In Gloria Anzaldua's essay, How To Tame A Wild Tongue, she writes about being identified by her language. Anzaldua expresses the personal connection of language and culture. How much you learn about a person from what and how they speak. She writes passionately about being unable to fully incorporate her language to the essay because of how it might affect readers. “As long as I have to accommodate the English speakers rather than having them accommodate me, my tongue will be illegitimate.” She recalls personal experiences as a child, having multiple required speech classes and being targeted because of the way she spoke. She was treated like Speaking Spanish in America made her less than those who spoke English. Anzaldua claims, "If you really want to hurt me, talk badly about my language...I am my language. Until I can take pride in my language, I cannot take pride in myself." She struggles with the passion she has for her language and her feelings of not being able to embrace it. This internal conflict is illustrated by her quoting Ray Gwyn Smith; "Who is to say that robbing a people of its language is less violent than war?” Gloria Anzaldua faced discrimination on account of her native tongue, due to the ignorance of a people who find English as a second language offensive. However, Anzaldua pridefully states that she will have her voice and that she "will overcome the tradition of silence."
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