Gloria Anzaldua’s “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” confronts the restrictive borders of language that she has faced throughout her life. Growing up as a Chicano, Anzaldua found a sense of self within multiple cultures and often spoke a blend of English and Spanish. Chicano Spanish is a blend of languages and it “sprang out of the Chicanos’ need to identify [themselves] as a distinct people”. Obviously, language and identify are interconnected, especially for the Chicano people. Discourse helps the Chicano people feel connected to each other. For Anzaldua, speaking Chicano is her way of distinguishing herself from others and embracing her bilingualism. However, she has struggled with finding a sense of belonging in the Chicano culture because she was constantly reminded that “Chicano” does not fit a national identity.
“Chicana feminists often skirt around each other with suspicion and hesitation. For the longest time, I couldn’t figure it out. Then it dawned on me. To be close to another Chicana is like looking into the mirror. We are afraid of what we’ll see there. Pena. Shame. Low estimation of self”.
Here, Anzaldua is admitting that Chicanos are afraid to see their own reflections in fear of perceiving the illegitimacy of Chicano culture. Their beliefs about language come from others who fit into a specific culture identity. Similarly to Min-Zhan Lu, Anzaldua feels silenced by society. Although Anzaldua feels ashamed in public, she has an intrinsic sense of pride in her “synergy of two cultures” that no one can take away from her. Obviously, Anzaldua cannot disguise her Chicano pride when she describes how the “corridos” songs make her feel:
“Yet I couldn’t stop my feet from thumping to the music, could not stop humming the words, nor hide from myself the exhilaration I felt when I heard it”.
This internal conflict between shame and pride, identity and invalidation, shows the power of language and the control it has over a group of people.
“How to Tame a Wild Tongue” is a symbolic piece illustrating the role language plays in Anzaldua’s identity. She fully embraces her Chicano culture and refutes dominant culture through her usage of “Spanglish” throughout the essay. Anzaldua’s contribution to the discussion about language and identity gives us a new perspective, that advances the conversation in a unique way. Anzaldua feels that as long as she is conforming to dominant culture by suppressing her ability to “switch codes”, she cannot take pride in herself because she believes “I am my language”. Everyone has a right to discourse and a right to their sense of belonging, regardless of these fabricated borders.
E367: Writing and Diversity 