What Identity Signifies to Me

Moises Rodriguez

Professor Young

ENGL 1100_34

August 31, 2015

Identity, Not as Easy as it Seems

            In the piece of literature, “How to Tame a Wild Tongue”, its writer Gloria Anzadula, expresses herself on what she considers the word identity to signify. In her essay she states, “Ethics identity is twin skin to linguistic identity – I am my language.” For Anzadula the definition of identity revolves mostly around a person language and culture. She also goes on and explains how part of an individual identity can also be food and certain smells, she says “For me food and certain smells are tied to my identity, to my homeland…Woodsmoke curling up to an immense blue sky…My brother Carito barbequing fajitas in the backyard.” For her identity does not just have a simple definition, identity for her, is made up of many little components and with that I concur. After reading her Anzaldua’s point of view on identity, I have come to perceive a different meaning to identity as to the one I had before. It has now a more in depth rather complex meaning to me, therefore what does identity signifies to me?

            In its simplest meaning, identity could be described as the fact of being who or what a person or thing is. With the information provided in Anzadula’s essay, it is clearly that this definition is vague and incomplete. Identity could be broken down is subtopics such as culture, gender, accent and language, as there are also many more subtopics to touch upon. Anzadula quotes on her paper, “Identity is the essential core of who we are as individuals, the conscious experience of the self inside. – Kaufman.” We the individuals need and require of an identity to live.

Works Cited

Anzaldua, Gloria. "How to Tame a Wild Tongue." Teaching Developmental Writing. Ed. Susan                Naomi Bernstein. Fourth Ed. New York: Bedford/ St. Martin's, 2013. 245-255. Print.

Three Quotes from "How to Tame a Wild Tongue" that Stood Out

Moises Rodriguez

Professor Young

ENGL 1100_34

August 30, 2015

Three of the Most Important Quotes

1. “Deep in our hearts we believe that being Mexican has nothing to do with which country one lives in. Being Mexican is a state of soul – not one of mind, not one of citizenship.”
2. “Because we speak with tongues of fire we are culturally crucified.”
3. “I will have my serpent’s tongue – my woman’s voice, my sexual voice, my poet’s voice. I will overcome the tradition of silence.”

Works Cited

Anzaldua, Gloria. "How to Tame a Wild Tongue." Teaching Developmental Writing. Ed. Susan

          Naomi Bernstein. Fourth Ed. New York: Bedford/ St. Martin's, 2013. 245-255. Print. 

 

Reading Response Questions to "How to Tame a Wild Tongue"

Moises Rodriguez

Professor Young

ENGW 1100_34

August 30, 2015

 “If you want to be American, speak American”

1. The opening scene of Anzaldua in the dentist chair connects to the overall message of the essay in the form that, the dentist wants to take the root out of the tooth and cap it with a new filling, the same way that teachers want Anzaldua to eliminate and forget her roots, in this case her culture and her Chicano Spanish, in order to become American.
2. Anzaldua uses Spanish thought her text to let the audience know what her roots are. Her purpose being to allow us to see the identity confusion that she has grown up into, she doesn’t know whether she is American, Mexican or Mexican-American.
3. Academic English can be defined as standard Spanish, the same way that Chicano Spanish can be describe as to nonstandard English such as slang. The reason being that academic English as well as standard Spanish are taught in school; therefore it is the proper way to communicate according to society, we identify this language speakers as the educated those who can afford an education. On the other hand, Chicano Spanish as well as nonstandard English, Anzaldua explains is “For a people who cannot entirely identify with either standard Spanish nor standard English, what resources is left to them but to create their own language?” She is basically stating that these languages are created by necessity by the poor or minorities, in order to communicate with each other.
4. In order to find a decent job to sustain oneself in the current society that we live in, it is hugely a necessity to speak and write academic English, those who do not speak it or write it usually don’t make it.
5. The way that Anzaldua describes different types of Spanish identities, can take a very similar approach when it comes to English identities. Examples of English identities that I varies depending on the situation, the way I text is not the same way I write a formal letter, the way I speak to my professor might not be that same way that I talk to my friends, there are countless types of identities when it comes to it, I personally change it according to the moment.
6. Personally I have never use nor know a secret language or identity.
7.  The form of English that I speak varies from person to person. With friends I will speak a mix of standard with nonstandard English or else slang. We as teens have created our own language in order to speak without adult’s recognizing what we are saying, just as Anzaldua did with the Pachuco tongue. When it comes to my mother and professors I tend to keep my English as standard as possible, this is because they are authorities or my bosses in other words, and respect must be shown.
8. “I am my language.” A statement that is literal, we are what we speak. Language can immediately connect a person to an identity. For example if I hear a person talking Spanish, I will then assume that they are Latinos or Hispanic, same goes with Mandarin and so for.
9. In the essay, the introduction and conclusion are pretty much connected to each other. In the introduction Anzalua uses the dentist as an image to American culture, and how it wants to eliminate any roots of any other culture around, in this case Chicano Spanish. Then in the conclusion she much explains how Los Chicanos will not give up their tongue and culture, how they will be malleable and take in American customs, but at the end they are not going to give up their roots and how they will remain.
10. Yes, the language we speak is in fact part of our identities. As a Dominican, part of my identity is my language, Spanish. As Anzadula stated, “Ethics identity is twin skin to linguistic identity – I am my lenguage” Without Spanish, I feel that my identity as a Dominican would not be completed.
11. Identity for me is very important. It is who I am, where I am from and what I do. Anzadula would very much agree with me and say that identity is important to have.  As she quoted on her essay “Identity is the essential core of who we are as individuals, the conscious experience of the self inside. - Kaufman” We as individuals have an identity and that identity is the conscious of our self inside, without it we would be lost in this world.

Works Cited

Anzaldua, Gloria. "How to Tame a Wild Tongue." Teaching Developmental Writing. Ed. Susan
          Naomi Bernstein. Fourth Ed. New York: Bedford/ St. Martin's, 2013. 245-255. Print.