Because your outlines are also due on Thursday, this blog post is shorter. In one strong paragraph, answer this question:
How do the challenges discussed in Anzaldúa's essay tie in to the issues discussed in Baldwin's? Use specific examples from the text to support your points.
In How to Tame a Wild Tongue by Gloria Anzaldua, the challenges she faces tie into the issues that are discussed in Baldwin’s essay, If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is? The problem being discussed in both texts is the role of language, people “evolve a language in order to describe and thus control their circumstances” they make a new language to suit themselves and their way of communicating with someone else. (Baldwin 42). In Anzaldua’s essay, she writes about her problem with her Spanish accent, in school she was forced to take speech classes in order to get rid of it. This passage by Anzaldua is similar to Baldwin’s because she writes about “Chicano Spanish”, a language that like, Black English, they created. For her, Chicano Spanish is not incorrect it is a living language, a “language with which we could communicate with ourselves, a secret language.” (Anzaldua 44). According to her, there are many languages that people from Latin America speak that are different so they make up a new similar language to communicate. This is similar to what Baldwin writes, “A French man living in Paris speaks a subtly and crucially different language that of a man living in Quebec” (Baldwin 43). Although both are from France, they speak a different language.
ReplyDeleteIn the essay How to Tame a Wild Tongue by Gloria Anzaldua, the challenges she confronts with, link up with Baldwin’s, If Black English isn’t a language, then tell me, What is? In essay’s, Baldwin and Anzaldua mention how language reveals your identity and the “role of language”, whom was one of their challenges. In Baldwin’s piece towards language, “It is the most vivid and crucial key to identity: it reveals the private identity, and connects one with, or divorces one from, the larger, public, or communal identity”, accents are the revealing part that puts people at risk.(43) Black people weren’t educated by the white and when they were chained and brought to America, they couldn’t communicate with the rest of the black people because they all came from different tribes, meaning different language then later mixed while adapting to America, forming the black English. Tying back to Gloria Anzaldua’s essay, she indicated how Spanish was her first language, when speaking English, she would have a Mexican accent. “I and all Chicano students were required to take two speech classes”, in order to improve their English and get rid of their accents. (44) On the other hand, another challenge she faced was her uncomforting with speaking the “real Chicano” language. “Chicanas" feel uncomfortable talking in Spanish to Latinas, afraid of their censure”, although their native language sounds fairly normal as if a Latina were to speak Spanish. (49) Baldwin’s and Anzaldua’s essays show their confronting with their language.
ReplyDeleteIn the essay How to Tame a Wild Tongue by Gloria Anzaldua, the challenges she confronts with, link up with Baldwin’s, If Black English isn’t a language, then tell me, What is? In essay’s, Baldwin and Anzaldua mention how language reveals your identity and the “role of language”, whom was one of their challenges. In Baldwin’s piece towards language, “It is the most vivid and crucial key to identity: it reveals the private identity, and connects one with, or divorces one from, the larger, public, or communal identity”, accents are the revealing part that puts people at risk.(43) Black people weren’t educated by the white and when they were chained and brought to America, they couldn’t communicate with the rest of the black people because they all came from different tribes, meaning different language then later mixed while adapting to America, forming the black English. Tying back to Gloria Anzaldua’s essay, she indicated how Spanish was her first language, when speaking English, she would have a Mexican accent. “I and all Chicano students were required to take two speech classes”, in order to improve their English and get rid of their accents. (44) On the other hand, another challenge she faced was her uncomforting with speaking the “real Chicano” language. “Chicana feel uncomfortable talking in Spanish to Latinas, afraid of their censure”, although their native language sounds fairly normal as if a Latina were to speak Spanish. (49) Baldwin’s and Anzaldua’s essays show their confronting with their language.
ReplyDeleteIn How To Tame a Wild Tongue, by Gloria Anzaldua, and If Black English isn't a Language, Then What Is? By James Baldwin, both have a specific theme of language. In the first piece by Anzaldua, she talks about the different languages she speaks and how different they can be. In Baldwin's piece, he talks about the different languages men speak in different places. "Language is also a political instrument,means, and proof of power. It is the most vivid and crucial key to identity: It reveals the private identity, and connects one with,or divorces one from, the larger,public, or communal identity." (Baldwin 43) I agree with this completely. Anzaldua actually proves this to be correct because she knows that sometimes she speaks Spanish on accident and that shows her true identity because she is Chicana and tries hiding it but her tongue is wild, therefore can not be tamed. "Who is to say that robbing a people of it's language is less violent then war?"(Anzaldua 4) Here, Anzaldua is trying to say that language is part of your identity and can not be taken away as easily.
