into the present day Chicano Spanish. But because of these combinations, the language was viewed as a bastard form which is neither normal Spanish nor Standard English. It was considered by other Hispanics that the language was of poorer quality and thence caused Chicanas and Chicanos to feel ill at ease(predicate) in expressing themselves. Anzalda sees this as something that needs to be changed. The attack on the Chicanos native language needs to be stopped because If a person, Chicana or Latina has a let loose estimation of my native tongue, she also has a low estimation of me. (58). The author states that language is part of ethnic identity and should be something you can find pride in if women hope to improve their self-estimation. ethnical identity is twin skin to linguistic identity I am my language. Until I can dramatise pride in my language, I cannot take pride in myself. (59).Closing to the end of the chapter, the author discusses the language in terms of learning what it is incorporated within oneself. Through Chicano literature, such as books and poetry, through Mexican movies, such as Nosotros los pobres, the first real Mexican movie (60), and music, Chicanos felt a sense of belonging. It is an expression of their language and thus an expression of them. With these works, the Mexican people get an external reinforcement of their heritage and culture.Anzalda discusses that on the border, the language is gettin g forgotten. Living in the lands between America and Mexico seems to be a place of surprise, of separation of not knowing to which side you belong. Nosotros los Chicanos straddle the borderlands. On one side of us, we are endlessly exposed to the Spanish of the Mexicans, on the other side we hear the Anglos uninterrupted clamouring so that we forget our language. (62). However, Anzalda states that deep down in their hearts, being Mexican is not about where you live or where were you born. It is not in your mind but in your soul. Around the border, conflict and confusion is strong but as Anzalda states, her people have been unhurried and hope that one day the conflict and confusion will end. In the meantime, the Mexican people will survive as they always had.In coclusion, Gloria E. Anzaldas story of How to Tame a Wild Tongue proven to be a convincing argument because she is the voice of the Chicano people living on both sides of the border. She narrates from her own experience of being a Chicana living in the United States where all the pressure of forgetting her language was put on her shoulders for many years. Anzaldas writing style is very poetic and mournful and chose to use a lot of imagery to impress her readers and also to let Non-Latin American people learn more about the life of Chicanos which is cognise so little about to an outsider.Work CitedAnzaldua, Gloria. Borderlands La Frontera. San Francisco Aunt lute Books, 1987