Thanks to the COM352 students for contributing a bunch of new pages! I'll be moving these pages into the main area of the wiki soon.

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How to Tame a Wild Tongue

The Subject of the article “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” written by Gloria Anzaldua, is a Chicano-American woman’s struggle to be accepted by the cultures around her. This woman is torn between living as an American in Texas, accepting all of The American customs including the English language, and also staying true to her roots as a Chicano-American woman. She wants to be accepted for who she is as a Chicano-American in both Mexico and America. The subject focuses on the language of this woman. The U.S. standard English which has been shoved down her throat since she was a child. “I remember being caught speaking Spanish at recess–that was good for three licks on the knuckles with a sharp ruler. I remember being sent to the 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.” This quote is an example of pathos. I know this because the quote appealed to my feelings. I felt for the author because of the situation she was in. You can see that She is discriminated for her cultural attributes. “Pocho, cultural traitor, you’re speaking the oppressor’s language by speaking English, you’re ruining the Spanish language,” This quote is also a pathos. I can infer this because we again feel for the writer by what this quote shows. This woman is scolded by both of her cultures for the language she speaks.

The apparent audience of this essay is any person who has an issue with languange or languages. Any person who feels pressured by the culture in which they live in to change or adapt to what that culture wants it to can identify with this article, and make connections to themselves. Not specifically Mexican or Chicano people, but any person who is living somewhere with conflicting languages. “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 poet’s voice. I will overcome the tradition of silence” This quote is ethos. This is an example of ethos because the author is in this situation and I can trust that she feels the same way that many of the people in her culture also feel. We can assume she knows what she is talking about. She is saying that her language is not just a way to communicate with others. Her language is who she is, and everything she stands for. “For a people who are neither Spanish nor live in a country in which Spanish is the first language; for a people who live in a country in which English is the reigning tongue but who are not Anglo; for a people who can not entirely identify with either standard (formal, Castilian) Spanish nor standard English, what recourse is left to them but to create their own language?” This quote is pathos. This is pathos because she connects with the readers on a level that we can understand what she is going through. We can see what it is like to be an immigrant or someone who is struggling with cross-culturism.

The writer of this essay is Gloria Anzaldua. Gloria is identified as a Chicano person. This word means that she is Spanish, Anglo, and Indian. Gloria grew up trying to just be “herself”, which encompassed all of her cultural beliefs. Gloria wants to speak the language that her family has spoken for generations, but is forced in this new world to speak variations of the language or another language entirely if she expects to be accepted. Gloria as a writer is putting all of her experience as a Chicano person culturally struggling between being one or the other into this essay. I feel as though Gloria is a voice for thousands of others in her situation. “So, if you want to really hurt me, talk badly about my language. Ethnic identity is twin skin to linguistic identity–I am my language.” this quote is ethos. We can tell this is ethos because Gloria is very emotionally telling us about what is it is like to be a Chicano. “Flies don’t open a closed mouth.” This quote is logos. This quote shows us how Gloria was encouraged to keep her mouth shut if she wanted to keep flies out of her mouth. This is clearly logos because anyone with common sense doesn’t want flies in their mouth. Gloria stressed this phrase because it implies that she should stop speaking her language due to other’s discrimination, and really is a strong statement.

This essay explains most of it’s content in the pathos style. The author was speaking culturally and so as in all cases making a strong statement. This is something of a civil rights caliber essay. I think I learned something new here, and learned new terms such as Chicano which got us in touch with the culture.

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