ReplyDeleteJoanna Dimas
ReplyDeleteJames Baldwin and Gloria Anzaldua are exposed to a society that neglects how culture can influence a language and how a person speaks that language. Both James and Gloria were forced to find a way to fit in with the “American” language, but instead they accustomed themselves to a dialect that is unique to them like Chicano Spanish or Black English. These languages are much more powerful than just knowing old Standard English because not everyone has the right to interfere with what you believe or want say. Society fears Spanish and Black English because they reflect a person’s experience in life and the dominant culture cannot relate to the experience of James nor Gloria. Baldwin believes, “ Language is experience…language is not despised but experience is” (45) and Gloria mentions, “A language which they can connect their identity with…communicate values true to themselves” (45). The issue is not that a foreign language is viewed inferior, but what language actually symbolizes. Speaking what you want and how you want to speak a language is the voice that society does not hand over to anyone, but must be earned in a conservative society. When the poem I Am Joaquin was first published, this represented the power Chicanos had in America. This voice is know recognized by a society whose dominant culture is not “A Mayan prince”(Joaquin). Our society in America is still unsure on how to react to a nation very diverse in dialect, but one thing society does know is if English is not the dominant language in America, then those considered “other” will receive more power to have a voice in a community.
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DeleteIn both Baldwin's essay, "If Black Isn't a Language, Then Tell Me , What Is?" and Anzaldua's essay, "How to Tame a Wild Tongue" both face a common issue: speaking a different language in the United States and the lack of understanding of one another's language. In the case of Baldwin, language is a "Political instrument, means, and proof of power...it connects one with, or divorces one from, the larger, public, or communal identity". (Baldwin 43) This identity created by language Baldwin speaks of affected Anzaldua. Early on in Anzaldua life, she was forced by her teachers to strip her identity. Often when she was overheard on the playground speaking Spanish, she would receive "three
ReplyDeletelicks on the knuckles with a sharp ruler" (Anzaludua 44) as a punishment for expressing her identity. Additionally Baldwin faced yet another issue: the lack of recognition of "Black English" , Baldwin says "blacks, are in trouble, certainly, but we are not doomed, and we are not inarticulate because we are not compelled to defend a morality that we know to be a lie.". (Baldwin 45) Both Baldwin an Anzaludua face what we can see as an identity crisis in their lives, we can conclude that the causes of these identity crises is a direct cause of the lack of understanding and acceptance for people of other cultures and descent.
The challenges discussed in Anzaldúa's essay ties into the issues discussed in Baldwin's in many ways. For example, in these essay’s the Americans are taking away their culture and accent because they are in a different environment and they should be like everyone else’s language which is “English.” In both stories they had similar problems about their type of language. When people would hear them talk their own language, they would get mad since they are supposed to talk English. For example, in How to Tame a Wild Tongue by Gloria Anzaldúa, the author says, “If you want to be American, speak ‘American.’ If you don’t like it, go back to Mexico where you belong,” (Anzaldua, 50). A teacher went up to her for simply speaking Spanish and she had been punished. This quote proves how people tried taking their uniqueness away, as in this story it is her language and accent. The teacher feels you should follow the common language spoke in America which is English and says it in a matter of racism. Another quote in If Black Isn’t a Language Then Tell Me, What Is? by James Baldwin the author says, “Now I do not know what white Americans would sound like if there had never been any black people in the United States, but they would not sound the way they sound”, (Baldwin,42).They discuss how it would be very different not having the “black,” language around. If it weren’t’ for their language they would not have certain words. This quote is trying to prove that they should not take away their language because they have made up words. This proves taking away peoples cultural ways and language influences people. Everyone has their own language, but people cannot face the fact they have their accents like the black and Latino accent.
ReplyDeleteLanguage itself “incontestably, reveals the speaker” (42 Baldwin). Every particular language ranging from English to Black English to Chino English, are all unique. They possess qualities of who one is and what one is coming from. The communication of a sect of people is required in order for that specific group to thrive. Language comes into play “by means of brutal necessity, and the rules of the language are dictated by what the language must convey” (44 Baldwin). The uprising of a culture is from the formation of a language and vice versa. Arguing the point that a language is not a language is similar to believing that a culture is not a culture. In “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” the narrator is having trouble in accepting her languages as herself. She says, “until I can take pride in my language, I cannot take pride in myself” (50 Anzaldua). Taking pride in one’s own language is taking pride in one’s own identity and culture. The narrator is proud of who she is as “[she] will no longer be made to feel ashamed of existing…[she] will have [her] serpent’s tongue” (50 Anzaldua). Evidently, from both texts, it is clear that language itself represents one’s own identity.
