How To Tame A Wild Tongue

 



 

     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."

If Black English Isn't a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?

Reading Summary

    In James Baldwin's essay, If Black English Isn't a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?, he introduces the idea that black English is undefined on account of its role as a language. Baldwin suggests that language is purposed as a tool for description and control when 'properly' articulated; If not, those trying to communicate are speaking in different realities.
    Such is the case in different regions of France. Two Frenchmen from Paris and Marseilles having a conversation could very likely seem to be speaking foreign languages to one another. He continues to elaborate on the use of language as a power and identifier.

    Baldwin states the influences of undefined black English has been overlooked. Throughout time white people have coined key characteristics as their own.
    When slaves from all different tribes of Africa were brought to the Sates, they couldn't communicate with each other. Slavery was the start of the black church and thus the birth of black English. A language white men couldn't afford to understand because it would unmask their dehumanization of an entire people.
     He quotes; A language comes into existence by means of brutal necessity, and the rules of the language are dictated by what the language must convey. He then argues that if black English is not a language, then "what definition of language is to be trusted?"
     Referring back to his thesis- black English is undefined on account of its role as a language- James Baldwin concludes his essay by informing his audience that black people are not, nor have they ever been inarticulate, rather, they refuse to "defend a morality that we know to be a lie."
     If the history of black people suggests that their role is less than, why should they articulate according to the learning's of an illiterate country?
 
    
 

Malcolm X, "Prison Studies"

  Prison Studies by Malcolm X is written eloquently around his thesis; "Where else but in prison could I have attacked my ignorance by being able to study intensely?" X first illustrates pathos by talking about his envy of a fellow inmate's "stock of knowledge," and how even though he tried to compete, it was a lack of basic understanding that held him behind. He then addressed logos with the fact that being in prison was actually an optimal study environment, giving some 15 hours a day solely to self-educate. Using ethos, X credits the Norfolk Prison Colony for having a "heavy emphasis on rehabilitation," a feature which further motivated his efforts. In one particular quote, however, Malcolm X tastefully utilizes all three rhetorical appeals; "My homemade education gave me, with every additional book that I read, a little bit more sensitivity to the deafness, dumbness, and blindness that was afflicting the black race in America."

Rhetorical Analysis

 

 

Logos: Statistic "160,00 teens like me skip school every day to avoid bullies."

Pathos: Emotional connection to an injured and upset child.

Ethos: Credited by NVEEE, Use Your Voice, Bullying, Not On MY Watch

They Treat Girls Differently Don't They?

Marlee Evans
Danielle Bowlden
English 101
23 September 2014

Reading Summary

     In this excerpt, Timothy Harper addresses gender bias in the classroom. He poses the question, "They treat girls differently, don't they? Harper sought out the opinions of parents and educational figures in search of a general comply.

     A majority of the educational figures believed they had no involvement with gender bias or classroom stereotypes. The quoted teachers stated something along the lines of; if boys get more attention then they are asking for it-they're more disruptive and outspoken. If girls are being overlooked then they aren't asserting themselves.

     Harper then questions if girls have girls been conditioned to be submissive in an academic setting? Parents being quoted had broader comments, from expressing the favor of single-sex schools, to simply encouraging their child to be more involved and enjoy participation.

     The overall message of Harper's writing is not to blame anyone, but to raise awareness of gender bias in the classroom. He goes on to list helpful tools for parents to address the issue with their children and for teachers to evaluate the diversity of their attention.