How to Tame a Wild Tongue by Gloria Anzaldua-Response paper

 Tyler Berg

3/18/2021

3:30-5:00

How to Tame a Wild Tongue by Gloria Anzaldua-Response paper

How to Tame a Wild Tongue by Gloria Anzaldua was published in 1987. Gloria Anzaldua is a forward thinking woman who is not scared to write about subjects that are touchy to many people even now. She talks specifically about the shame she and others feel speaking their own language. She argues that “you cannot tame a wild tongue but only cut it out.” She is arguing for acceptance of her language and for everyone's language.

Gloria Anzaldua shows many of her own experiences in this essay concerning people judging her language and others. One example is that of her being severely punished for not speaking English as a child. When she or other kids in her school would speak Spanish or even English with a spanish accent they were hit across the knuckles or sometimes even worse. I think that in sharing her own experiences she shows ethos and logos.

I also thought it added a lot to the essay when Anzaldua used specific words from spanish dialects to explain the differences in the dialects or languages. For example on page 39 she uses it to explain the differences between regular spanish and her specific dialect or version of it.

This essay relates directly to regionalism and more specifically to “In Cuba I was a German Shepherd. The immigrants in that story also felt targeted and marginalized for showing their culture. Anzaldua feels this same way when she is judged for speaking her dialect of spanish in front of both Mexicans and Americans. Each specific location has its own regionalistic characteristics. Language is a huge part of that and it can destroy someone and their culture to have that taken away.

Some key words I found to be important in this paper include Chicano, Spanish Tex-Mex, and identity. Chicano, Spanish, Tex-Mex, and English are important because they show the types of languages or dialects that are most important to this paper. Identity is important because of how closely it relates to regionalism, and because of how much of a person's identity is formed by their language.

In conclusion this is a very well written essay by Gloria Anzaldua. It gets its point across beautifly using ethos, pathos, and logos. It touches bravely on immigration, language barriers, sexism, and most importantly the judgement of people using their own specific language or dialect. I really enjoyed this essay and came out with a lot more knowledge on the subject than I had before.