ReplyDeleteIn both of the readings the problem faced is "People evolve a language in order to describe and thus control their circumstances"(Baldwin 42). They create a language that will suite themselves as well as the other people who will use it. In Anazaldua's essay she writes about picking up the language "pachuco", a seceret language, as a kid. This ties into Baldwins essay because of how black english is taught to children, as written by Baldwin "A child cannot be taught by anyone whose demand, essentially, is that the child repudiate his experience...and in which he knows that he can never become white"(Baldwin 45). To summarize, both pieces discuss how people invent languages that will make it easier to communicate.
ReplyDeleteIn the essays by Gloria Anzaldua,"How to Tame a Wild Tongue" and in Baldwin's, "If Black English isn't a language then Tell Me What it is?there are issues and challenges that ultimately similar. These two essays describe how a language can be spoken differently in different countries. Baldwin says, "A French-man living in Paris apeaks a subtly and crucially different language from that of the man living in Marseilles. (Baldwin 43)." There can be different forms of a language but that does not mean that one or the other is wrong. For example the Chicano Spanish and the Black English,it cannot be said that one or the other is wrong. When Gloria Anzaldua was little, teachers would try to get rid of her Mexican accent, it did not work and it made her not feel part of the community. She wrote,"Wild tongues can't be tamed, they can only be cut (Anzaldua 44)." Is it right to tell a person who is talking that they are talking incorrectly? No, because males and females have a different way to describe themselves or they might have a different purpose of saying those words.
ReplyDeleteIn these two excerpts by James Baldwin and Gloria Anzualdua, the narrators of these stories have to overcome racism pertaining the way they speak. In the excerpt How To Tame A Wild Tongue, by Gloria Anzualda the author has to overcome extreme hardships within her family, her dominant culture, her other, and herself because she speaks with an accent. An example of the author facing hardships with her family is when she is talking to her mother and her mother states, “I want you to speak English. Pa’ haller buen trabajo tienes que saber hablar el ingles bien. Que vale toda tu educacion si todavia hablas ingles con un accente,”(44,Anzualdua). My mother would say, mortified that I spoke English like a Mexican.” This quote is an example of the hardships the narrator faced pertaining her family because she was being forced to change her voice which is also related to her identity. Another reason why this quote is an example of her hardship is that her mother was mortified that her daughter spoke “English like a Mexican,” this is ironic because her daughter was Mexican. An example of the author facing hardships within her own dominant culture is shown within this quote “pocho, cultural traitor, you’re speaking the oppressor’s language by speaking English, you’re ruining the Spanish language,” I have been accused by various Latinos and Latinas,”(45,Anzualdua)This quote is an example of the hardships she faced within her dominant culture because her culture viewed her as a traitor. I found this quote intriguing because if I saw someone trying to make a difference in how Mexicans are being viewed, I would support them. These challenges are fairly similar to the obstacles the narrator had to face in If Black English Isn’t a Language Then Tell Me, What Is?, because the narrator also had discrimination pertaining the way they spoke. In Baldwin’s story, the narrator states “Language, incontestably, reveals the speaker (42,Baldwin).” This quote is an example of how both these essays tie together because Black English is how Baldwin identified himself and Anzualdua identified herself as Mexican English. Could you imagine if you had to overcome extreme hardships pertaining the way you spoke? These two essays are alike because the authors both overcame discrimination and both related there way of speaking to their identity.
ReplyDeleteBoth Baldwin and Anzaldua’s writings discuss the power of language and how it affects people. Baldwin calls language a “poltical instrument” which unfortunately is used to oppress people not considered to be a part of the dominant culture. Since the beginning of African American history slaves were divided from each other by a language barrier which, according to Baldwin, allowed chattel slavery to last as long as it did. As time progressed however, Black English did develop, but this dialect or language has caused blacks to be seen as less educated and inferior, allowing the cycle of oppression to persist without Blacks being at fault whatsoever. Like Baldwin, Anzaldua feels oppressed by her language. Her mother bitterly remarks that she cannot be taken seriously unless she loses her chicana “accent,” and therefore a part of her chicana culture. Anzaldua’s is also inevitably seen as lesser because of her Spanish dialect which she mentions people consider a “bastardization.” Both of these authors are discriminated against because of the language they did not choose to speak, rather, we brought up to speak.
