Analysis of Gloria Anzaldúas “How to Tame a Wild Tongue”

Within “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” from the 1987 book titled “Borderlands/La Frontera”, the author, Gloria Anzaldúa boldly claims that many who don’t speak the standard dialect of their language may be subjected to feeling shame and/or being shamed. Going into great detail of the issues faced by those throughout the Mexican community regarding language. These issues range from sexism, to blatant racism. She recounts the many intense experiences that have since shaped the way she speaks both English and Spanish, as a way to support her strong claim. This is a very empowering and insightful text to say the least, this is due to what the actual text does rather than says. Within the text it can be seen that the author appeals to the reader by using real life scenarios and accounts that highlight the issues of which her claim contextualizes. This effect is what draws the attention from the readers to read the text closely to get a complete understanding of the points being conveyed. No matter who reads this writing, it is quite clear that Anzaldúa writes this text with the hope to see a real change in how others within her community critique the way they speak, for them to not be ashamed of it, but to instead, accept it.

The experiences and hardships of Gloria Anzaldúa could be described as something out of a nightmare. On the contrary, the way she articulated these hardships within the text is what made them some of the most defining points throughout. Anzaldúa herself was a well respected Tejana Patlache poet and writer, who was well adorned for her work in advocating for the Latinx and LBGTQ+ communities. Due to her works in the humanities, it could be said that this aspect of her life gave the essence of her writings much more respect. While growing up she faced many great challenges pertinent to her language speaking skills. However, how she goes about describing these issues and its relevance to the topic matter is what gives her story the sense of severity that it holds. To further unravel this idea she does go into full detail of these many situations where she had gone against what was deemed as“normal”, and what had resulted from it. Whether it was being hit with a ruler by her teacher for speaking Spanish, or being told to go back to where she belongs, she had great reason to question this idea of what was normal, and who determined it.

To dive into the text on a more retrospective aspect to fully analyze what it does to the reader is not a hard task when reading “How to Tame a Wild Tongue”. For a lack of better words this writing utilizes the power of using rhetorical features to the best of its abilities. Manipulating the text to have a certain feel/ sound that coincides with the strong claim she was attempting to prove. As mentioned before Anzaldúa goes into many of her real life experiences regarding her language to prove validity to her argument. For example when she included that “Chicanas who grew up speaking Chicano Spanish have internalized the belief that we speak poor Spanish. It is illegitimate, a bastard language…..we use our language differences against each other” (Anzaldúa 38). This shows how she took a more fact based approach to appeal to the reader. While at the same time defining the issues within the Mexican communities. Showing how serious language speaking is taken, as well as how others are viewed for their language skills, or lack thereof. Furthermore, it can only be inferred what the author’s intentions were while writing this text. However, going based on the central idea of the text it can definitely be concluded that the author intended to educate, and have a call to action for her audience. The action being, to put an end to this stigmatized view on the way people feel comfortable talking, as well as to shorten that divide within the Mexican communities.

This empowering approach is what makes the text all the more an incredible rhetorically based text. Using her tone along with metaphors to provide certain aspects of the text that stuck out for their uniqueness. The effect her tone gave the text proved that her experiences were not something to be taken lightly. Andzaldúas writing was something to be interpreted and heard by those who shared very similar struggles as she did. To provide validity to their issues within our society. This perspective was essential when she included in her text ¿Quién está protegiendo los ranchos de mi gente? Quién está tratando de cerrar la fisura entre la india y el blanco en nuestra sangre? EI Chicano, si, el Chicano que anda como un ladrón en su propia casa.”(Anzaldúa 44) Translating to the idea that the Chicano Mexicans are almost seen as the rebels for staying true to their culture. Being that if they didn’t they would fall in line with the loss of culture within their community. Also, to see how beautifully she includes the metaphorical reference while it being in Spanish just proves how well certain aspects of her text appeal to the reader in a certain way that most texts do not. This calls into question what the actual text is doing. In which it could be said that the text is challenging the views of those within her community to stand strong for their beliefs and to be authentic. Being that they may be seen as the less than for not changing the way they are to fit in with societal beliefs. The part in Spanish adds an exaggerated effect to this claim by metaphorically challenging these beliefs. Thus making the text all the more unique not only for its features, but for its sense of true meaning behind it.

When put into thought of how Anzaldúa may have been made to feel on multiple occasions, it brings a sense of clarity to the reader’s mind that societal standards can be damaging to the many people like her. Therefore she highlights many crucial aspects, like the importance of language speaking that is often overlooked by many until they are in a situation where they are being made to feel less than by someone who holds the upperhand in society. Which is where some of the best features of the text came from, both coming from her experiences and her upset with society. Going back to the idea of the constant sense of shame she faced, along with the people like her, and what they have faced for attempting to be authentic in the way they spoke. Causing her to fully analyze the many reasons as to why her native way of speaking caused great issues for the many people she came across. All coming down to the realization that her language speaking skills were in no way the issue at hand, but the people around her were in fact the real issue.