Gloria Anzaldua's How To Tame A Wild Tongue

The author mentioned popular media people (like Rita Moreno) and literary characters (“Mammy” from Gone with the Wind) to show the source and the deepness of stereotypes. She includes dialogues and description of own ruefulness during the current event to create more emotion-oriented essay. Several main issues and single words are highlighted with the aid of italics, like the word ripen (Cofer 4) that showed boy’s expectances to Cofer’s sexual behavior. Was it author’s choice or not, the decision helps readers to see an important topic.

Cofer addresses the cultural barriers and challenges that Latinos experience through emotional appeal, anecdotal imagery, parallelism and the use of effective periodic sentences. In her article, Cofer assesses the difficult cultural hurdles of Latin Americans with emotional appeal. She provides insight on her cultural barriers by first conveying the way she had to dress and her struggle, as it shows in this piece of text, “That morning I had organized… which to base my decision” (Cofer 5). This poignancy works to stress an agonizing feeling of uncertainty and restraint towards the author.

Anzaldúa, on the other hand, struggles with the discrimination against her Chicano culture and language. Throughout her essay, “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” she talks about how the languages she speaks are all variant forms of a combination of multiple languages; however, they form the foundation of her culture and her identity. It is

People are even afraid to come near their neighborhood, they fear that they will be attacked. The residents of Mango Street are talked about as criminals, just because of their race and their poverty. As a result of being Hispanic, Esperanza and those around her are viewed by other, higher classes, as a minority. Hispanics at that time made less money and were seen as lessers compared to people in the higher class. Higher class people believed they were superior to her.

Generalizations take after specific individuals for the duration of their lives. Judith Ortiz Cofer is a Latina who has been stereotyped and she delineates this in her article, "The myth of the Latin lady: I just met a young lady named Maria. " Cofer depicts how pernicious generalizations can really be. Perusers can understand Cofer 's message through the numerous explanatory interests she employments.

In How to Tame a Wild Tongue, Gloria Anzaldua uses rhetoric and personal anecdotes to convey and persuade her argument that Latin Americans are forced to relinquish their cultural heritage, and to conform to white society. The evidence she provides comes in a variety of platforms, both literal and rhetorical. Rhetorical, being through emotional, logical, and credible appeals through her text. Literal being explicitly stated, without any further analysis necessary. When she utilises the modes of appeals, they are subtle within the texts, which leads the reader to analyse as they read.

For instance, she states, “…we don’t identify with the Anglo-American cultural values and we don’t totally identify with the Mexican cultural values. We are a synergy of two cultures with various degrees of Mexicanness or Angloness” (85). This quote exemplifies what many Mexican-American think and that is, that we aren’t a part of just one culture, but rather a mixture of both. Furthermore, there are obstacles that a Mexican-American may face, such as discrimination from one or both cultures. This is seen when Anzaldúa says, “Pocho, cultural traitor, you’re speaking the oppressor’s language by speaking English, you’re ruining the Spanish language…” (77).

Leanne Howe works to challenge and confirm stereotypes of indigenous Choctaw peoples through her novel Shell Shakers. Although Howe presents some stereotypes that she selects to be acceptable of Choctaw culture to her readers, she makes it obvious that she is attempting to counter and change many stereotypes of indigenous Choctaw peoples through providing detailed accounts of Choctaw lives and proceedings. Stereotypes of indigenous peoples continue through the generalization of all groups, and the judgement passed upon those groups to fit western ideals (Berkhofer 25). Due to the “persistence and perpetuation” of stereotypes then the task of books aimed at countering stereotypes “becomes one of delineating that continuity in spite of seeming

Sotomayor questioned the Judges in the way she questioned many things while she was in Preston University. She felt that decisions were being made unfair so she decided to speak up and make a change for the people of

Gloria Anzaldua gives respect to the importance of language and its everyday use. In her own way, specifically with focus on the Chicano tongue, she is able to redefine the true values and meanings that language holds. There, however, is something that goes much deeper and beyond what is superficially written on the pages. Through a lens of Kwame Appiah’s “Racial Identities,” Anzaldua’s essay can be ‘decode,’ and the true significance of language can be reestablished.

To what extent has the media shaped our perception of certain ethnic groups? Media has always played a vital role in the way that people shape their opinions on certain ethnic groups. If people are shown the same image of a specific ethnic group over and over again they will eventually begin to believe it. In the article The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Met a Girl Named Maria Judith Ortiz tackles and debunks one of these misconceptions created by the media and society that latina women are promiscuous and dumb. Throughout her life Ortiz is faced with the misconception of being promiscuous and dumb, but is able to overcome that educating people on the reality of latina women through her poetry.

Identity has a lot to do with how people treat others because another person’s judgement can shape one’s views of themselves. Yolanda has two very different lifestyles placed in front of her and she feels obligated to adjust to both of them. She does not accept the fact that she is a Dominican immigrant and cannot completely adjust to the American ways. However, because America is very different from what she is used to, she steers to that end of the spectrum.

By doing this they make not only themselves uncomfortable speaking Spanish but get others to think that they aren’t the ideal Chicano/a. That’s why Anzaldua tells herself, “I will no longer be made to feel ashamed of existing. I will have my voice: Indian, Spanish, white. I will have my serpent’s tongue—my woman’s voice, my sexual voice, my poet’s voice. I will overcome the tradition of silence.