Topic > Rhetorical Analysis How to Tame a Wild Tongue

Gloria E. Anzaldúa grew up on the Texas-Mexico border in the Rio Grande Valley with Mexican immigrant parents. “We are afraid of what we will see there. Sorry. Shame. Low self-esteem. In childhood we are told that our language is wrong. Repeated attacks on our native language diminish our sense of self. The attacks continue throughout our lives.” These are the direct words of Gloria E. Anzaldúa's 1987 song “How to Tame a Wild Tongue.” Anzaldúa uses her personal experience of being considered a Chicana lesbian feminist to illustrate the terrorism and misogyny she has experienced in her life. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Linguistic terrorism is the partisan abuse of language, Anzaldúa experienced this when she was "caught speaking Spanish during recess: it was good for three licks on the knuckles with a sharp ruler. I remember being sent to a corner of the classroom for “talking back” to the Anglo teacher when all I was trying to do was tell her how to pronounce my name “If you want to be American, speak “American.” If you don't like it, go back to Mexico, where you belong."' Here Anzaldúa uses pathos to intrigue her readers by sharing her stories of being a minority language person and the suffering that comes with it. "So, if you really want hurt me, speak badly of my language. Ethnic identity is the twin of linguistic identity: I am my language. Until I am proud of my language, I cannot be proud of myself. Until I can accept Chicano-Texan Spanish, Tex-Mex, and all the other languages ​​I speak as legitimate, I cannot accept the legitimacy of myself. Until I am free to write bilingually and code-switch without always having to translate, while I have to continue to speak English or Spanish when I would rather speak Spanglish, and until I have to please English speakers rather than be accommodated by them, my language will be illegitimate." Through “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” Anzaldúa attempts to raise awareness among people who are ashamed of proudly speaking their native language, as you can see from the passage above.. At a young age, Anzaldúa was ashamed of her culture and language, he felt like he couldn't be tamed. I believe this is his attempt to exploit the rhetorical appeal of pathos. Helping us to sympathize with her and truly feel what terrorism and misogyny she had to endure. In this piece, Anzaldúa speaks to people like her. People who have experienced alienation because of their native language. Even though I am a white male, she can help me sympathize with her and fully understand her point of view. Anzaldúa speaks a language called "Chicano". Chicano English is a general term for a non-standard variety of the English language influenced by the Spanish language and spoken as a native dialect by both bilingual and monolingual speakers. “We are your linguistic nightmare, your linguistic aberration, your linguistic hybrid, the object of your joke. Because we speak with tongues of fire, we are culturally crucified. Racially, culturally and linguistically we are huerfanos – we speak an orphan language.” Anzaldúa was taught as a child that she spoke Spanish and English poorly, however, her language was her 'home language'. “My home languages ​​are the languages ​​I speak with my sister and brothers, with my friends…. From school, from the media, to work situations. I learned standard and working-class English. From Mamagrande Locha and reading Spanish and Mexican literature, I learned standard Spanish and Mexican Spanish.