Discussion of How to tame a wild Tongue by Gloria Anzaldua and Mother Tongue by Amy Tan - Essay Example

 Discussion of How to tame a wild Tongue by Gloria Anzaldua and Mother Tongue by Amy Tan The endeavor of settling in and agreeing to the social background is the main theme in the two essays, How to tame a wild Tongue by Gloria Anzaldua and Mother Tongue by Amy Tan. Gloria ingeniously expresses her personal revulsion at the unchanging obliteration of her Chicano customs by means of the metaphorical approach of methodical sentence structure, descriptive flashbacks, and the amalgamation of her native tongue. Similarly Amy Tan discusses about the influence of language on her upbringing, as her essay discovers about defeat and victory, about arriving home, in a manner, following an extended absence, and being satisfied and pleased yet again of one’s own identity and heritage. Through her command of words, Gloria Anzaldua in “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” makes use of both Spanish and English to convey her identity, traditions and her customs. The sentence structure and the writing style express Anzaldua's profound sentiments concerning her lingual individuality by generally composed sentences that are declarative. By coordinating her syntax in this fashion, she attracts the attention of her readers to the truth that she is practically not capable to recognize herself without her native language being acknowledged as it is an important element of her being. Thus the reader is capable to express sympathy with the writer’s lack of personal comprehension and understanding as well as capable to completely comprehend the writer’s righteous anger with the dismantling of her culture and mother-tongue. Moreover Anzaldua utilize the beneficial method of a descriptive flashback to inspire a compassionate sentiment in the person who reads. In the essay “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan, the subject of assorted English or else the matter of talking alternate English beside the social background like Chinese social morals, traditions and lineage are dealt with. The writer, even though being an American author was raised in a Chinese family and similar to her mother and other family, had to confront the two different worlds: the Chinese community with its own tradition, morals and values and the American community on the other hand. In her essay she clearly addresses the precincts and boundaries of her mother’s English, and its drawbacks and benefits. She begins with being embarrassed of the English her mother speaks which was affected by the Chinese. She considers it as “fractured”, “broken” or had referred it to as “limited English”. Nevertheless, the language she was embarrassed about starts revealing its appeal and charm and hence Amy starts to look at her mother’s “fractured” English with an entirely different viewpoint. She starts to have a feeling that at the back her mother’s flawed English lives a magnificent phrase of exquisiteness, a splendor she marveled at. The theme behind “the mother tongue” is very universal and significant since it is not merely on the subject of the native language but furthermore about the association with the social and ethnic background, with parents and legacy. It concerns the issue of parting with one’s home land and living in a foreign country but still sticking to one’s own heritage. ” As Natalie M. Rosinky states “ there is also a gentle humor and appreciation in the essay, as Tan shows the misunderstanding immigrants experience because of culture differences and their limited English” It is about changing, but keeping, at the same time. The essay is about striving and confronting unsympathetic surroundings. Moreover it talks in relation to the generation gap and being embarrassed, at a certain time, of one’s parents, since they do not seem to be adequate for one’s image and position. Once Amy starts writing she becomes conscious of how vital and significant was the fact that she could use different types of English language, and thus begins to recognize the value of her mother customs and inheritance for its actual ability and potential. Considering this she begins writing with reference to her mother: “I wanted to capture what language ability tests can never reveal: her intent, her passion, her imagery, the rhythms of her speech, and the nature of her thoughts”. As Amy fully becomes conscious of the affluence her mother had really provided her, she chooses her own mother as her foremost reader and evaluator. As she has mentioned in the conclusion of her essay “I knew I had succeeded where it counted when my mother finished reading my book and gave me her verdict: so easy to read” Similarly, “How to Tame a Wild Tongue”, by Gloria Anzaldua, is an incredibly meaningful essay referring to an American Mexican women’s great effort to conserve her traditions. Her major dispute rotates about an endeavor to protect a type of Spanish, identified as “Chicano Spanish”, thriving. In this brief essay she states, “For a people who cannot entirely identify with either standard Spanish, or Standard English, what recourse is left to them but to create their own language?” She is conveying that regardless of what the cultures of the American and Mexican desire her to carry out she will not admit loss. The society of America would want her to converse in correct English, whereas the society of Mexico desires her to talk in appropriate Castillian. With the persuasion from these two civilizations influencing her and other immigrants their only way out, is to develop their personal language. That lingo turns out to be recognized as Chicano Mexican, which is essentially a blend of all that Gloria has perceived from these two societies. Gloria Anzaldua considers that discrimination of language ought to be changed. According to her” if a person with a low estimation of my native tongue, she also has a low estimation of me” She affirms that the language is an important element of one’s racial and cultural individuality and therefore no one should feel ashamed concerning it. Both the authors have narrated their personal experiences when they had to settle in a foreign country and face several problems regarding their native language. In the end, they emphasize the fact that one should never be ashamed of their heritage, traditions and native language as they behold the real treasure. Eventually both the authors comprehend that their local language encompasses a power and influence which plays a vital part in shaping their self identity. Work cited: Rosinsky, Natalie M. Amy Tan: Author and Storyteller. Minneapolis, Minn: Compass Point Books, 2007. Print. Read More