How to Tame a Wild Tongue by Gloria Anzaldúa
Guidelines:
• Length: 2-3 pages, double-spaced • Format: Standard
• Essay: How to Tame a Wild Tongue by Gloria Anzaldúa
It is important to note that these Summary & Response assignments are intended as Generative Activities. The purpose of this assignment is to improve upon your abilities, not to hand in a perfect piece of writing. I encourage you to explore and experiment with your capabilities. Again, I would like you to provide a brief summary of the essay, followed by your own response to the essay. As we see from the last essay, and in reading this essay by Jose Antonio Vargas, we are engaging with texts that do not operate as typically expected. Keep in mind the rhetorical situation: • Who is the author? • What is the subject? • Who is the audience? • What is the exigence that compels the author to write? • What is the genre of the text being presented to me (is it argumentative, persuasive, informative, confessional)? • What is the purpose of writing to their audience this essay? • What is the context surrounding all of these elements? In writing the summary section, we want to move past only reiterating the exact words of the author – What are the concepts you feel the author is working with? What argument, what purpose is in action within the text? How does the author go about relaying their beliefs and position? In responding, I want you to feel free in explaining what feels strongest: A critique of how effective you find the essay; Your personal/emotional response to the topic at hand; What resonates to you from this essay and how it might relate to your own work; What becomes clear and what remains confusing; What is difficult. The ultimate goal, here, is to engage critically with the text, and develop your abilities as an audience.
Subject and Section
Professor’s Name
February 26, 2023
Summary and Response
How to Tame a Wild Tongue is a powerful essay by Gloria Anzaldúa that explores the complex relationship between language, identity, and oppression. Anzaldúa, a Chicana feminist, draws on her personal experiences to argue that language is crucial in shaping one's identity and that the Spanish language has been historically marginalized in the United States. The essay is written in a personal and confessional style, with elements of argumentation and persuasion.
Summary
Anzaldúa begins by describing the pressure to conform to dominant cultural norms and the difficulties of navigating between multiple languages and cultures. She discusses the ways in which language is used as a tool of oppression and how individuals are often punished for speaking languages other than English, even in their own homes. Anzaldúa argues that this linguistic oppression is a form of cultural imperialism designed to erase non-dominant cultures and reinforce the hegemony of the dominant culture.
The author also discusses the importance of embracing hybrid identities and creating new languages that reflect the complexity of cultural identity. She describes her own experience of creating a new language that incorporates English and Spanish elements to resist linguistic and cultural oppression. Anzaldúa argues that by embracing hybrid identities and creating new languages, individuals can resist attempts to erase their linguistic and cultural heritage.
Upon reading the story, I realized that the intended audience for this essay is primarily other Chicana fe...
👀 Other Visitors are Viewing These APA Essay Samples:
-
Biography of William Blake
2 pages/≈550 words | 3 Sources | MLA | Literature & Language | Other (Not Listed) |
-
Argumentation: What Should High Schoolers Read
1 page/≈275 words | 4 Sources | MLA | Literature & Language | Other (Not Listed) |
-
Keeper 'n Me: Plot, Characterization, and Overall Evaluation
7 pages/≈1925 words | No Sources | MLA | Literature & Language | Other (Not Listed) |