Tame A Wild Tongue Summary - 987 Words | 123 Help Me

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The essay How to Tame a Wild Tongue, by Gloria Anzaldua, highlights the difficulties Chicanos have being raised in the United States. In the essay, Anzaldua also describes her problem with self identity regarding which language she should speak due to the ethnocentric views and the cultural imperialistic nature of others. In the essay it seemed that no matter what language Anzaldua spoke she was criticised for it. When she spoke English the American born English speakers criticised her for her accent. Or when she spoke Spanish the Spanish speakers claimed the way she spoke Spanish is not proper. Society tried to tame Anzaldua’s tongue mainly by making her feel like a social outcast. However, she was able to overcome this through a strong sense …show more content…

However, this fails and she is able to overcome this societal pressure to change through a strong pride in her background. Anzaldua says, “[...] I am my language. Until I can take pride in my language, I cannot take pride in myself. Until I can accept as legitimate Chicano Texas Spanish [...] I cannot accept the legitimacy of myself”(30). Anzaldua states that her ethnic identity is equivalent to her linguistic identity so as long as she is embarrassed by the languages she speaks she will be ashamed of herself. So instead of backing down Anzaldua goes against society she says, “I will no longer be made to feel ashamed of exiting, I will have my voice [...] I will overcome the tradition of silence”(31). Anzaldua will not be pressured into disliking her background. She is proud to be a Chicano and she will not continue to feel ashamed of it. Although other people still did not appreciate Chicano literature like Anzaldua did, she still fought for it. While Anzaldua was in graduate school working towards a ph.D. she said, “[she] had to ‘argue’ with one adviser after the other, semester after semester, before I was allowed to make Chicano literature an area of focus”(31). This shows that Anzaldua is willing to go to great lengths in order to use Chicano literature. This clearly reveals that Anzaldua has a huge amount of respect for her background and she is not afraid to show it. And when she started teaching High School students she said, [...she] tried to supplement the required texts with works Chicanos [...]”(31). This is just another example of how Anzaldua would go to great lengths to get Chicano literature known. She ends this section of her essay by saying some encouraging words for Chicano people. She says, “Stubborn, preserving, impenetrable as stone, yet possessing a malleability that renders us unbreakable, we, the mestizas and mestizos, will remain”(34).

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