In Gloria Anzaldua’s “How to Tame a Wild Tongue”, she is concerned with an assorted view of topics, such as; nations, cultures, classes, genders, languages. She is arguing in which the ways that identity is tied into the way that we speak. She is also stating that people can be made to feel ashamed in their own skin. This could be seen as hurting someone’s sense of face or in other terms their social identity. I found it empowering to see that she had struggles through her since of language and native tongue, she had to suppress her native language in order to get through life in America. This is something that I have had to internalize and deal with since I am from the west coast.
“Until I can take pride in my language, I cannot take pride in myself. Until I can accept as legitimate Chicano Texas, Tex-Mex, and all the other languages I speak, I cannot accept the legitimacy of Myself. Until I am free to write bilingually and to switch codes without having always to translate, while I still have to speak English or Spanish when I would rather speak Spanglish, and as long as I have to accommodate the English speakers rather than having them accommodate me, my tongue will be illegitimate.” (Anzaldua 38)
I like this because it connects to the quote before this one. Through this essay, she tells her story and the realizations she’s made to become the person she is today. This shows how much she grew and realized through the experiences of not being able to be herself. This really is my favorite quote because it can apply to everyone. It just means that you have to be proud of where you came from and your origins in order to truly be proud of who you are. Everyone has different identities and ones that can be utilized in certain situations and some that can’t. For example for myself being from California I am unable to communicate in the ways that I do with my friends back home while I am talking to my friends here. This is because the style of talk back home is much slower and different slang. This is not a negative thing it is just something that I have to be conscious about when communicating with others. Identities are awesome and I feel as if it is something that us humans are working on non stop throughout most of our existence.
E367: Writing and Diversity 
Brook,
You make a connection here to Anzaldua by noting that you have also experienced having to navigate regional differences in speech. You also argue that the experience of having to change your speech for different situations and people is something that “everyone” goes through.
Which leaves me wondering: What do you think that Anzaldua brings, specifically, to this conversation? Is she simply saying the same thing as Mellix or Lu: one language for home, another one for school—that sort of thing? What new issues, questions, experiences, do you see her as bringing to the table?
joe
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Brook,
I also felt that Anzaldua’s speech felt very empowering. Especially towards the end when she was talking about how once they were finally “distinct people” everything seemed to fall into place. She felt like she had more sense of who she was all because of this acknowledgment of her language. She states that “the fragmented pieces began to fall together – who we were, what we were, how we evolved.” She previously stated how she would avoid those show spoke her language because it would be “like looking in a mirror. And we were afraid of what we’ll see there.” I think that this shows her change of mindset about who she is and the power a language has over oneself. She starts off saying that she didn’t want to see reflections of herself because she wasn’t sure that she would be happy with what she saw. Then she ends up finding her own sense of identity in this culture that all derives from a language. I think that this shows the power that language can have on how you view your worth.
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