ReplyDeleteThere is an interesting connection between Baldwin’s essay “If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is,” and Anzaldúa’s essay “How To Tame a Wild Tongue,” which is that they relate in language as an identity. For instance, Baldwin stresses that “language… is the most vivid and crucial key to identity” (Baldwin 43), meaning that it can reveal one’s identity through accents and sound. Baldwin shows an example where he points out the differences in sound between a man living in Paris to a man living in Marseilles and Quebec. Anzaldúa’s essay is similar to Darwin’s because she shares the many ways a “Chicano” is distinct and the languages they can speak. “Chicano Spanish sprang out of the Chicano’s need to identify ourselves as a distinct people… Some of the languages we speak are:
ReplyDelete1. Standard English
2. Working Class and slang English
3. Standard Spanish
4. Standard Mexican Spanish
5. North Mexican Spanish dialect
6. Chicano Spanish
7. Tex-Mex
8. Pachuco (called caló)” (Anzaldúa 46)
Both writers share a common message that the European, Great Britain, English no longer exists in a multicultural country. English will sound different coming from different mouths in which becomes new identity. Accents and sounds make up a language that forms into a person’s identity.
Both pieces from Baldwin and Anzaldua deal with problems concerning one's language. Baldwin points out in his article that there are "times, and places, when to speak a certain language could be dangerous" (Baldwin 43). Anzaldua directly connects to this because she had been given "three licks on the knuckles with a sharp ruler" for being caught speaking Spanish at recess (Anzaldua 44). This demonstrates that one may even have to be fearful in using one's language. Baldwin also says that language is the "most vivid and crucial key to identity" (Baldwin 43). He also mentions that language "divorces one from the larger, public, or communal identity" (Baldwin 43). Anzaldua was struggling with her identity because she was caught between "Standard Spanish" and "Standard English" (Anzaldua 45). In either case, she was the "other" of the standard English speaking society that she was a part of, and because of this, the others created Chicano Spanish. This was a "secret language," and thus connects to Baldwin's mentioning of black slaves creating "Black English" to communicate and survive.
ReplyDeleteThese ideas connect to me in a sense. I actually am much better at speaking English than I am at Vietnamese. This makes it hard for me to use my language to identify with my culture, because if I were to do this I would identify more as American than as Vietnamese. This has slightly bothered my parents and family for a while, and they are constantly trying to remind me to speak Vietnamese in the house rather than English. Because doing this is hard for me, I kind of speak a mix, like a "Tex-Mex" language. I tend to mix Vietnamese and English words together in my sentences, which doesn't really satisfy my parents either, but hey, I'm quite surprised I can even do THAT.
Both articles tie together because they tie into the main theme that langague plays a crucial key to ones identity. “language is also a political instrument." There is history behind ever langague created and that history ties into ones heritige and thus helps define them. If one is to eliminate "black english" or to say it is not a real thing then what actually defines a langague? Is it no longer something that is built that helps describe oneself and help them communicate or is it simply something that the dominant culture controls? Through both texts i felt both authors tried to convey the idea that your langague will never leave you. Your accent is a trace that your langague leaves behind, it is a part of your identity still lingering in the air. Both authors show pride for their culture and share their true identity by giving examples of langague
ReplyDeleteBoth pices of writing relate to society's ignorance of "the other" culture. In Anzaldua's exerpt, she talks about how she felt stripped of her culture because her teacher and society made her learn english. When she was stripped of the spanish language, she felt like in the proccess she was also stripped of her culture and history.
ReplyDeleteIn Baldwin’s essay he wrote about how the black language not considered a language anymore because society has made it so the language itself has no meaning to black society. "There have been, and are, times, and places, when to speak acertain language could be dangerous, even fatal" (Baldwin 43). Baldwin is saying that language is "also a political instrument" (Baldwin 43), and can be used to show power.
Both Baldwins and Anzaldua's works respond to not only having dominant culture reject their language and fail to recognize it as existant, but the confusion and shame they endure from having their culture frowned upon. Americans prefer only English being spoken to in their environments and other dialectics upset them."If you dont like it (speaking American), you can go back to Mexico where you belong"(Anzaldua 44), her teacher tells her, attempting to cleanse her unique language so that she(society) can continue a power of knowing everything. America should acknowledge the contribution black English has give our vocabularies. Terms like 'Jazz' and 'Sock it to me' have been purified through black conversations into lines that now convey a more appropriate meaning(Baldwin 43). Cleansing a nation of different languages for it to conform is like killing all of your offspring; while you never have to pick between your favorite child, your options have been narrowed down.
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